Sample Winter Congress Bills

SAMPLE WINTER CONGRESS BILLS

A BILL TO TEACH COMPARATIVE RELIGION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AS PART OF SOCIAL STUDIES COURSES The study of comparative religion should not solely available to private school students in the United States, but public school students as well. Religion shapes the worldview and thinking of the overwhelming majority of the people in the world. You cannot properly understand a culture without understanding the beliefs that shape it. This subject would be open as an elective class just as any other minor course taught by a school. By taking this course students will become informed on different religions, get a better understanding of different cultures and be able to more effectively engage the world they live in. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that: Section 1: Public schools throughout America be required to offer a Comparative Religion course on the ten leading religions of the United States and the world as part of their Social Studies curriculum. Section 2: Comparative Religion curriculum shall be developed by each State’s Local School Districts that already develop the class curriculum for their Social Studies courses. _______________________________________________________________________ _ A BILL TO CREATE AN INCOME TAX CREDIT FOR FUEL EFFICIENT VEHICLES Currently there is an Income Tax credit in place for buyers of new hybrid vehicles. However, hybrids are not the only recreational vehicles with high fuel economy. For example, the Toyota Yaris is more efficient both on the highway and the city than the Honda Accord Hybrid. Therefore a tax credit should also be provided for buyers of cars whose fuel economy is greater than the current Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard. Currently, people who own hybrids receive a credit of $130 per additional mile per gallon on the highway, however because of their lower performance in the city, nonhybrids should have a smaller credit per additional mile per gallon.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that: Section 1: The Internal Revenue Code be amended to allow an Income Tax Credit to the buyers of new non-hybrid vehicles that have better fuel economies than the current CAFE standard. This credit can only be taken on the year of the purchase of the new automobile and only applies to recreational vehicles weighing 8,500 pounds or less. Section 2: The credit shall be $100 per additional mile per gallon of the vehicles fuel economy (on the highway) above the current CAFE standard to a maximum of $3600. Vehicles without EPA Fuel Economy ratings shall not qualify for this credit. Section 3: The Internal Revenue Service shall compile and maintain a list of all eligible cars and the tax credits given to the respective vehicles. _______________________________________________________________________ _ A BILL TO MANDATE THE HPV VACCINE FOR ALL HIGH SCHOOL FEMALES HPV is a great public health concern in our society today. It is associated with genital warts and many types of cancers. The HPV vaccine limits the risk of cervical cancer, which is a very common risk for women today, and is almost 100% effective in preventing infection and disease. As of right now, there are no federal laws mandating this vaccine, but if one were to be mandated, it should be mandated for all high-school females. High-school-aged students are ideal candidates to receive this vaccine because they are still young enough for this vaccine to be effective, with many not yet engaged in sexual activity, but are more mature than elementary-school-aged children. Mandating this vaccine would only be beneficial; it would lower the risk of various cancers and save many lives. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that: Section 1. A vaccination against HPV be mandated for high-schoolaged female students. Section 2. A sign out option will be available.

_______________________________________________________________________ _ A BILL TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM In order to facilitate the efficient and efficacious storage and retrieval of a complete compendium of government information relating to a particular citizen, a National Identification System is to be created. This card-based system would incorporate personal information, licensures, insurances, medical information, legal history, taxation information, social security information, passport and visa information, and educational records. This card would serve as a universal source of all relevant information to government officials as they interact with the citizen, expediting the process and providing all necessary resources in one unit. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that: Section 1. A National Identification Card program be established amongst the United States of America and its associated territories. Section 2. The National Identification Card is to be issued at birth or time of immigration. Section 3. The National Identification Card make use of an electronically encrypted access code to a database of information. Section 4. The database of information shall contain all governmental records of citizens, which are to be is to be organized by the citizen. Section 5. Any government official requesting to see a participating citizen’s card shall not be denied. Refusal to present the card will result in a minimum prison sentence of 3 months or a $1,000 fine. Section 6. Participation in the card program is voluntary, but refusal to participate will rescind all government-given rights. Section 7. With admission into this program, a citizen should use this card for any and all identification purposes. Section 8. The government reserves no right to preserve a citizen’s non-legal data without the approval of that citizen.

_______________________________________________________________________ _ A BILL TO ABOLISH CAPITAL PUNISHMENT One of the main focuses against capital punishment is that it costs more to convict a person with capital punishment than to hold them for life in prison without the possibility of parole. Lethal injection alone costs around $2,000,000 for each case while keeping a person for life is prison is only $25,000 a year. Even keeping a person for 40 years in prison is only half that cost. This money can be used to help pay for better equipment for police officers, helping to keep other criminals off the streets. The court system cannot always be perfect, and there have been many cases in which innocent people have been convicted with capital punishment and were proven innocent with new evidence against their wrongful conviction. Since 1973, over 125 people have been released from death row because of this. The fact that system errors result in the deaths of innocent people is unacceptable. Whereas capital punishment does not leave room for mistakes, life in prison allows mistakes to be corrected. Capital punishment is not an effective deterrent against crime. A study found that a state with no executions, a state with one execution, and a state with over 200 executions in the year 1989 and 2002 all had very similar murder rates. Because a state does not have capital punishment does not mean that a criminal will be more influenced to murder someone because they cannot be killed by the law. Life in prison is an equally, if not more, effective way of treating crimes than simply killing off the convicted felons. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that: Section 1. Capital punishment be abolished in all states of the United States of America. Section 2. Money used to provide capital punishment will instead be used for better equipping police officers to prevent other crimes from happening. _______________________________________________________________________ _ A BILL TO ESTABLISH ENGLISH AS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Currently eight in ten United States residents speak only English. Immigrants are less inclined to learn to speak our language without

motivation such as a law to help encourage them to speak English. Establishing English as the official language will promote the learning of English by immigrants, therefore helping to ensure economic stability. As a majority of United States inhabitants speak English, those who cannot have limited resources. In order to obtain more resources, they must integrate themselves into society, and learning English will help them to do so. This bill may not directly encourage immigrants to learn English; it will act more as a stepping stone, making a statement of our heritage and culture. Our country’s success derives from unity, thus if we cannot properly communicate as a society, we will not be able to succeed or be a unified nation. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that: Section 1. English shall be deemed the official language of the United States of America.