Week 2

Lesson objectives for this week

The objective this week is to understand the process by which a government policy is translated into a legislative plan. The course teaches that policy development and legislative plan are not distinct functions but rather, by transforming policy into law, the drafter participates in the policy making process.

Drafters worldwide rely on ineffective methodologies for drafting bills.  These ineffective methodologies include: copying legislation from other jurisdictions; relying heavily on criminal sanctions to change behavior; and attempting legislative solutions that merely compromise between competing interest groups. This week we consider why these approaches to legislative drafting are ineffective; and more curiously, why drafters continue to use them.

Assignments

• Read: Manual, Part I, Chapter 2 (pp. 21-50); Part III, Introductory Note (pp. 205-206); Recommended: Part I, Chapter 3 (pp. 51-82).
• Listen to tapes A-3, B-1.
• E-mail to your editor and to the course participants a description of whose and what behaviors comprise the social problem your bill aims to help resolve.
• Discuss with your group the answers to general questions raised in the Study Guide, Session A-3, slide 14; and Session B-1, slide #9.
• E-mail to your both editor and to the course participants: comments, questions or suggestions you may have about materials covered in the audio-presentations, the Manual or the Study Guide; answers to questions and exercises raised in the Study Guide.