Parts of a Bill

The sections that you include in your legislative draft will depend on the style that is used by the legislative body for which you are writing. The more complex the legislation, the more sections you can expect to include. Later in this guide are instructions on how to determine the sections you will need in your bill and how to create a template. This section will cover some basics regarding the structure of a bill, but it is not all-inclusive. If you are unsure about what to include, think about clarity and specificity. Include what will make the bill more clear, direct, easily understood, and specific.

Title

Bills will always have a meaningful and concise title. If you are writing legislation that creates or defines more rights for pedestrians, you might give it a title such as ‘Pedestrian Rights and Responsibilities.’ You may see things titled as an ‘Act.’ ‘Pedestrian Rights and Responsibilities Act’ would quickly identify to the reader that the law applies to pedestrians and their responsibilities using the roads and sidewalks.

Summary / Purpose

This section should give a brief one to three sentence explanation of the law. Using the pedestrian scenario, something like this would work well:

‘This act establishes the rights and responsibilities of pedestrians using Massachusetts public roads and sidewalks. Minimum requirements for the creation and maintenance of pedestrian walkways are established for all towns and cities in the state.’

Definitions

When writing complex legislation it can be helpful to create a section of definitions. This allows the law to be specific while keeping writing requirements to a minimum.

• Pedestrian: Any individual using a road or sidewalk that is not in a motor vehicle.

• Marked Crosswalk: Any intersection of two roads where crossing can be made horizontally or vertically from corner to corner and is outlined on the road visibly with white paint.

• Unmarked Crosswalk: The horizontal and vertical path from corner to corner in an intersection of two roads that both have sidewalks

These terms can now be used in the entirety of the legislation without having to repeat definitions. When in doubt, you can never go wrong including specific definitions.

Jurisdiction

This specifies where the law is enforced, to whom the law applies, or other useful information needed to be able to correctly apply and enforce the law.

Provisions

This is the main portion of the bill that will outline the specific procedures, situations, and people that are involved. They are typically broken down into related sections. This is a small example of what the body could look like:

SECTION 1: PEDESTRIANS

(a) Pedestrians must use a marked or unmarked crosswalk to cross any public road used by motor vehicles.

SECTION 2: CROSSWALKS

(a) Crosswalks that are marked must always be identified using white paint.

SECTION 3: ENFORCEMENT

(a) This is where you would specify the agency that will enforce these laws

SECTION 3: PENALTIES

(a) This is where you might specify a fine for not using a crosswalk.

Bills are often written in an outline format.

Exceptions

This section can be used for specific scenarios when the laws you are writing might be different or not applicable. If part of the law happens ‘sometimes’, that is a good indicator that you might want to specifically list exceptions. A good exception will exist for reasons that are typically common sense to the reader or easily explained in the text. Be careful with exceptions. Do not ‘exclude’ members of protected classes (race, age, religion, marital status, etc.) unless the exclusion somehow addresses inclusive preservation of rights.

Related Laws / Related Statutes

If the legislation you are writing is complex and refers to many other laws already on the books, including a section that lists the related laws makes it easier for the reader to navigate all of the relevant information.