No Legislation Without Representation

The Read the Bills Act (RTBA) is a simple piece of legislation that should receive the bipartisan support of both of the major political parties.

* 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.
DownsizeDC.org
RTBA Draft Legislation

Legislators having actually read legislation prior to voting on it is a seems like a "no brainer", but unfortunately in most cases our legislators fail read the laws they are passing. This being the case, it is no surprise that our laws are all screwed up and do not accomplish what they were intended to accomplish. Since our congresspersons are too damn stupid to impose this requirement on themselves, we the people must impose this requirement via the RTBA legislation.

[edit on 22-3-2007 by df1]