NI amendments to amendments

This Quick Reference Guide provides guidance on how to manage amendments to amendments (A2As) in Lawmaker to ensure they are correctly sorted, numbered and applied with ease.

This is an example of an amendment whose target is a new clause amendment.

How to draft an amendments to amendment

Amendments to amendments must be drafted in a traditional Lists of Draft Amendments (LoDA) as inline amending has not been configured to work in the context of an amendment. See Drafting traditional NI amendments

Step 1: Draft A2As in a traditional List of Draft Amendments (LoDA)

Instructions

On the Amendment Workspace tab, select the +New button
Select Traditional amendment type and provide bill version, stage and list name
When the list loads in the Editor, click Enter to view the pre-populated amendment options and select Amendment - Amendment to amendment
Update the italic note (Lawmaker refers to this as the Amendment Context) according to whether the target amendment was a new clause amendment or a page-line styled amendment (see the examples below)
Update the amendment instruction with the required amendments referring to the provisions in the target amendment
Click on the proposer blue placeholder and add the proposer’s name or title as appropriate

Step 2: Update the location information for the A2A

This will ensure the amendment is correctly sorted when an amendment list is generated. It is also useful when there are more than one amendment to the same target amendment.

Instructions

Still in the Editor, place your cursor in the A2A you wish to record location information for
Open the Amendment Information right-hand panel
In the Location table update the Location, Provision, Page and Line fields using details from the target amendment (see NI amendments to amendments | Examples-of-what-to-type-into-the-Location-table )
Also update the Sort Code according to how any other amendments there are sharing the same target amendment e.g. if there is only one A2A, its sort code will be 2 and the target amendment would be 1 (see NI amendments to amendments | Examples-of-what-to-type-into-the-Location-table )
WAIT A FEW SECONDS until the spinner has run before you save your changes

Step 3: Update the sort code of the target amendment (NIA user only)

This has to be done by an NIA user as the target amendment will have been published and will therefore be editable only by NIA users. The target amendment’s sort code will always be 1. Adding a sort code ensures it will be correctly sorted when the Marshalled List is generated.

Instructions

Find the target amendment on the Amendment Manager
Select it and open it in a temporary list (Amendment Actions > Create temporary list)
In the Editor, place your cursor in the target amendment
Open the Amendment Information right-hand panel
Update the Sort Code with 1
WAIT A FEW SECONDS until the spinner has run before you save your changes and close the list using the Close Editor button

Example Location table entries

NB: The Type field is usually populated using the information in the A2A’s instruction e.g. Leave out x and insert y would be Type = Substitute. For simplicity these have been left blank in the table below.

Amendment to Amendment	Target amendment	Amendment to amendment’s location information
As an amendment to the amendment inserting a new clause entitled “Meetings and performance”, tabled by the Minister for Communities on 21 May 2019	New Clause After Clause 2 insert—	Type Location = `after` Provision = `sec_2` Page Line Sort Code = `2` Sort code: assumes there was only 1 amendment to the target amendment (the target amendment would have a sort code of `1`)
As an amendment to the amendment inserting a new schedule entitled “Metrics and Accounts”, tabled by the Minister for Communities on 21 May 2019	New Schedule Before the Schedule insert—	Type Location = `before` Provision = `sch` Page Line Sort Code = `2` Sort code: assumes there was only 1 amendment to the target amendment (the target amendment would have a sort code of `1`)
As an amendment to the amendment inserting a new schedule entitled “Minor and consequential amendments” tabled by the Minister for Communities on 21 May 2019	New Schedule After Schedule 2 insert—	Type Location = `after` Provision = `sec_2` Page Line Sort Code = `2` Sort code: assumes there was only 1 amendment to Sort code: assumes there was only 1 amendment to the target amendment (the target amendment would have a sort code of `1`)
As an amendment to the amendment to clause 1, page 1, line 2, tabled by the Minister for the Economy on 3 December 2019	Clause 1, Page 1, Line 2	Type Location Provision = `sec_1` Page = `1` Line = `2` Sort Code = `3` Sort code: assumes there were 2 amendments sharing the target amendment, the other A2A would have a sort code of `2` and the target amendment would have a sort code of `1`)
As an amendment to the amendment to the schedule, page 40, line 23, tabled by the Minister for the Economy on 3 December 2019	Schedule, Page 40, Line 23	Type Location Provision = `sch` Page = `40` Line = `23` Sort Code = `4` Sort code: assumes there were 3 amendments sharing the target amendment, the other A2As would have the sort codes `2` and `3` and the target amendment would have a sort code of `1`)
As an amendment to the amendment to schedule 2, page 40, line 22, tabled by the Minister for the Economy on 3 December 2019	Schedule 2, Page 40, Line 22	Type Location Provision = `sch_2` Page = `40` Line = `22` Sort Code = `2` Sort code: assumes there was only 1 amendment to Sort code: assumes there was only 1 amendment to the target amendment (the target amendment would have a sort code of `1`)

Avoid referring to the clause number in the amendment instruction as this would be used to update the location table when you saved your changes. As new clause and new schedule numbers include letters e.g. 3A, this can cause an issue when using the location to sort the amendments in an amendment list. It is best to only refer to the lower level provisions e.g. subsections/schedule paragraphs within the target amendment.

A2As and the Notice of Amendments

When you generate a Notice of Amendments, you should check that all A2As have been given the correct location information. You can initially do this from the Amendment Manager as it displays the Location information and Sort Code in the table, however it is easy enough to make any corrections in the Editor with the Notice of Amendments loaded.

Whilst the target amendment won’t appear in the Notice of Amendments with the A2As, it would be a good time to also double-check that the target amendment’s sort code has been updated to 1. You can do a quick check by looking at the Amendment Manager as there is a column for the Sort Code. See NI amendments to amendments | Step-3:-Update-the-sort-code-of-the-target-amendment-(NIA-user-only) for instructions on how to update it if needed.

A2As and the Marshalled List

It is preferable for all A2As and target amendments to be correctly updated before generating the Marshalled List as it saves you from having to re-run the list after correcting any location information. If you know you have some A2As, double-check that the Location information and the Sort Code information is correct using the Amendment Manager as there are columns for the Location and Sort Code. If you spot a mistake, open them in a Temporary List to make any edits.

If you do make changes to your amendments after viewing the Amendment Manager, make sure you refresh the Amendment Manager to see those changes.

Applying A2As to the target amendment

A2As cannot be automatically applied to their target amendment using Lawmaker. You need to manually update the target amendment with any agreed A2As before applying the target amendment to the bill.

Step 1: Update the target amendment

Before you apply the amendments to the bill, open the A2As and target amendment in a temporary list to make the edits

Instructions

From the Amendment Manager, filter the amendments by status “Made” and “Made on Division”
Select all the A2As and the target amendment and open them in a temporary list (Amendment Actions > Create temporary list)
Update the target amendment with each of the A2As

Tips

To copy whole provisions from A2As into the target amendment see Preparing 'as amended' NI bill versions | To-copy-provisions-inside-a-quoted-structure—
To copy text from A2As into the target amendment see Preparing 'as amended' NI bill versions | To-copy-text-from-the-amendment-instruction—

Step 2: Apply amendments to the bill

See Preparing 'as amended' NI bill versions | Apply-amendments-&-check-results