Understanding the Ratio of Proposed to Enacted Bills
Analyzing Congressional Bill Passage Rates
We were curious about the opportunities to leverage AI in relation to Congressional Bills, specifically regarding the historical ratio between proposed bills and those enacted into law. Using the same prompt across six platforms, we noticed a considerable variance in the number of bills enacted. One issue is that some platforms examine terms (which last two years) while others provide results for a calendar year. Despite several prompt iterations, the numbers differed. While this may seem like a reliability problem, the variance isn’t actually that significant. Over the past 20+ years, the passage ratio has averaged less than 10%, indicating that Congress proposes more bills than it can manage and analyze.
Opportunities for AI in Streamlining Legislative Processes
Leveraging AI for Congressional Efficiency
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, the longest bill enacted into law, was 5,593 pages long. Considering that the average book is about 300 pages, this bill alone is equivalent to reading about 20 books. Since the 106th Congress (1999-2001), proposed bills have averaged about 10,000 per term. While we understand that there are committees and not every member of Congress reviews every proposed bill, there seems to be an opportunity to leverage AI in Congress and across other government branches to achieve efficiencies. Given that it’s a committee-driven exercise, AI could potentially do a better job of stitching content together and providing more objective summaries.
The GovInfo History of Bills site is relevant and worth looking at.
