OIL House Bill �Amendment Guide
By Jacob Schonfield, 55th Legislature Chief Clerk
5 Big Things
Make sure your amendments are:
Necessary
If you find issues in a bill that pertain to spelling, capitalization, or punctuation, it is best if these issues get addressed as a “Scrivener’s Error.” This means that these issues can be fixed without submitting an amendment if they are simply brought to the attention of the Chief Clerk. Ideally, though, these types of issues are meant to be corrected in committee before ever coming before the entire House.�
Intentional
An amendment must be Germane (applicable to the subject of the bill.)
Additionally, think about what effect your amendment would have on the bill; if the contents of your amendment would entirely change the intent of the author’s legislation, it is best to simply do the following:
Not Dilatory
Definition of Dilatory: When an amendment includes a change to the bill that is not included in the Title of the bill without the amendment including the addition of that section in the title.
The chair, subject to appeal from the house, will rule if a bill is dilatory.
If an amendment is made that also changes the title of the bill, then it requires a 2/3rds majority to be adopted. An amendment that doesn’t require a title change is NOT subject to the higher threshold.
Clear �Keeping amendments as straightforward and easily understood as possible is key to ensuring that the House continues moving in a timely fashion that will allow all members the opportunity to have their voices heard. Well-considered and concise language is essential to a good amendment. �
Effective�Make sure that your amendment is going to have the effect that you are aiming for; or any effect at all. Changes to wording that have no practical implications for the way that the legislation at hand functions are oftentimes unnecessary and a general waste of time for all involved.
Two Types of Amendment
There are both Friendly and Hostile amendments in the House.
Friendly | Hostile |
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You won't know whether your amendment is Friendly, or Hostile, until you have read your amendment over the mic verbatim and found whether the Author is in favor or against your amendment.
Submitting Your Amendment
There is ONE form to be filled out when you want to submit an amendment on a House Bill. The rest of this guide is going to be dedicated to explaining how you will go about filling out this form and getting your amendment submitted.
Online Form
In the Email line you’ll put an email that you can easily access.
In the Bill Number line you’re going to put whatever the bill number is for the bill you wish to amend.
On this line you’ll say specifically what Section and Subsection you want to change and whether you are amending, adding, or striking.
For amendment language you’ll type *exactly* what you want the amendment to read.
Under amendment author name just type your last name and school.
Here you type the name and school of the House member seconding the amendment. If the amendment has been read over the mic and the author of the bill approves, put the author’s name and school.
Here you’ll double-check that the amendment has been read verbatim over the mic. If it has been, you’ll select yes. If the amendment has not been read word-for-word over the mic, then you will wait until you get the opportunity to do so and select yes before submitting.
Here you will put whether the amendment is Friendly, or Hostile. Make sure to read your amendment over the mic before marking one way or the other.
The purpose of amending is to change something that is there to something else. In this example we’re amending Section 4, Subsection 1.
Amending Example
Section 4. PENALTIES
1. Those who violate the civil rights of supernatural beings shall serve a minimum of the death penalty and a maximum penalty of the supernatural death penalty.
For the sake of this example, we are going to change “of the death penalty” to “fine of $1” and “serve” to “pay.” When filling out the online form, you would write what is in the example to the right.
Amending Example
Assuming that the amendment was read over the mic and the author was amenable to it as a friendly amendment this is what it would look like in the bill after being submitted.
Amending Example
Assuming that the amendment was read over the mic and the author was not amenable to it as a friendly amendment this is what it would look like in the bill after being submitted. Whether to make the amendment part of the prospective bill or not would come to a vote before the bill itself was voted on.
Amending Example
Adding something to a bill is exactly that; adding content that was not there before. In this example, we’re adding a Subsection to Section 4.
Add Example
Section 4. PENALTIES
1. Those who violate the civil rights of supernatural beings shall serve a minimum of the death penalty and a maximum penalty of the supernatural death penalty.
Add Example
When adding something to a bill you’ll fill out the online amendment form in a similar fashion as to what is seen to the right here.
Assuming that the amendment was read over the mic and the author was amenable to it as a friendly amendment this is what it would look like in the bill after being submitted.
Add Example
Assuming that the amendment was read over the mic and the author was not amenable to it as a friendly amendment this is what it would look like in the bill after being submitted. Whether to make the amendment part of the prospective bill or not would come to a vote before the bill itself was voted on.
Add Example
When striking you’re simply taking things out of a bill. In this example we’re striking out a portion of Section 4, Subsection 1.
Strike Example
Section 4. PENALTIES
1. Those who violate the civil rights of supernatural beings shall serve a minimum of the death penalty and a maximum penalty of the supernatural death penalty.
If you wanted to strike “minimum of the death penalty and a maximum” you would fill out the online amendment form as seen to the right.
Strike Example
Assuming that the amendment was read over the mic and the author was amenable to it as a friendly amendment this is what it would look like in the bill after being submitted.
Strike Example
Assuming that the amendment was read over the mic and the author was not amenable to it as a friendly amendment this is what it would look like in the bill after being submitted. Whether to make the amendment part of the prospective bill or not would come to a vote before the bill itself was voted on.
Strike Example
This is what a filled-out friendly House Amendment form looks like.
This is what a filled-out hostile House Amendment form looks like.
The only differences between a hostile and a friendly online amendment form are the Seconding Name and Friendly or Hostile sections. Wait to fill in these sections until after finding out if the Bill Author is open to it as a Friendly amendment