This is a proposed amendment to the Constitution.
1. Each line item contained within legislation presented to Congress, or to the legislatures of the several States, or to any governing body within them, shall reference the specific provision contained within the Constitution under which the item purports to be valid or which the item seeks to enforce, but this reference shall not be construed as confirmation of the item’s validity under the Constitution.
2. The President may veto line items of legislation passed by Congress and presented to him for his signature. Vetoed line items shall be returned to Congress for reconsideration in the same manner as provided herein regarding wholly rejected legislation.
3. Each Bill presented to Congress or other legislative body within the several States shall create or amend only a single law or regulation, shall be comprised only of common language verbiage, and shall be written so as to present the entire wording of the proposed law or regulation; nor shall any law be subject to a vote by Congress or any governing body which shall not have been made available in its final form to the people for a period of not less than five days or which each of the Members shall not have read in its entirety; nor shall any such Bill exceed five hundred pages in length.
4. Legislation passed in one Chamber of Congress, which shall not be passed by vote in identical form by the other Chamber in its entirety, shall be considered invalid.
5. The Rules of the House and the Senate shall not attempt to exclude any Member or group of Members from participation or debate in crafting legislation or policy.
6. A three-fifths majority in each Chamber shall be required to pass any legislation during the time between a Congressional election and when the new Congress is seated.
7. Congress shall not be exempted from any law, except as approved by a majority of the several States, by referendum or Legislative Act, as they shall individually determine.
8. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment by the several States, as provided in the Constitution.
Edited on 7/23/10 – I added item 7 regarding Congressional exemptions from legislation. Also revised item 1 and item 4 for clarity.
