Legislation & Politics

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A Citizen's Guide to Lobbying the Minnesota Legislature

Appendix C: How to Read Bills and Amendments

Example of a Bill

The following is an example of the beginning of a fairly typical bill passed in the Minnesota Legislature. In the sections below, we’ll break this bill down into its separate parts to show how to accurately read a bill.

S.F. No. 4, 1st Engrossment - 85th Legislative Session (2007-2008)

1.1 A bill for an act
1.2 relating to energy; establishing renewable energy standard; amending Minnesota
1.3 Statutes 2006, section 216B.1691; repealing Minnesota Statutes 2006, section
1.4 216B.169.
1.5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 216B.1691, is amended to read:
1.7 216B.1691 RENEWABLE ENERGY OBJECTIVES.

What are the basic components of a bill?

Bill Number

A bill’s number is often how people refer to a bill, rather than its actual title. Bill numbers either begin with “H.F.” for House File, or “S.F.” for Senate File. The bill is referred to as a file. For example, “S.F. 4” or “Senate File 4”

S.F. No. 4, 1st Engrossment - 85th Legislative Session (2007-2008)

Engrossment Version

As a bill moves from committee to committee, the revisions that committees make to a bill are tracked by creating “engrossments.” An engrossment is the act of incorporating amendments into a clean version of the bill. It is nothing more than a revised document that contains all of the changes made to the bill through a certain date. The engrossment’s are reffered to as the “1st Engrossment,” “2nd Engrossment”, 3rd Engrossment,” and so forth. When examining the contents of a bill, during the committee process or when it reaches the House or Senate floor, it is important to make sure that you are looking at the most recent engrossment.

S.F. No. 4, 1st Engrossment - 85th Legislative Session (2007-2008)

Title

A bill’s title is important and helpful for quickly identifying the contents of a bill. Bill titles must address the single subject of the bill and express the contents of the bill briefly.

The opening phrase of a bill is always “A bill for an act,” which is a short form of saying “a proposal for a future legislative action.”

1.1 A bill for an act

The general subject follows, usually beginning with “relating to...” and then going on to describe generally the contents of the bill and the sections of Minnesota Statute that the bill proposes to amend.

1.2 relating to energy; establishing renewable energy standard; amending Minnesota
1.3 Statutes 2006, section 216B.1691; repealing Minnesota Statutes 2006, section
1.4 216B.169.

An enacting clause is required in every bill. The wording of the enacting clause is:

1.5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

While there are more specific requirements for a bill’s title, these elements will help you recognize and understand a bill’s contents from reading its title.

Short Title

If a bill is comprehensive and lengthy, a shorter title is often required. This is done simply for convenience. This is also frequently called a “citation.” Short titles appear like this:

1.22 (b) This chapter may be referred to as the Global Warming Mitigation Act of 2007.

Underlined and Strikeout Sections

Bills are proposals to modify, add to, or delete current laws. As a result, bills are written in a way that describes the changes being made to existing law. When a bill or amendment proposed to add new law, that new language is shown by underlining the text. Alternatively, if a bill proposes to delete a section of existing law, a line is drawn through the existing law to show that it has been stricken. Existing law that will remain if the bill or amendment is passed is shown as normal text. Here is an example of strikeouts and underlines in an actual bill that passed the Minnesota Legislature:

2.9 (3) ten seven percent of the electric energy provided utility's total retail electric sales
2.10 to retail customers in Minnesota by 2010 is generated by eligible energy technologies.

Again, the underlined portions are the inserted pieces of text, while the writing with strikes represent amended text that has been deleted. The text that appears normally is existing law that will remained unchanged after the bill was passed.