Sue Collins, age 14, of Casper, Wyo., for her question:
WHAT IS AN OMNIBUS BILL?
An omnibus bill is a term sometimes used for a bill that includes several unrelated measures when it is put before a legislative assembly. It is used to pass several bills at once. The bill is named for an omnibus, a vehicle that carries a number of people.
The omnibus bill term was first used in 1850. In that year there were a number of questions in dispute between the North and South in the Congress of the United States. Various bills had been offered dealing with slavery and the treatment of fugitive slaves.
The Compromise of 1850 was proposed in an attempt to settle all of the questions at once. It was denounced and jeered at as an ominbus bill.
Omnibus bills generally are considered bad practice. When a number of unrelated items are crowded into one bill, it is hard to give each the study it deserves.
The constitutions of most states and provinces provide that a single bill shall relate to one topic only.