Git for Legislation: which lawmaker added or removed each individual element of legislation, as well as an up to date repository for the current law.
Key Objective(s)
Make it clear which legislators are responsible for each element of legislation
Hold legislators accountable to their constituents for their actions at a far more granular level
Ensure that additions and subtractions to Law are both human and machine readable.
Paragraph Description
Simply put, convert the US federal laws and regulations to a git repository, such that it is apparent who is responsible for each individual word and phrase of law. Additionally, as move through the legislative process, members of congress and the president would, in effect, review and approve each bill, as if it were a pull request, such that a record of their approval would be part of the legislative history of the bill in question.
Essentially, if we are to truly hold legislators accountable, we must know not only who voted for what bill, but also who is responsible for each alteration to a given bill.
Measurable Metrics
Simply put, every single alteration to a bill must have a legislator responsible for that alteration, not just a few legislators who will "sponsor" a bill, or said sponsors will be responsible for all language in a bill. Measurement and quantification will be quite straightforward: utilization.
In terms of long term goals, we should evaluate the degree to which legislators hide their edits, refuse to be held accountable and have their changes become a part of the permanent record of a bill. The degree of compliance will determine the success or failure. Ideally, we should be able to achieve full compliance in a few years, 2020 at the latest.
Topline Description
Git for Legislation: which lawmaker added or removed each individual element of legislation, as well as an up to date repository for the current law.
Key Objective(s)
Paragraph Description
Simply put, convert the US federal laws and regulations to a git repository, such that it is apparent who is responsible for each individual word and phrase of law. Additionally, as move through the legislative process, members of congress and the president would, in effect, review and approve each bill, as if it were a pull request, such that a record of their approval would be part of the legislative history of the bill in question.
Essentially, if we are to truly hold legislators accountable, we must know not only who voted for what bill, but also who is responsible for each alteration to a given bill.
Measurable Metrics
Simply put, every single alteration to a bill must have a legislator responsible for that alteration, not just a few legislators who will "sponsor" a bill, or said sponsors will be responsible for all language in a bill. Measurement and quantification will be quite straightforward: utilization.
In terms of long term goals, we should evaluate the degree to which legislators hide their edits, refuse to be held accountable and have their changes become a part of the permanent record of a bill. The degree of compliance will determine the success or failure. Ideally, we should be able to achieve full compliance in a few years, 2020 at the latest.