- Look for the latest version of the bill text. If you have to construct a bill text, do not automatically use the introduced version of the bill text. There could be later versions that include some of the amendments (ex: committee markups). This will reduce your work load.
- Always copy and paste the bill text using an html version of the text, if available. While some states only provide pdf versions of the bill text, some states will also provide copies in an html window. If an html version of the text is available, always copy and paste from there. Copying and pasting from a pdf always results in more formating problems.
- After pasting the text in a word document, reapply any underlining, italics, and strike-through text in the Word document before inserting the amendments. Remember that if you are copying and pasting from a pdf version of a bill text, underling, italics, and strike-through effects will not be included when you paste it into the Word document. This may also happen with other document formats. Regardless of where you copied the text from, check to see if the font effects are included. If not, incorporate them. This is important because it's used to differentiate between existing and new law.
- Adjust the text size and page margins if the bill text does not fit properly in the Word document. Sometimes the text style and size of the version of the bill text provided by the legislature is only appropriate for that version, and when pasted into a Word document, one line of text does not fit into one line of a Word document. You can adjust the text style and page margins to address this problem.
- Look to see if there were amendments to the adopted amendments. Some legislatures will have amendments to amendments. If they were adopted, you will have to first construct the amendment before inserting the final version of the amendment in the bill text. This is done the same way as constructing a bill text. Here is an example:
- Check the amendments against versions of the bill text provided by the legislature. It's best to check where the amendment will be inserted and how it will be formatted using the bill text provided by the legislature. Don't try to do this with the text you pasted into the word document because formatting issues may misrepresent line numbers, page numbers, etc.
- If there is only a pdf version available, remove the line numbers and unnecessary spacing when you are finished incorporating the amendments. Once you're finished constructing the bill text, it helps to make it as presentable as possible. This means removing the line numbers (this really only works with pdf versions) and unnecessary spacing that results from the difference between the bill text and the Word document in terms of the margins. This will make the text much more readable for anyone who may need it.
Here's a step-by-step guide to constructing a bill text:
- Louisiana - HB 1390 (House Passage), 2010
