ONGOING QUALITY OF LAWS INSTITUTE PROJECTS
The Quality of Laws Institute is involved with the following projects, which involve the science of laws and quality programs for laws and lawmaking. Some of these projects will take years or decades to complete, and some will never end (e.g., the accumulaltion of scientific knowledge of laws and lawmaking):
1) Research to determine the feasibility and value of quality design standards for proposed new laws (bills)
of (United States') State Governments.
2) Research to determine the feasibility and value of quality assurance programs for existing laws of
government.
3) Participatory Democracy: Engage the public in a quality design program that identifies defective bills now
pending before (United States') State Governments. The bills that volunteers identify as defective will be
submitted for tabling or redesign by the legislature, or veto by the governor of the State.
As experience is gained, this project will be expanded to include quality design programs for the bills of
every government.
4) Participatory Democracy: Engage the public in a quality assurance program that identifies substandard
laws of (United States') State governments. The QA program will recommend the repeal of defective,
outmoded, ineffective, unenforced, and harmful laws.
Recently enacted laws can be searched on the web. However, many thousands of hours of on-site library
research will be needed to investigate older enforceable laws that have not been entered onto an
electronic data base (e.g., laws enacted before 1990).
As experience is gained, this project will be expanded to include quality assurance programs for the laws
of every government.
5) Participatory Democracy: Engage the public in a quality improvement program that identifies
improvements for, and alternatives to, present laws. The "open sourcing" of ideas for improving laws will
tap the vast resources of the public -- and holds the potential for accelerating the transition of governments
to the status of true democracy.
As experience is gained, this project will be expanded to include quality improvement programs for the
laws of every government.
6) Conduct "quality law" contests for students. Students will study the legislative process of their State
Government and provide a critique of selected bills that have been submitted to the Governor for either
approval or veto. Students will have "hands on" experience with the lawmaking process and learn the
value of quality programs for laws. Prizes will be awarded to the student groups based upon the quality of
their research.
7) Update and expand the Index Lex Legis to keep it current with the scientific literature.
8) Engage the science community in the expansion of the Index Lex Legis to include Outcomes Research
and Engineering Design Methodologies.
9) Engage the science community in the establilshment of a Scientific Society of Peers for the Science of
Laws (www.scienceoflaws.com).
10) Engage the science community in the development of the journals of the science and engineering
disciplines of laws. The Qualtiy of Laws Institute will accept and peer-review submitted manuscripts of
scientific articles that are relevant to the science and engineering of laws. Articles that are accepted by
the peer review process will be published by the Scientific Society of the Science of laws.
11) Engage the education community in the development and implementation of college curricula -- to the
Ph.D. level -- for the science and engineering disciplines of laws.
If you (as a foundation, corporation, or individual) would like to sponsor one of our projects in whole or in part, please consider a donation to the Quality of Laws Institute. Click here for information on donations to the Institute.