Maine Legislative Drafting Manual
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MAINE LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING MANUAL 1st Edition October 1990 Revised through November 1994 Revised through January 1998 Revised through November 2000 Revised through October 2004 Revised through August 2009 Published under the auspices of the Legislative Council, Maine State Legislature Office of the Revisor of Statutes State House, Station 7 Augusta, Maine 04333 (207) 287-1650 [email protected] PREFACE This edition of the Maine Legislative Drafting Manual, the fifth revision since October 1990, is intended to be a guide to the form, format and legislative style that should be used in preparing and editing legislative text. The changes made in this edition are technical in nature for the most part, including updating of references and examples. This edition of the Maine Legislative Drafting Manual is offered to the user in the same spirit as previous revisions: to foster and the improve the high quality of Maine law. We welcome your comments and suggestions for ways to improve this manual to make it a more useful tool for your legislative drafting. Margaret E. Matheson Revisor of Statutes August 2009 PART I: THE DRAFTING PROCESS .............................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: CLOTURE AND INTAKE ....................................................................................................2 Section 1. Cloture ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 Section 2. Authority for introduction ....................................................................................................................... 2 A. Legislators .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 B. Governor............................................................................................................................................................. 2 C. Executive Branch Departments........................................................................................................................ 3 D. Other................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Section 3. Intake ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 A. Sufficiency of information ................................................................................................................................3 B. Interviewing process.......................................................................................................................................... 3 Section 4. Legislative confidentiality ........................................................................................................................ 4 Section 5. Legislative numbering .............................................................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 2: THE INITIAL DRAFT..........................................................................................................7 Section 1. Preliminary research and resources........................................................................................................ 7 A. Maine Revised Statutes Annotated ...................................................................................................................... 7 B. Maine Key Number Digest................................................................................................................................7 C. History and disposition; old legislative documents as models....................................................................... 8 D. Laws of the State of Maine ............................................................................................................................... 8 E. Index to private and special laws ..................................................................................................................... 8 F. Department rules ............................................................................................................................................... 8 G. Study reports ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 H. Laws of other states........................................................................................................................................... 9 I. Uniform and model acts ..................................................................................................................................... 9 J. The Law and Legislative Reference Library ................................................................................................... 9 K. Other resources ................................................................................................................................................. 9 Section 2. Writing....................................................................................................................................................... 9 A. Structure............................................................................................................................................................. 9 (1) Mark-up....................................................................................................................................................... 10 (2) Cut-and-paste.............................................................................................................................................. 10 (3) CD-ROMs.................................................................................................................................................... 10 B. Final Review...................................................................................................................................................... 10 Section 3. Draft processing ...................................................................................................................................... 11 A. Legal review ..................................................................................................................................................... 11 B. Technical processing........................................................................................................................................ 11 C. Legal proofreading.......................................................................................................................................... 11 PART II: FORM AND FORMAT OF LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENTS.................................12 CHAPTER 1: BILLS ....................................................................................................................................13 Section 1. Types of bills............................................................................................................................................ 13 A. Public law ......................................................................................................................................................... 13 B. Private and special law.................................................................................................................................... 13 Section 2. Elements of bills ...................................................................................................................................... 13 A. The title............................................................................................................................................................. 13 B. Preambles ......................................................................................................................................................... 14 (1) The mandate preamble............................................................................................................................... 14 (2) Change in use of land held for conservation or recreation purposes..................................................... 14 (3) Confirmation process change .................................................................................................................... 15 C. The emergency preamble................................................................................................................................15 D. The enacting clause ......................................................................................................................................... 16 E. The main body of the bill ................................................................................................................................16 (1) Short title..................................................................................................................................................... 16 (2) Purpose clauses ........................................................................................................................................... 16 (a) Constitutional challenge......................................................................................................................... 16 (b) Major changes to existing law ..............................................................................................................