Training Module: Preparing the 'as amended' version of the bill

A module which explains how the ‘as amended’ version of the bill is prepared in Lawmaker and published on the API. You have to complete all exercises in order to complete this module.

📘 Introduction

Preparing 'as amended' NI bill versions

📚 Exercises

🛠️ Getting started

Before you can complete this exercise you will need to create your own training project containing a published ‘as introduced’ version of the bill and some amendments to apply to it.

If you have already completed Training Module: Preparing the 'as introduced' version of the bill you do not need to create another bill project and can use published as introduced bill version. You will need to upload the consideration stage amendments though.

A published ‘as introduced’ bill (download the XML file here As_Introduced.xml )
Some amendments (download the amendments XML file here Consideration_stage_amendments.xml )

The following steps will allow you to create the data required for this exercise.

How to create a new project with a bill

If you have already completed Training Module: Preparing the 'as introduced' version of the bill you can use the ‘As Introduced’ bill version created there and skip this step. You will need to import some amendments still, so move to Import and update amendments below

Download the XML document for the exercise by clicking on the links you’ve been provided with. By default, the downloaded files are usually placed in the “downloads” folder on your computer.
Log in to Lawmaker.
From the Dashboard, create a new project of the type you need for the exercise. Give it a title such as [Your Initials] Preparing Nills and Acts for Publication Bill. (See Creating a new project.)
From the Project tab for that project, select Document Actions > Upload document, and select the As Introduced XML file for the exercise which you have downloaded. It can be uploaded into the default folder that has been created in the project. (See Create a new document by uploading an XML file.)
On the newly uploaded document version, select Actions > Update Document Information and update the Title to match the title you originally gave the project.
Generate a PDF of this bill version by selecting Actions > Generate PDF
Once the PDF has generated, toggle the snapshot view to see the PDF Snapshot created and select Actions > Publish Version

How to import and update amendments

From the Amendment Workspace tab click on the Upload button and select the Consideration stage amendments XML file which you have downloaded. Ensure you select As Introduced bill version and Consideration Stage.
Open the imported amendment list in the Editor and bulk update the statuses using Amendment Status right-hand panel and selecting the Bulk update statuses button
Move them through the states:
1. Draft to Submitted, and
2. Submitted to Tabled.
Save your changes after each transition and before you save your tabled status change, change the outcome for both stand part amendments to Stand part, agreed using the button in the Amendment Status right-hand panel.
When complete, save your changes and close the list of amendments using the Close Editor button

✏️ Exercise 1: Prepare the ‘as amended’ bill version

Step 1: Ensure you have a clean bill

Before you start applying amendments, make sure you are starting with a clean version of the bill. There should be no mandatory document check errors, no comments or tracked changes or any lingering jrefs. It should be clean from your preparations at Introduction, but it’s good practice to check nonetheless.

Detailed steps to clean the bill

Open the As Introduced version in the Editor
View the Document Checks right-hand panel to check there are no mandatory warnings that need addressing,
Remove any comments from the Review right-hand panel
Remove any jrefs (Insert > Delete All J-refs)
Save your changes and close the bill using the Close Editor button

Step 2: Ensure you have a clean set of amendments

Before you start applying amendments, make sure you are starting with a clean set of amendments. There should be no mandatory warning in the Document Check panels or any comments or tracked changes.

Detailed steps to clean the amendments

From the Amendment Manager, filter your list of amendments by ‘Made’ and ‘Made on division’ and open in a temporary list (Amendment Actions > Create temporary list)
In the Editor, view the Document Checks right-hand panel to check there are no mandatory warnings that need addressing
Remove any comments from the Review right-hand panel
Save your changes and close the temporary list using the Close Editor button

Step 3: Apply amendments and check results

Select the Made and Made on Division amendments and apply them to the bill.

Detailed steps to apply amendments to your bill

From the Amendment Manager tab, filter your list of amendments by ‘Made’ and ‘Made on division’ and select them
Select Amendment Actions > Apply Amendments and select to create a new bill version (visible on the Project tab), providing a suitable folder name and version description for your 'as amended’ bill version.
On the Project tab, check the green success message to see how many amendments were successfully applied and close it
Find the newly created bill project and open it in the Editor

Step 4: Accept the applied amendments

From the Inline Amendments right-hand panel, accept the amendments one-by-one to check their insertion for any additional printing changes necessary

Detailed steps to accept amendments

In the Editor, open the Inline Amendments right-hand panel
Click on the first inline amendment card in the right-hand panel to jump to the first amendment in your bill
Click on the tick icon on the inline amendment card to accept the amendment.
When the amendment has been applied, check whether any printing changes are required and make those changes directly to the bill in the Editor.
Remove any locks on the nums for inserted provisions by placing your cursor in the num element and selecting right-mouse-click > Lock/unlock num,
Check if any new Document Check or XML Warnings have been created in the right-hand panels and fix them if relevant.
Select the next amendment in the Inline Amendments panel to jump to the next amendment inserted into your bill.
Continue accepting and applying printing changes for each amendment applied to the bill.
Save your changes.

Step 5: Check for any amendments that couldn’t be auto-applied

Some amendments might not have auto-applied for various reasons. These are presented in the Review right-hand panel and will need reviewing so you can fix and reapply them as required

Detailed steps to fix and reapply amendments that failed auto-apply

In the Editor, open the Review right-hand panel and make a note of the amendments that have validation errors and warnings
Open these amendments in a temporary list from the Amendment Manager
Taking each error/warning in this exercise in turn—
1. Invalid page or line numbers error - in this scenario, the line number should have been 23 not 24. Edit the line number information for this amendment in your temporary list
2. Insertion of part or chapter error - in this scenario the amendment is inserting a new part in the middle of an existing part. It is not currently possible for Lawmaker to insert a new clause containing a grouping level (part or chapter) that ‘breaks’ the overall structure of the document so you will need to manually apply this amendment which is explained in the next section.
3. Inserting in the same location warning - in this scenario there are 2 paragraphs being inserted by 2 different amendments and these amendments did not have sort codes to inform Lawmaker on the order they should be inserted. You just need to check the order that Lawmaker inserted them and correct them if necessary.
Save the changes in your temporary list and leave it open for later
Reapply the corrected amendments (in this exercise it was only the invalid line number amendment to clause 5) by selecting it from the Amendment Manager and selecting Amendment Actions > Apply Amendments, this time to add to a bill which is currently open in the Editor

Error and warning messages and what to do about them

Can't apply amendment [#] because the page or line number is invalid open the amendment in a temporary list, correct the location information, save changes and re-apply the amendment.
Can't apply amendment [#]: The insertion of a new Part or Chapter at this point requires the new structure to be created manually. This amendment is ‘breaking’ the existing bill grouping level structure. You will need to manually restructure the bill before the amendment can be re-applied.
Warning: amendment [#] is being inserted at the same location as another amendment. If you haven’t used sort codes to order amendments appearing at the same location, you will get this warning e.g. inserting paragraphs from different amendments at the same point in the bill. Check that the inserted paragraphs are in the correct order.
Can't apply amendment [#] because it overlaps with another amendment This is unlikely to occur for amended bills as it happens when the target location for an amendment is within provisions or text marked as deleted i.e. conflicting amendments.
Can't apply amendment x because the instruction isn't recognised or can't be handled this happens if it’s an amendment that is in the wrong format or a case Lawmaker doesn’t handle yet. Check the wording of the instruction is correct and change it if necessary. Otherwise it may be necessary to manually apply the changes.

Step 6: Manually apply amendments

Sometimes it’s easier to manually apply amendments that failed to be auto-applied. You can often do this by copying and pasting the content of the amendment’s quoted structure. To apply the new clause amendment with the cross heading, manually paste the new clause amendment with its cross heading after section 5 and then drag section 5 into the correct location after it.

Detailed steps to manually apply the new clause amendment

In the temporary list, place your cursor inside the quoted structure of the new clause amendment and right-mouse-click > Copy Content of Quoted Structure
In the bill being amended, place your cursor in section 4 and paste the copied content using the keyboard shortcut CTRL+V. Lawmaker will paste it into the next ‘valid’ location which happens to be after section 5 where the current part ends.
Using the structure view, drag section 5 so that appears after your newly pasted section 4A.
Save changes

Tips

Open the PDF of the published bill to help you work out the location of amendments that you are investigating.

Display the temporary list side-by-side with your bill using the Windows button on your keyboard with the left arrow which will divide your monitor view in half when you are manually applying amendments.

Delete the error and warning messages as you fix/address the issues so that you can keep track of what is left to do

Check for locked nums when applying amendments, they may need manually removing (with your cursor in the num element, right-mouse-click > Lock/unlock num)

Step 7: Finalise the document

Once all amendments have been applied and printing changes made, you will need to finalise the document by renumbering, update cross references, updating document information and making any updates to the front and back covers as required.

Detailed steps to finalise the document

Renumber the whole document
Update cross references across the whole document (watch how the cross reference in the newly inserted section 4A is updated from Section 4 to Section 2 due to the removal of 2 sections and subsequent renumbering of the bill.)
Update document information by changing the status to As amended at Consideration Stage and adding a Consideration date
Save these changes before you reinsert front and back covers: select Insert > Front Cover and then Insert > Back Cover from the upper tool bar making any changes as required to the statement in the front cover
Check the content of the bill looks correct
Check for any Document Check warnings/errors
Check the table of contents shows the correct structure and numbering of provisions
Save the changes to your bill and close the Editor using the Close Editor button

Step 8: Final checks

To ensure you have only made changes to the expected areas of the bill, it might be useful to compare the ‘As Introduced’ version to your candidate ‘As Amended’ version.

Detailed steps to compare document versions

From the Project tab, duplicate your ‘as amended’ and ‘as introduced’ bill versions ensuring that you leave ‘strip page/line numbers’ checked.
START with your duplicated As amended version and select Actions > Compare version
Select the duplicated As Introduced working version to compare it with
Rename the output version description with something more recognisable and open it in the Editor once it has been created.

Tips for using compare

To make it easier to read: delete the front and back covers using the breadcrumb to help you delete these elements

Moving provisions: when you move a provision in Lawmaker, the provision is being cut and then pasted into its new location which is why compare version shows it as a removal (red strike-out) and an insertion (blue text). This is shown with section 5 (removed - red strike-out) and section 4 (insertion - blue text).

✏️ Exercise 2: Publish the bill

Assuming the bill has completed all checks and the PDF that was generated reflects the final version of the bill, then the bill is now ready for publishing

Step 1: Publish the bill in Lawmaker

You need to publish the bill in Lawmaker in order for the amending stage to commence. It is possible to draft traditional amendments before a bill is published, but you won’t be able to submit them until the bill is published.

Detailed steps to publish the bill in Lawmaker

From the Project tab, click on the black triangle to the left of the As Amended bill version name to expand the view of snapshots
On the grey PDF snapshot version, select Actions > Publish version
The published version will appear on the right-hand side of the Project tab and a snapshot is created under the working version.

Step 2: Publish the bill on the website via EPiServer

The Assembly’s website is not yet connected to Lawmaker’s API so you will need to manually upload the bill content onto the website via EPiServer. You will need an un-line numbered bill version to do this.

Detailed steps to publish the bill on the Assembly's website

Find the published version on the right-hand side of the project tab and select Actions > Generate PDF
De-select line numbering and click on the Generate button
Save this PDF somewhere locally
Open MS Word and select Open selecting the PDF that you just saved
Copy the content of the bill into EPiServer and mark up the headings as usual

Publishing the bill in Lawmaker makes the bill available over Lawmaker’s API but you still need to update EPiServer until the website work is complete
To update EPiServer with bill content make sure you generate a PDF without line numbering
Inline amending can only happen when a published bill version exists in Lawmaker so don’t forget to publish in Lawmaker

☑️ When complete…

Move to Training Module: Generating official lists at Further Consideration Stage