Passing a Bill Simulation

GOAL: to create a law and gain a deeper appreciation for how the US legislative branch
works.
Your grade during this simulation will be based on the following:
Weebly Site: goes live by MIDNIGHT on Thu, Nov. 30/Dec 1 (it will be added to)
Hard-copy & Google Drive: Bills (both those you introduce and sponsor)
Hard-copy: Records: Voting record
Participation during class

I. Weebly Page:
Due: Thu, Nov. 30/Dec 1 at Midnight (must be published by this point, you will be adding/revising after)
Check out the links to the tutorials too!
Content:
Personal Information about YOU:
- Biography: can be based on a REAL member of Congress or you may create
- Political Party affiliation
- Photo must be professional!
Constituency
- House: your district (map, stats) or Senate: info on your State
- Key issues facing your constituents
Legislation/Agenda: Short description of the 2 bills you plan to introduce. At the time of
publication, the actual bills do NOT need to be posted. As the simulation process, you
will need to post copies of each bill you WRITE on your page.
Election Platform/Stance on Issues: general position on the following issues (you may
do MORE):
-- tax ideology/plan
environmental concerns (energy, gas emissions, etc.)
-- national defense (drone use, involvement in Syria)
Blog
- create a blog.
- introduction blog let your Constituents know about you and what youre up to in
Congress.
- You will need to have at least ONE entry for each bill you write communicating to your
constituents what is happening with the bill.
Points: 25 points (content/lay-out/maintenance of page)

Access your weebly site: http://students.weebly.com

Class Password: Constitution (case sensitive)
Sample: sonmorris.weebly.com

II. BILLS:
OFF-LIMIT TOPICS: ABORTION and SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Due: both must be introduced before the end of the simulation

Goal: Bill #1 Mon, Dec.4, Bill #2 Block Day, Dec. 6-7
Format: typed (be sure to save so you can edit), use the template available on Google Drive
under the Government folder. Be careful to store your bills in the correct Congress!!
To be able to use the template Make a Copy and place it in either the House, or Senate
folders. Then name it as your name until it receives a first reading. After the title and number
have been officially assigned, rename the file as the bill number. Now all members can
access the bill. Committees can edit the bill after their mark-up session and give it to the
Rules Committee to place on the calendar.
Author: Each person must write one individual bill. The second bill can be jointly written (no
more than 3 people total on a bill). Remember to save them in the school drive so you can
add the changes that will occur. Each writer of the bill needs to be listed as a co-author..
Co-Sponsor: Sponsoring a bill means you agree with it and will fight for it. It requires showing
up during the Hearing session and speaking on behalf of the bill. If the bill makes it to floor
debate, you will need to speak in favor of the bill to receive the 5 points. If your bill doesnt
make it to the floor, you will receive less points. You may sponsor as many as you like but
may only sponsor bills from the opposite chamber (House Senate, Senate House). Limit:
2 sponsors per bill.
NOTE: Sponsoring or writing a bill means that you will be speaking in support of the bill during
committee hearings and floor debate. Failure to do this, might result in loss of ALL sponsoring
points.
Points: 25 points for each required bill written. Two bills are required.
Note: If you would like to write additional bills, you may (10 points each additional bill written).
You will receive 5 points for each bill co-sponsored (only 2 sponsors for a bill).

**It is advised that you submit your first bill on the first day: Mon, Dec. 4 and your
second bill by Block Day, Dec. 6-7**

III. BLOG posted on your Weebly Page

REFLECTION: Each student is required maintain a blog of your experience with this
simulation. Reflections should involve critical thinking and appropriate terminology.
Students are required to:
1) Introduction Post (1).
This post should be present when the site goes live by midnight, Thu Nov 20/Dec 1.
Things to consider: why are you a member of Congress? What is your goal? How will you
help your constituents?
2) Reflect on EACH bill you write (2+),
Things to consider: did the bill honor your campaign promise? Would you constituents have
been pleased? Why did it fail/pass? What could have been done to improve it?
3) Reflect on Committee work (1),
Things to discuss: how effective were hearing sessions? Why? How did you decide when to attend
your committee time or speak out for your bill or one that you sponsored? Was the chair fair? Were there
any bills that were pigeonholed? Why? Which bills were you more inclined to pass/kill? What was difficult
about conference committees?
4) Reflect on floor debate (1)
Things to discuss: how did you decide which bills to support? Did anyone attempt a filibuster? Why?
How easy/difficult was it to add riders? Did the calendar get used as a way to kill bills? How did you decide
when to speak? Were your party leaders effective? why? Describe the difference you could observe
between how the Senate/House worked?
Minimum of 5 separate blog posts but you can do more.
This is your way of letting your constituents know you are serving them. You are writing in
your role as a member of Congress.

Note: if blog posts are frequent, OUTSTANDING, insightful, and beyond the list above then
extra points may be rewarded. ALSO if you are appropriately commenting on others posts
or responding to post, that may also result in extra points.

Points: 20 points (required; possibility for extra points)

IV. RECORDS
Voting Record: fill out the voting record log. Include the name and number of the bills,
proponent of the bill, debate date, how you voted and why. Your voting record should stay
consistent with your personal biography (political party, issues, etc.). When it differs, the
reasons had better be legitimate and well explained, otherwise points will be deducted.
Maintained in Google Drive.
15 pts total (required)

V. PARTICIPATION
Participation will be determined by the teacher and evaluated on the following:
-- Wearing the rubber bracelet during SCHOOL HOURS the entire two weeks of
the simulation
- Committee meetings: asking questions, writing reports, etc.
-- Floor debate: everyone should participate by speaking in support/against a bill at
least 3 separate times (minimum)
-- Party Caucuses (when they are held)
(30 pts total)

VI. Points/Grading:

Assignment Possible
Points
Weebly Page 25
Bill #1 SOLO 25
Bill #2 SOLO/JOINT 25
Weebly Blog-writing 20
Voting Record 15
 Participation 30
Other:
- Extra Bills (written): 10 pts
- Extra Bills (sponsored): 5 pts
- Casework Report: 5 pts
- Exceptional Blog: 10 pts
- Leadership: 5-10 pts
Required Points: 140 pts
TOTAL POINTS: 150 points! (NOTE: Extra credit is NOT possible)

VII. STRUCTURE
Leaders: Need to decide on each days agenda. You set the calendar for debate and
hold the discussion. You control the flow of events.
House Senate
-Open with Prayer -Open with Prayer
-Pledge of Allegiance -Open floor for Bills
-Check the Hopper -First Readings
-First Readings -Committee Assignments
-Committee Assignments
Speaker of the House: Elected from the majority party. This person needs to be
HIGHLY ORGANIZED and will be responsible for running all meetings, determining
the calendar, and distributing the bills to committee.(+10 point)
President Pro Tempore: Elected from the majority party. This person needs to be fairly
organized, have a loud voice, and will be responsible for running all meetings.
Together with the Senate Rules Committee, they will determine committee placement
of bills and the calendar. (+10 points)
Party Leadership: Elected from within each party. Party Leaders should have a strong
party affiliation/loyalty. They will be the ones informing party members how to vote.
Party leaders are also responsible to taking party member attendance each day and
assigning members to committees. (+5-10 points depending on how well you fill the
role)
Mingle: Congress is a rather fluid place. Feel free to come and go from committee to
committee. Be sure to let you party leader know what you are up to (I always must know
where committee meetings are held and where you are). If you have a free period, you
are more than welcome to come and influence others to vote for you (it might be very
profitable).
Remember you may only work with your assignment chamber.
Committees: Committees will meet throughout the simulation. The chairperson will
determine where, when, and what will be discussed. Any committees meeting outside of
the classroom must receive teacher permission. Committees may meet after class if
quorum can be reached. All bills must have an attached committee report to be moved
out of committee (passed or killed).
Out-of-class work: You WILL need to spend time OUTSIDE of class to be successful.
Count on homework. This is your responsibility. Your constituents expect you to be
successful. Each party will have two passes to the computer lab each day to do additional
research or rewrite a bill. Dont count on this time as your main time to get work done.
Some Extras:
In the House: all speakers, except the Speaker, are limited to three minutes of debate
time. No one may exceed this. Be sure you know what you are going to say before you
rise to be heard. Each bill can have 30 minutes of debate time unless additional time is
granted by the House.
In the Senate: if attempting a filibuster, you must speaker for 20 minutes on the bill. If you
swerve off topic during this time, you will be given one warning. After that, you will be
forced to yield the floor.
Quorum: Quorum must be maintained in order for a bill to be passed. The speaker can
authorize the doors of the assembly to barred so no one my leave the room once the
motion to vote has been made.

Casework: Since you do not have constituents to initiate this, you will have to be
proactive and creative. Create a realistic constituent concern and write a letter, report, or
have documentation of how you addressed that need. You might need to do some
research to understand the issues and what you can do to solve it. Each casework report
you generate will need to be printed and turned in on the last day of the simulation during
class.(5 pts each) NO LATE WORK ACCEPTED!

**It is advised that you submit your first bill on the first day: Mon, Dec. 4th and your
second bill by the Block Day, Dec. 6-7**
 125th (Red) 126th (Blue)
Congress Congress
House of
Representatives
6th 8th
Period period
Senate
3rd 3rd
Red team Blue team

Senate: 3rd period

125th Senate (RED) 126th Senate (Blue)
H110 H109
Dalton Basnett Joseph Chou
Claire Cagwin Phoebe Han
Esther Han Doreen Hsu
Justin Hung Vicky Huang
Jane Kim Lois Kim
Nathan King Karen Lin
Jona Lin Mika Ro
Henry Lin (1) Douglas Scott
Daniel Ng Ally Su
McGwire Portell Jill Sung
Kyli Smith Alec Webskowski
Priscilla Yang Will Yang
Joseph Wo