Legislative
Identify proposed federal or state legislation (bill) and write a short summary (no more than 2
pages in length) of the bill.
Include the following information in the bill summary:
• Bill number (check to see if a companion bill was introduced in the other body—House
or Senate);
• Main sponsor and cosponsors (if any). Check to see their party affiliation—is the bill
bipartisan or partisan;
• Summary of the bill;
• Where the bill was referred (and summary of any actions taken on the bill—i.e., was it
voted out of committee, sent to another committee, action taken on the floor, etc.);
• Does the bill include an appropriations or finance (taxes);
• Any suggestion that this bill was amended into another bill (you are more likely to see
this in Congress, where whole bills may be amended into other bills—to check, you’ll
need to look at the amendments).
Potential sources:
• Bills pending with U.S. Congress:
o https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/
o https://www.senate.gov/legislative/active_leg_page.htm
