The Read the Bills Act mandates that all legislation include a citation of constitutional authority, clearly display proposed changes to existing law, and be made publicly available for seven days and read aloud in its entirety before a final vote.
Rand Paul
Senator
KY
The Read the Bills Act aims to increase legislative transparency and accountability by requiring that all bills cite their constitutional authority and clearly display proposed changes to existing law. It mandates that full text be made public online at least seven days before a vote and read aloud in its entirety to members of Congress. Additionally, the bill requires members to sign an affidavit confirming they have read or listened to the legislation before voting, and it allows citizens to challenge the enforcement of any law passed in violation of these procedures.
Read the Bills Act Mandates 7-Day Public Review and Verbatim Readings Before Any New Laws Pass
Imagine if your boss handed you a 2,000-page contract, told you to sign it in ten minutes, and then got mad when you didn’t know what was on page 412. That’s essentially how a lot of federal law gets made today. The 'Read the Bills Act' aims to end the era of 'passing it to find out what’s in it' by requiring every single word of a bill to be read aloud in the House or Senate before a final vote. It also mandates that the full text be posted online for at least seven days (Section 105c), giving you—and your representative—a full week to actually digest the fine print before it becomes the law of the land.
No More Guessing Games
Under this bill, the days of vague, 'trust us' legislation are over. Section 105a requires every bill to explicitly state which part of the Constitution gives Congress the right to pass it. Furthermore, Section 105b demands that if a bill changes an existing law, it must show the old text and the new text side-by-side. For a small business owner trying to keep up with shifting regulations, this means you wouldn't have to hire a team of lawyers just to figure out what changed from last year; the bill itself would act as a 'track changes' document for the federal code.
The 'Attentive' Requirement
Perhaps the most controversial part of this plan is the accountability loop. Before a member of Congress can vote 'yes,' they must sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury (Section 105c). They have to swear they either sat through the entire verbatim reading or personally read the bill 'attentively.' While this sounds great for transparency, it introduces a unique challenge: who defines what 'attentively' looks like? If a representative is scrolling on their phone while a clerk drones on for ten hours, are they in violation? This subjective language could turn a simple vote into a legal minefield for lawmakers.
Power to the People (and the Courts)
This isn't just a set of internal suggestions; it has real teeth. Section 105d says that any law passed without following these rules is essentially void. If you’re a contractor or a healthcare worker and the government tries to enforce a new rule against you that was rushed through without the 7-day waiting period, you would have the right to sue. While this empowers citizens to hold the government to its own rules, it also opens the door for a massive wave of litigation. We could see a future where every major law is tied up in court for years while judges decide if Congress followed its own reading schedule correctly.