Resources for Participants
Help With Drafting Bills
Sample Bills
Useful Websites
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/
This is the House
website with links to the bills that have been introduced this session. The student can find bills and information on legislation to support their bills. If the student selects a current bill for use in the Model
Legislature from the Minnesota Legislature the student would still have to do a page of research to support the idea for the change. See example of a research page by clicking here.
http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/statutes.htm
This is the
website for Statutes, Rules and Session Law. Students can locate the particular law in statute they wish to change and add or delete the language following the example given by clicking here.
Previous Model Legislatures
Year 2000 Participants with Committee Assignments and Bill's Sponsored
A Model Legislature Student Journal
Tiffany Stedman graduated from Winona Senior High School and was President of the Senate in Model Legislature. She went on the U of M and interned in Representative Pelowski's office in St. Paul. Her journal is a great example of the leadership aspect of the Model Legislature and the impact the activity has on students.
Winona State University Student Journal from 2000 Model Legislature
College Students from Winona State University's "Teaching Social Studies in the Secondary 331" course participate in the Model Legislature to gain experience with high school students and see how the use of primary sources and hands on activities come together in a unique Social Studies exercise. The TSS331 students act as committee administrators and assist the leadership of the House, Senate and Governor's office. They also assist students in the floor debates and help monitor the flow of legislation. In the 2000 Model Legislature they used a digital camera and laptop computers to record the students activities and keep a journal of the two day event.
Instructions for Committee Chairs
1. Chairs select bills to be placed on the agenda before their committee. A hearing request form should be sent to the Chair from the member in order to
have the bill heard. A copy of the request form should be kept by the author to confirm a form was sent. Click here to see the form. Chairs may not hear all bills sent to their committees.
2. A majority vote is needed to pass a bill out of committee.
3. Votes may be taken by voice, show of hands or roll call. Show of hands and roll call must be counted out loud and announced to the committee. Voice
vote is announced by the Chair, but if there is a call for Division the vote must be taken again by show of hands or roll call. Division should be called before the Chair gavels the announcement of the vote.
4. It
only takes one member of the committee to ask for a roll call vote. A roll call vote must be taken on any motion before the committee that a roll call is requested. The Committee Administrator will call the role and keep a
written record of the vote. That should be attached to the bill and kept in the minutes of the committee for the record.
5. Chairs must report to the respective body(Senate bill goes to Senate and House bill goes to
House) those bills that have passed their committees. A written report is sent the Speaker of the House and to the President of the Senate.
6. Any discussion must be through the Chair. No one may speak unless they
have been recognized by the Chair. "Mr. Chair" or "Madame Chair" should be used before any comment and no one should proceed until the Chair recognizes them in return by saying "Rep. Smith" or
"Senator Smith".
7. There can be only one motion before a committee at any time.
8. Amendments are appropriate in committee and must be included in the report to the body if they pass into the
bill. Click here to see the amendment form to be attached to the bill.
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