Legislative bill

“ Legislative initiative belongs to the Government, the Congress and the Senate, in accordance with the Constitution and the Standing Orders of the Houses.
Initiative by Autonomous Communities108 ss. 124-127 SO2. The Assemblies of Self-governing Communities may request the Government to adopt a bill or may refer a non-governmental bill to the Bureau of Congress and delegate a maximum of three Assembly members to defend it.
People's Initiatives3. An organic act shall lay down the manner and the requirements of the popular initiative for submission of non-governmental bills. ”

“ Before any bill passed by the Senate and House of Representatives 'becomes a law,' it must 'be presented to the governor of the state,' and if he returns it, within the time stated, without his approval, the bill may become a law provided it is reconsidered and thereupon passed by each house by a two-thirds vote. ”

“ Little aid can be derived from the vague and illusory but often repeated formula that Congress 'by occupying the field' has excluded from it all state legislation. Every Act of Congress occupies some field, but we must know the boundaries of that field before we can say that it has precluded a state from the exercise of any power reserved to it by the Constitution. To discover the boundaries we look to the federal statute itself, read in the light of its constitutional setting and its legislative history. ”

“ Who has the power to place us, or why should we place ourselves, in a condition where we cannot give to every measure, that is distinct and separate in itself, a separate and distinct consideration? Sir, I presume no member of the committee will withhold his assent from what he thinks right, until others will yield their assent to what they think wrong. There are many things in this bill acceptable, probably, to the general sense of the House. Why should not these provisions be passed into a law, and others left to be decided upon their own merits, as a majority of the House shall see fit? ”

“ It is not open to reasonable doubt that Congress had power to invest, and did invest, the District government with legislative authority, or that the act of the legislative assembly of June 26, 1873, was within that authority. ”

“ The authority of the Legislature, says the same author who is quoted by your Excellency, "does not extend so far as the fundamentals of the constitution. They ought to consider the fundamental laws as sacred, if the nation has not in very express terms, given them the power to change them. For the constitution of the state ought to be fixed; and since that was first established by the nation, which afterwards trusted certain persons with the Legislative power, the fundamental laws are excepted from their commission." ”

“ I am, of course, not unmindful of the fact that the bill comprises various other appropriations which are more or less important to the public interests, for which reason my objections to it are communicated at the first meeting of the House following its presentation to me, in the hope that by amendment to bills now pending or otherwise suitable provision for all the objects in question may be made before the adjournment of Congress. ”

“ If Congress shall lay down by legislative act an intelligible principle to which the person or body authorized to fix such rates is directed to conform, such legislative action is not a forbidden delegation of legislative power. ”

“ Practically, no bill escapes commitment—save, of course, bills introduced by committees, and a few which may now and then be crowded through under a suspension of the rules, granted by a two-thirds vote—though the exact disposition to be made of a bill is not always determined easily and as a matter of course. ”

“ That is easier in some cases than in others. But in every case we must respect the role of the Legislature, and take care not to undo what it has done. A fair reading of legislation demands a fair understanding of the legislative plan. ”

“ Quorum, two-thirds. Bills must be finally passed by majorities of all the members elected. The same majorities enact a bill disapproved by the governor. If he does not return a bill within three days, it is a law, unless its return is prevented by adjournment; in which case it will be a law, unless he shall, within five days after the adjournment, file the bill, with his objections, in the office of the secretary of state, who shall lay the same before the general assembly at the next session, as if it had been returned by the governor. ”

“ The members of each house shall not be eligible to, or capable of holding, any office under the Union, during the time for which they have been respectively elected; nor the members of the Senate for one year after. The members of each house shall be paid for their services by the states which they represent. Every bill which shall have passed the legislature shall be presented to the President of the United States, for his revision ”

“ They must attend to all the amendments, which may be dictated by as great a diversity of political opinions as there are local attachments. When brought together in one assembly, they must go through, and accede to, every one of the amendments. The gentlemen who, within this house, have thought proper to propose previous amendments, have brought no less than forty amendments, a bill of rights which contains twenty amendments, and twenty other alterations, some of which are improper and inadmissible. Will not every state think herself equally entitled to propose as many amendments? ”

“ I've fought for reforms like this my entire public career. When I was Governor of Arkansas, after years of trying to pass lobby reform through the legislature, I went to the people of my State, and we passed a tough bill by a popular vote. I advocated this measure when I ran for President, and I've worked for it ever since. I am confident it will become law.
There's another bill Congress should pass before it goes home. This would apply the laws Congress passes to govern the rest of America to Congress itself. That's just common sense, and it's only fair. ”

“ The words 'in the manner provided' had been substituted for 'as provided.' So it was apparent that Congress by the amendment had narrowed the meaning. There is no such special legislative history here. ”

“ Now, I have repeatedly acknowledged that, given the magnitude and the difficulties of the problem we're facing, there are no silver bullets and there are no easy answers. The bill that's emerged from Congress is not perfect, but a bill is absolutely necessary. ”

“ The bill before us, sir, requires, in my opinion, some amendments, and in its present state might, perhaps, produce more detriment than advantage; but since it is necessary at least to attempt something for the relief of men so useful to this nation, it appears to me necessary to form a committee, and to deliberate on this subject with more attention. ”

“ Each House is empowered by the Constitution to make rules governing the modes of its own procedure. The rules permitting, I know of nothing except convenience, common sense, and the danger of log-rolling combinations, which forbids putting all the appropriations into one bill, and in the same bill, all the revenue laws, a provision admitting a State into the Union, another paying a pension to a widow, another changing the name of a steamboat. The votes and the executive approval which would make one of these provisions a law, would make them all a law. ”

“ I've already signed a bill to apply to Congress the laws it applies to private business, and we're about to complete a bill to limit the ability of Congress to pass mandates on the State and local government without paying for them. ”

“ The legislative lion will not be entangled in the meshes of a logical net. The legislature will always make the power which it wishes to exercise, unless it be so organized as to contain within itself the sufficient check. ”

“ He should wish, and if he thought he could succeed he would make a motion to recommit the bill to a select committee for the purpose of making this provision. Suppose twenty boats were stationed at Norfolk, did they know that these boats could be manned? In his opinion, the bill should contain a regulation for manning them; every law should stand upon its own merits, and he should always protest against passing one law which would oblige them to pass another to carry it into effect. Let us, said he, see the whole system, and then let us vote upon it. ”

“ THAT each branch ought to possess the right of originating acts; THAT the National Legislature ought TO be empowered to enjoy the legislative rights vested in Congress by the Confederation and moreover to legislate in all cases to which the separate States are incompetent, or in which the harmony of the United States may be interrupted by the exercise of individual legislation ”

“ I think the President -- the President said to House Republicans and Senate Republicans that obviously the bill -- the bill that will work its way through both sides of the aisle is probably not exactly what any one person would write, regardless of their party. ”

“ An accurate census helps to ensure that the rights and needs of every person are recorded and recognized as we shape public policies, programs, and services. Too often in the past, children, minorities, and low-income individuals have not been counted and, as a result, have not been fully and fairly served. Census data are also used to determine the number of seats each State is allocated in the U.S. House of Representatives, and State and local governments depend upon these data to draw legislative districts that accurately represent their residents. ”

“ If the three propositions are correct: that the public sentiment is substantially unanimous that we should act; that the necessity for action exists; and that the power of Congress is admitted,— the only question left is, what Congress ought to do specifically; in other words, what kind of an act should Congress pass. The committee has reported a bill which is the best judgment that the committee had upon the subject. ”

“ By the present constitution, you will see that no new law can be promulgated, unless decreed by the Legislative Body.
The votes in this assembly being taken by ballot, and the laws being enacted without any discussion, on the part of its members, on the plans debated before it by the orators of the Tribunate and of the government, it necessarily follows that the sittings present far less interest to strangers, than would result from an animated delivery of the opinion of a few leading orators. ”

“ And it is just as essential a part of the constitutional provisions, guarding against ill-considered and unwise legislation, that the President, on his part, should have the full time allowed him for determining whether he should approve or disapprove a bill, and if disapproved, for adequately formulating the objections that should be considered by Congress, as it is that Congress, on its part, should have an opportunity to re-pass the bill over his objections. ”

“ Even the sincerest support of a good legislative measure is not more ardent to all appearances than the specious support sometimes given to such a measure by a member of the Legislature who is opposed to it but sees, or thinks he sees, that it will never become a law, even though he should vote for it. ”

“ The Government is still divided into legislative, executive and judicial departments, the duties of which are discharged by representatives selected by the people. Under this amendment, it is true, the people may exercise a legislative power, and may effect veto or defeat bills passed and approved by the Legislature and governor but the legislative and executive departments are not destroyed, nor are their powers or authority materially curtailed. ”

“ It is not my purpose now to go into a discussion of the provisions of this bill any further than to say that there are provisions in it upon which the judgments of the best patriots, the best jurists, the most earnest men disagree. There are men, in whom I have entire confidence, who maintain that all its provisions are within the purview of the Constitution; there are others in whom I have confidence, and equal confidence, who maintain directly the contrary ”

“ The legislative powers are vested in Congress, and are to be exercised by them uncontrolled by any other department, except the Constitution has qualified it otherwise. The Constitution has qualified the legislative power by authorizing the President to object to any act it may pass—requiring, in this case, two thirds of both houses to concur in making a law; but still the absolute legislative power is vested in the Congress, with this qualification alone. ”

“ Yet a distinction between a Convention and a Legislature is, in that State, a palpable absurdity, even by their own laws; for there is no constitution in the State, except its laws, which are always repealable by an ordinary Legislature; and the laws and uniform practice, from the first organization of the government, declare that the Legislature has all the power of all the people. A convention therefore can have no more power, and differs no more from an ordinary Legislature, than one Legislature does from another. ”

“ He knew it was sometimes a practice, after a bill had been read the second time, and was referred to be shaped and formed by free discussion in Committee of the Whole, a member would rise to amend the bill by striking out the first section, declaring, at the same time, that he made the motion for the purpose of destroying the bill—a mere law fiction, under color of detail and amendment, to contest the original principle and destroy the bill. Without doubt the commencement of the business is the regular stage to contest the principle. ”