Bill drafting guide
The bill drafting guide provides step-by-step instructions for drafting legislation. It covers the basics of bill structure, common drafting conventions, and specific formatting rules. Includes examples and templates to help drafters create clear, effective legislation.
Preface
The office of the code reviser created this bill drafting guide for the preparation of bills for the Washington legislature. It consists of four parts:
Part I - Working Procedures provides a short, nontechnical explanation for submitting bill drafting requests to the code reviser's office.
Part II - Formal and Technical Requisites describes the technical drafting rules followed by the code reviser's staff (attorneys, editors, typists, and proofreaders) in the preparation of legislation. Many of these requirements are derived from constitutional provisions, statutes, legislative rules, or case law. Sources are cited if appropriate.
Part III - Avoiding Unintended Liability provides guidelines to follow when drafting legislation to avoid creating unintended tort liability for the state.
Part IV - Instructions on Style is a style manual used by the code reviser's office. Included are sections on voice, punctuation, numbers, capitalization, spelling, subsection numbering, and citations.
The code reviser's office maintains an audit file that documents the history and codification of all session law sections. We will furnish historical and cross-reference information as required and assist the drafter with questions of form or style that arise in the preparation of legislation.
|
KATHLEEN BUCHLI
|
Code Reviser
|
MARK L. LALLY
|
Deputy Code Reviser
|
ALICE S. IM
|
KEVIN SHOTWELL
|
Senior Assistant Code Revisers
|
CHRISTOPHER J. LEWIS
|
MAX WEEKS
|
CHEYENNE CARLSON
|
MATTHEW F. WILSON
|
RYAN REHBERG
|
Assistant Code Revisers
|
KEITH YEAGER
|
Indexer
|
Sections
- Part I. Working Procedure
- Part II. Formal and Technical Requisites
- 1. SAMPLE BILL
- 2. AMENDATORY SECTIONS—BASIC LANGUAGE
- 3. AMENDATORY SECTIONS—INDICATING DELETIONS AND ADDITIONS
- 4. NEW SECTIONS
- 5. CODIFICATION DIRECTIONS
- 6. ADDING CHAPTERS TO RCW
- 7. RECODIFICATION DIRECTIONS
- 8. BILL TITLES
- 9. ENACTING CLAUSE
- 10. REPEALERS
- 11. SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMONLY USED CLAUSES
- 12. GENERAL DRAFTING PRINCIPLES
- 13. RESOLUTIONS AND MEMORIALS
- 14. COMMITTEE AND FLOOR AMENDMENTS TO BILLS
- Part III. Avoiding Unintended Liability
- Part IV. INSTRUCTIONS ON STYLE