II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3845 

To end the practice of including more than one subject in a single bill 

by requiring that each bill enacted by Congress be limited to only one 

subject, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 1, 2020 

Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To end the practice of including more than one subject 

in a single bill by requiring that each bill enacted by 

Congress be limited to only one subject, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘One Subject at a Time 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ONE SUBJECT AT A TIME. 

7 (a) ONE SUBJECT.—Each bill or joint resolution 

8 shall embrace no more than one subject. 


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•S 3845 IS

1 (b) SUBJECT IN TITLE.—The subject of a bill or joint 

2 resolution shall be clearly and descriptively expressed in 

3 the title. 

4 (c) APPROPRIATION BILLS.—An appropriations bill 

5 shall not contain any general legislation or change to a 

6 provision of existing law, the subject of which is not ger7 mane to the subject matter of each such appropriations 

8 bill; provided, however, that this section shall not be con9 strued to prohibit any provision imposing limitations upon 

10 the expenditure of funds so appropriated. 

11 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 

12 (a) MULTIPLE SUBJECTS IN TITLE.—If the title of 

13 an Act or joint resolution addresses two or more unrelated 

14 subjects, the entire Act or joint resolution is void. 

15 (b) PROVISIONS NOT EXPRESSED IN TITLE.—If the 

16 title of an Act or joint resolution addresses a single sub17 ject, but the Act contains one or more provisions con18 cerning a subject that is not clearly and descriptively ex19 pressed in its title, only such provision or provisions con20 cerning the subject not clearly and descriptively expressed 

21 in the title shall be void. 

22 (c) APPROPRIATION PROVISIONS OUTSIDE SUB23 COMMITTEE JURISDICTION.—If an Act appropriating 

24 funds contains a provision outside of the jurisdiction of 

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1 priations of the House of Representatives and of the Sen2 ate, and therefore outside the subject of the bill, such pro3 vision shall be void. 

4 (d) PROVISIONS OF APPROPRIATION BILLS NOT

5 GERMANE TO SUBJECT MATTER.—If an Act appro6 priating funds contains a provision of general legislation 

7 or a change of a provision of existing law not germane 

8 to the subject matter of such bill, such provision shall be 

9 void. 

10 (e) COMMENCEMENT OF AN ACTION.—Any person 

11 aggrieved by the enforcement of, or attempt or threat of 

12 enforcement of, an Act passed without having complied 

13 with section 2 or this section, or any Member of Congress 

14 aggrieved by the failure of the House of Congress of which 

15 that individual is a member to comply with any require16 ment of those sections, shall, regardless of the amount in 

17 controversy, have a cause of action under sections 2201 

18 and 2202 of title 28, United States Code, against the 

19 United States to seek appropriate relief, including an in20 junction against the enforcement of any law, the passage 

21 of which did not conform to section 2 or this section. 

22 (f) STATE OF REVIEW.—In any judicial action 

23 brought pursuant to subsection (e), the standard of review 

24 shall be de novo. 

Æ 


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