Advancements in Legislative Analysis: The Development of the Comparative Print Suite
About the U.S. House of Representatives | Written on September, 2023
Introduction
The U.S. House of Representatives, like many legislative bodies worldwide, faces the constant challenge of managing and comparing vast amounts of legislative information. Over the past five or six years, a solution has been developed to address this: the Comparative Print Suite of tools, created in partnership with Xcential Legislative Technologies. This suite represents a significant step forward in legislative analysis, streamlining the process of comparing different versions of a bill and understanding how proposed legislation might change existing law.
The Catalyst for Change
The political impetus for this innovative suite came from a change in the House's rules, which mandated the provision of comparative documents as bills transitioned from the Rules Committee to the floor. This requirement, coupled with the need for a smart and efficient way to compare drafts in the XML format, drove the development of this suite.
Design and Development
The initial solution to this challenge employed internal tools that primarily relied on pattern matching. However, as the requirement evolved, a more sophisticated tool was needed. Several resources were available to facilitate this:
Existing legislative data in XML format.
Older tools that provided insights into desired functionalities.
Subject matter experts on legislative drafting within the House.
Access to technology and process flow experts.
A knowledgeable contractor with expertise in XML, in this case Xcential Legislative Technologies.
The development method chosen was agile, involving short sprints and continuous feedback from project owners and sponsors. The involvement of a user design team ensured that the interface would be user-friendly, catering to a wide range of expertise levels within the House.
Achievements and Outputs
The result of this endeavor was the creation of a singular database containing over two centuries of federal law from various sources. The main tool developed could conduct document-to-document comparisons, showcasing differences in legislation, even within vast documents. This was achieved using natural language processing and determinative AI.
Furthermore, the tool was capable of interpreting amendment instructions, locating the specific provisions in the law, and generating the desired output. These capabilities significantly assist drafters in ensuring the quality of their work, allowing them to view proposed changes in context.
Training and User Experience
Given the intricacies of federal law and its rich history, it was crucial to ensure that users could effectively interpret the outputs of the Comparative Print Suite. Therefore, basic training was deemed essential. Access to the suite was categorized into basic and advanced levels. While all users could access basic functionalities, advanced functionalities required training.
Training resources were developed in collaboration with experts from the House Academy, and these were made available on-demand, ensuring flexibility for users. Recognizing that no tool is infallible, a notification system was also established. This system could provide users with ten common automated notifications, reducing ambiguities and queries.
Conclusion
The Comparative Print Suite represents a monumental step in the world of legislative analysis, addressing the longstanding challenge of efficiently comparing and understanding legislation. By leveraging modern technologies and methodologies, and with the partnership of Xcential Legislative Technologies, the U.S. House of Representatives has set a precedent that could serve as a benchmark for legislative bodies globally. As with all tools, continuous refinement is essential, but the foundations laid by this suite are undeniably robust and forward-looking.