Students investigate how federal laws move from idea to policy and how that process can protect or harm people across Oregon communities. Working in teams, they design and defend a proposed bill through a mock congressional hearing, using evidence, civic vocabulary, and constitutional reasoning to examine checks and balances, civil rights, and exclusionary impacts. The work culminates in an interactive public expo where visitors engage with student testimony, vote on bills, and consider how government decisions shape the public good.

Students will explain how a bill moves through committee, floor debate, veto, and override, using accurate civic vocabulary to show how the branches of the federal government shape lawmaking. They will evaluate when proposed laws may serve the public good or cause harm in Oregon by analyzing impacts on different communities and connecting those impacts to civil rights, exclusionary constitutional language, and protections under the U.S. and Oregon Constitutions. Students will construct and present evidence-based arguments in a mock congressional hearing and interactive expo, using listening, questioning, collaboration, and revision to strengthen their claims. They will reflect on how their understanding of civic responsibility, inclusion, and effective participation in government has changed through the project.

Students create a team-designed proposed bill, stakeholder impact notes, and role-based hearing materials such as testimony scripts, rebuttals, veto statements, override arguments, and visual process cues. Throughout the project, they also produce claim-evidence-reasoning practice pieces, annotated bill-to-law flowcharts, and short analyses showing how the proposal could benefit or harm different Oregon communities, including civil rights implications. The culminating product is an interactive hearing station for the Bill to Law Expo where visitors hear student testimony, vote on the bill, and compare likely outcomes for public good and harm across different groups. Each team also leaves with a brief reflection summary explaining how their work answers the essential questions and how their thinking about civic responsibility and inclusion changed.

Start with a “Bill or Bust” gallery walk in which students rotate through bold policy proposals posted around the room, cast a quick vote on each one, and leave sticky-note comments predicting who in Oregon would benefit, who might be harmed, and why. Then reveal how one proposal could move through committee, floor debate, veto, and override, using role cards so students briefly act out each branch’s part in making or blocking the law. Close with a short debrief that surfaces the two driving questions about public good versus harm and how government structures shape whether an idea becomes policy.

Host a Bill to Law Expo where student teams run interactive hearing stations for peers, teachers, families, and local civic leaders. At each station, visitors listen to student testimony, review the proposed bill, vote on whether it should pass, and compare how the law could help or harm different Oregon communities through committee, debate, veto, and override outcomes. Students should present and defend their reasoning using accurate civic language, branch roles, and civil rights analysis, then gather audience questions and feedback as part of the final reflection on public good, harm, and civic responsibility.