Federal Sunset Laws

EdwinA

Verified User
I think pretty much all Federal and state laws should have such clauses. Those that aren't criminal statutes, in any case. A discussion on an example here. PDF file for those on phones.


Our topic is a federal sunset law. More specifically, should Congress pass a general federal sunset law providing that most-or at least many-federal laws expire after, say, twenty years unless both houses of Congress and the President reenact the law?

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PROFESSOR MERRILL: Thank you very much, Judge.

Sunset provisions come in various forms. They can apply to entire statutes, to particular statutory provisions, to agency regulations and programs, or to administrative agencies themselves. Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to James Madison, even proposed that the Constitution include a sunset provision that
would require adopting a new one in nineteen years, which Jefferson regarded as a single generation.


Another essay here.

 
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