RTBA requires "No legislation without representation" . . .
* Each bill, and every amendment, must be read in its entirety before a quorum in both the House and Senate.
* Every member of the House and Senate must sign a sworn affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that he or she has attentively either personally read, or heard read, the complete bill to be voted on.
* Every old law coming up for renewal under the sunset provisions must also be read according to the same rules that apply to new bills.
* Every bill to be voted on must be published on the Internet at least 7 days before a vote, and Congress must give public notice of the date when a vote will be held on that bill.
* Passage of a bill that does not abide by these provisions will render the measure null and void, and establish grounds for the law to be challenged in court.
* Congress cannot waive these requirements.
Recent events, however, make me wonder if the Read the Bills Act goes far enough. As I post at the DownsizeDC blog, perhaps we should change it to the Read the SAME Bills Act.
Posts
I wonder - how many congress critters would have to admit that they can't read? Actually - shouldn't we make them write the bills in plain english?
ReplyDeleteit may be time to sack this form of government? does downsize dc have any ideas of other ways it could work? my fav is a reboot to the organic constitution - )original plus bill of rights only).