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87Th Drafting Manual Texas Legislative Council Drafting Manual Texas Legislative Council September 2020 Texas Legislative Council Drafting Manual Prepared by the Staff of the Texas Legislative Council Published by the Texas Legislative Council 87th Legislature Texas Legislative Council Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Joint Chair Speaker Dennis Bonnen, Joint Chair Jeff Archer, Executive Director The mission of the Texas Legislative Council is to provide professional, nonpartisan service and support to the Texas Legislature and legislative agencies. In every area of responsibility, we strive for quality and efficiency. Copies of this publication have been distributed in compliance with Subchapter G, Chapter 441, Government Code, and are available for public use through the Texas State Publications Depository Program at the Texas State Library and other state depository libraries. An online version of this publication can be found at http://www.tlc.texas.gov/publications. Additional copies of this publication may be obtained from House Document Distribution: By mail: P.O. Box 12128, Austin, TX 78711-2128 By phone: (512) 463-1144 By online request form (legislative offices only): http://bilreq/House.aspx Table of Contents FOREWORD ..................................................................................................................vii 1 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. LEGISLATIVE DOCUMENTS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS ..................... 3 Section 2.01. What Is a Legislative Document? ....................................................... 3 Section 2.02. Bills ..................................................................................................... 3 Section 2.03. Joint Resolutions to Amend the Texas Constitution ........................... 3 Section 2.04. Other Resolutions ............................................................................... 3 Section 2.05. Amendments, Substitutes, and Conference Committee Reports ...... 3 CHAPTER 3. BILLS .................................................................................................... 5 Section 3.01. Introduction ........................................................................................ 5 Section 3.02. Heading .............................................................................................. 5 Section 3.03. Title or Caption ................................................................................... 6 Section 3.04. Enacting Clause ............................................................................... 11 Section 3.05. Short Title ......................................................................................... 11 Section 3.06. Statement of Policy or Purpose ........................................................ 12 Section 3.07. Definitions ......................................................................................... 12 Section 3.08. Principal Operative Provisions ......................................................... 16 Section 3.09. Enforcement Provisions ................................................................... 17 Section 3.10. Amendment of Existing Law ............................................................. 30 Section 3.11. Repealers ......................................................................................... 39 Section 3.12. Saving and Transition Provisions ...................................................... 41 Section 3.13. Severability and Nonseverability Clauses ........................................ 48 Section 3.14. Effective Date ................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER 4. JOINT RESOLUTIONS TO AMEND TEXAS CONSTITUTION ......... 57 Section 4.01. Introduction ...................................................................................... 57 Section 4.02. Heading ............................................................................................ 57 Section 4.03. Title or Caption ................................................................................. 58 Section 4.04. Resolving Clause ............................................................................. 58 Section 4.05. Amendatory Sections ....................................................................... 58 Section 4.06. Repealers ......................................................................................... 59 Section 4.07. Temporary Provisions ....................................................................... 59 Section 4.08. Submission Clause .......................................................................... 61 Section 4.09. Permissible Scope of Amendment ................................................... 63 CHAPTER 5. OTHER RESOLUTIONS ..................................................................... 65 Section 5.01. Introduction ...................................................................................... 65 Section 5.02. Parts of a Resolution ........................................................................ 65 iii Section 5.03. Concurrent Resolutions Generally .................................................... 67 Section 5.04. Concurrent Resolutions Granting Permission to Sue State .............. 68 1 Section 5.05. Simple Resolutions ........................................................................... 70 Section 5.06. Captions for Simple and Concurrent Resolutions ............................ 70 Section 5.07. Resolutions Relating to Amendment of United States Constitution .......................................................... 72 Section 5.08. Member Resolutions ........................................................................ 73 CHAPTER 6. AMENDMENTS, SUBSTITUTES, AND CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORTS ............................................................................................. 75 Section 6.01. Introduction ...................................................................................... 75 Section 6.02. Germaneness ................................................................................... 75 Section 6.03. Committee and Floor Amendments ................................................. 77 Section 6.04. Committee and Floor Substitutes ..................................................... 84 Section 6.05. Conference Committee Reports....................................................... 85 Section 6.06. Side-by-Side Analyses ..................................................................... 86 CHAPTER 7. STYLE AND USAGE ........................................................................... 91 Subchapter A. Rules of Style ............................................................................ 92 Section 7.01. Abbreviations ................................................................................... 92 Section 7.02. Capitalization .................................................................................... 92 Section 7.03. Numbers ........................................................................................... 96 Section 7.04. Mathematical Computations ............................................................ 99 Section 7.05. Plurals ............................................................................................... 99 Section 7.06. Possessives .................................................................................... 100 Section 7.07. Prefixes ........................................................................................... 101 Section 7.08. Punctuation .................................................................................... 101 Section 7.09. Spelling and Specific Usage .......................................................... 104 Section 7.10. Symbols ......................................................................................... 105 Section 7.11. Notes and Footnotes ...................................................................... 105 Subchapter B. Drafting Rules .......................................................................... 106 Section 7.21. Active Voice .................................................................................... 106 Section 7.22. Conciseness ................................................................................... 106 Section 7.23. Consistency .................................................................................... 107 Section 7.24. Court-Construed Language ........................................................... 107 Section 7.25. Finite Verbs ..................................................................................... 107 Section 7.26. Gender ........................................................................................... 107 Section 7.27. How to Express Age ....................................................................... 108 Section 7.28. How to Express Time ..................................................................... 109 Section 7.29. Legalese and Preferred Usage ...................................................... 110 Section 7.30. “Shall,” “Must,” “May,” Etc. ............................................................ 111 Section 7.31. Modifiers ......................................................................................... 113 iv Section 7.32. Parallel Construction ...................................................................... 114 Section 7.33. Positive Expression .......................................................................
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