Legal Definitions - Ramseyer rule

The Ramseyer rule is a procedural requirement within the U.S. House of Representatives designed to promote transparency when legislation is being amended.

Specifically, when a House committee reports a bill that proposes to change an existing law, the Ramseyer rule mandates that the committee's report must clearly show the precise wording that the bill would:

• Strike from (remove from) the current law.
• Insert into (add to) the current law.

This rule ensures that members of Congress, staff, and the public can easily understand the exact textual alterations a proposed bill would make to existing statutes, without having to cross-reference multiple legal documents.

Here are some examples of how the Ramseyer rule applies:

• Amending a Federal Funding Statute: Imagine the House Appropriations Committee is reporting a bill that seeks to modify how federal funds are allocated for a specific infrastructure project, which is currently defined in an existing statute. Under the Ramseyer rule, the committee's report accompanying the bill would need to include a section that visually displays the original text from the current law detailing the funding allocation. Alongside this, it would show the new language the bill proposes to replace it with, clearly indicating what words or phrases are being removed and what new ones are being inserted. This allows anyone reviewing the report to immediately grasp the exact changes to the funding mechanism.

• Updating Environmental Regulations: Suppose the House Committee on Natural Resources is considering a bill that aims to update certain definitions or compliance standards within the Clean Water Act. When the committee reports this bill to the full House, its report must comply with the Ramseyer rule. This means the report would feature a side-by-side comparison or a marked-up version of the relevant sections of the Clean Water Act, highlighting the specific sentences or paragraphs that the new bill intends to delete and any new text it plans to add. This transparency helps lawmakers understand the precise impact on environmental protections and obligations.

• Revising Healthcare Program Eligibility: Consider a scenario where the House Committee on Energy and Commerce reports a bill designed to adjust the eligibility criteria for a federal healthcare program, which is established by an existing statute. To satisfy the Ramseyer rule, the committee's report would explicitly show the current statutory language that outlines the eligibility requirements. It would then present the proposed changes, clearly marking the words or phrases that the bill would remove from the existing law and the new language it would insert to define the revised eligibility. This clarity is crucial for understanding who would gain or lose access to the program.