Summary Writing - Partisan Language
Vote Smart is committed to providing nonpartisan information to the public. We cannot allow any partisan language to be included in bill summaries or titles. The general rule of thumb is to avoid any language that seemingly casts the legislation in a positive or negative light. This includes language that tends to be used exclusively by those on one side of an issue. Sometimes this leads to the use of more technical language, but at times common language has to be sacrificed in order to maintain nonpartisan writing.
Common Partisan Terminology
The following are the most common examples of partisan language that need to be avoided:- "Partial Birth Abortion" - Replace with “Dilation and Evacuation Abortion.”
- "Illegal Immigration," "Illegal Alien," "Undocumented Alien," etc. - Replace with "Undocumented Immigrant."
- "Unborn child" - Replace with "Fetus."
- "Reform" - Replace with language that explains that that section of the law is being amended.
- "Tax Relief" - Replace with language that explains that the tax will be reduced. This also applies to phrases like “regulatory relief.”
- "Tax Hike" - Replace with language that explains that the tax will be increased.
- "Green" - Replace with language that explains that there are stricter environmental restrictions/regulations.
- Names of individual's inserted to help sell the legislation (ex: "Amy's Law" or "Laci and Connor's Law") - Avoid the name altogether and focus solely on the specifics of the law. If you think that members of the public will not be able to recognize the law without the name, you may include something like “commonly known as Amy's Law” at the end of the synopsis.
- “Woman” or “Women” in abortion regulations - replace with “Patient.”
- “School Choice” - replace with “Voucher Program,” “Open Enrollment,” or something else specific to the legislation.
- Anything that suggests that the legislation is necessarily improving the situation or circumstances. The wording can be explicit or implied. (ex: "Government Reform," "Improving Economically Distressed Areas," "Reducing Unemployment," and "Enhancing Public Safety"). Focus on what the legislation is actually doing.
Utilizing Quotation Marks
At times legislation will use very broad language that may seem partisan. This can cause difficulty in summarizing because there may be no way to accurately summarize the bill without using the potentially partisan language. At these times you should use quotation marks around the term from the bill. This allows us to write a summary that is as accurate as possible while protecting the organization from accusations of partisanship. Below is an example from a bill that contains the phrase “consistently ineffective.”- —Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and publish standards for a controlling board to use to determine whether a tenured teacher is "consistently ineffective" (Sec. 1a).
Quotation marks may also be used to clarify certain mentioned pieces of legislation. In the following example, the bill being summarized refers to another bill by its official title, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This bill is better known popularly as the "stimulus bill". However, since this is not the official name of the bill, and since the word "stimulus" can be interpreted to be partisan, this would be included in order to ensure that the reader is aware of exactly which bill is being discussed, but it would be enclosed in quotes to denote the unofficial and possibly partisan nature of the phrase.
- —Appropriates $80.9 million of the federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ("stimulus bill") as follows (Secs. 3 & 8):
—$45.5 million for school districts and charter schools through the state equalization guaranteed distribution;
—$20 million for the appropriation account of the General Fund; and
—$13.4 million for public post-secondary educational institutions in the instruction and general purpose category; and
—$2 million for the Workforce Solutions Department for operating expenditures.
—$20 million for the appropriation account of the General Fund; and
—$13.4 million for public post-secondary educational institutions in the instruction and general purpose category; and
—$2 million for the Workforce Solutions Department for operating expenditures.
Key Votes Homepage | Training Guide | Summary Writing Guide | Vote Entering Guide | Congress Guide | Status Update Guide | Web Check Guide
