On the lighter side, the following are actual bills pending before either the United States Senate or the House of Representatives. These may be mere resolutions, declarations of policy, or actual statutes.
As presented here, they may sound "silly" and some may be but keep in mind, there may be sound underlying reasons and at this point, they are just proposals:
- Five More Minutes, Please. House Congressional Bill 227 urges all secondary schools to start after 9:00 am in order to give "adolescents enough time to sleep so they can realize their full academic potential".
- "Play" Is Important Too! Senate Bill 651, entitled the "Play Every Day Act", encourages 30 minutes of physical activity per day for kids, families and communities.
- Who's Calling? House Bill 251 would make it a crime to manipulate caller ID information.
- It's Not My War! House Bill 3190 would allow individuals to "opt-out" of the Iraq war by directing that their income, estate or gifts taxes not be used in furtherance of the Iraq war.
- Not Without My Turtle! Senate Bill 540 seeks to require the Food and Drug Administration to permit the sale of baby turtles as pets (as long as the seller uses proven methods for treating salmonella, of course).
- Mini-Me? House Bill 2560 would prohibit all forms of human cloning. And you'd better obey a violation of the law would be punishable by 10 years in prison and a $10 million fine.
- Take That %*#@ Back to Your Own State! House Bill 274 would impose severe limitations on the interstate transportation of solid municipal waste.
- Lucas, Get Out of There! House Bill 1173 would require the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission to set safety standards to prevent injuries caused by vending machines. The most important part? Emergency release handles for children that get stuck inside a machine.
- Go, Bruins! Senate Resolution Bill 257 seeks to officially congratulate the University of California, Los Angeles for becoming the first university to win 100 NCAA Division I titles.
You can look up the status of these bills or search for more fun ones at the Library of Congress website (http://www.loc.gov/).