A Proposed Budget will be distributed in preparation for hearings conducted during Convention by the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance. Detailed instructions for filing resolutions and other legislative guidance will appear in a Deputy Handbook. A Legislative Notebook will be given to all bishops, deputies and paid alternates upon registration at the Convention Center. This huge document will contain legislative materials including copies of pre-filed resolutions from dioceses, bishops and deputies, with room to add committee reports and other papers produced each day. Pre-convention deputation meetings should set aside some time for veterans to show new deputies their notebooks from earlier conventions and offer tips on organizing and making best use of the contents.
Legislative action begins in the form of resolutions, originating from the sources indicated below.
A mushrooming number of resolutions threatened legislative gridlock in 1991. As a result, the Presiding Officers of the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops have urged everyone to exercise restraint, by coordinating legislative proposals on similar topics, giving priority to proposals calling for concrete action, and restricting non-action statements of policy to areas in which articulating a position is a vital aspect of the Church's ministry in the world. The Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance circulates a draft budget prior to Convention and completes work on the Budget following hearings at Convention. Members of the House of Bishops may submit resolutions for consideration. Individual Bishops shall be limited to proposing not more than three resolutions.