One Bill, One Subject Transparency Act

Bill: 119-hr-95
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Biggs, Andy [R-AZ-5]
Introduced: 2025-01-03
Policy area: Congress
Subjects: Appropriations

Civil actions and liability

Government liability

Legislative rules and procedure
Latest action: action_date: 2025-01-03
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:
action_date: 2025-01-03
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>One Bill, One Subject Transparency Act</strong></p><p>This bill prohibits any bill or joint resolution from addressing more than one subject and establishes related enforcement mechanisms.</p><p>The bill requires bills and joint resolutions to address only one subject, which must be clearly and descriptively expressed in the bill or joint resolution's title. Appropriations bills may only contain provisions that are germane to the subject matter of the underlying bill.&nbsp;However, appropriations bills may limit&nbsp;the expenditure of appropriated funds.</p><p>The bill voids&nbsp;<br/></p><ul><li>any act (i.e., law) or joint resolution with a title that addresses two or more unrelated subjects;</li><li>any provision of an act or joint resolution concerning a subject that is not clearly and descriptively expressed in the title;</li><li>any provision of an appropriations act that contains general legislation or change of existing law provision not germane to the subject matter of the underlying bill;</li><li>any provision of an appropriations act that addresses a subject outside of the jurisdiction of the relevant subcommittee of the Committees on Appropriations of the House and of the Senate.</li></ul><p>The bill also authorizes any person aggrieved by the enforcement or threat of enforcement of an act enacted after this bill that does not comply with the requirements of this bill&nbsp;to sue the United States.</p>

tv_txt: I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 95 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 3, 2025 Mr. Biggs of Arizona introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require that each bill enacted by Congress be limited to only one subject, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the One Bill, One Subject Transparency Act . 2. One subject per bill (a) One subject Each bill or joint resolution shall embrace no more than one subject. (b) Subject in title The subject of a bill or joint resolution shall be clearly and descriptively expressed in the title. (c) Appropriation bills An appropriations bill shall not contain any general legislation or change of existing law provision which is not germane to the subject matter of the underlying bill. This subsection does not prohibit any provision imposing limitations upon the expenditure of appropriated funds. 3. Enforcement (a) Multiple subjects in title If the title of an Act or joint resolution addresses two or more unrelated subjects, then the entire Act or joint resolution is void. (b) Provisions not expressed in title If an Act or joint resolution contains provisions concerning a subject that is not clearly and descriptively expressed in its title, those provisions shall be void. (c) Appropriation provisions outside subcommittee jurisdiction If an Act appropriating funds contains a provision outside of the jurisdiction of the relevant subcommittee of the Committees on Appropriations of the House and of the Senate, and therefore outside the subject of the bill, then such provision shall be void. (d) Provisions of appropriations bills not germane to subject matter If an Act appropriating funds contains general legislation or change of existing law provision not germane to the subject matter of the underlying bill, then every such provision shall be void. (e) Commencement of an action Any person, including a Member of the House of Representatives or a Member of the Senate, aggrieved by the enforcement or threat of enforcement of Acts that do not comply with section 2 shall have a cause of action under sections 2201 and 2202 of title 28, United States Code, against the United States to seek appropriate relief, including an injunction against the enforcement of any law, the passage of which did not conform to section 2 or this section. The cause of action only applies to an Act or joint resolution signed into law on or after the date of enactment of this Act. (f) State of review In any judicial action brought pursuant to subsection (e), the standard of review shall be de novo.