...
Auto-apply basics
To use auto-apply, follow refer to the instructions in the user manual here: Applying Amendments
...
a published version of the bill must exist, and that published version must include line numbering
the applied amendments must contain accurate clause, line, and page references
the applied amendments must consist of well-formed, valid XML
the applied amendments' instructions must be insert, leave out, or leave out and insert type amendments
the wording of the applied amendments must be correct; for example, an amendment in the form “leave out ____ and substitute ____” will fail, but “leave out ____ and insert ____” will work.
Steps
Within Lawmaker, the auto-apply process consists of the following steps:
You select which amendments to attempt to auto-apply from the Amendment Manager tab. The current status of the amendments (Draft, Submitted, Tabled, Agreed) has no impact on auto-apply; amendments at any stage in their lifecycle can be auto-applied to a bill version.
You select ‘Apply Amendments’ from the Amendment Actions menu, then select whether to ‘Create a new bill version’ or apply to an existing bill version. You can use the latter option to apply additional amendments to an already created amended copy. This gives you more control over the order in which to apply amendments, which can assist with troubleshooting or allow you to apply amendments in batches.
Lawmaker will attempt to apply the selected amendments to the bill version and a toastie notification will appear on-screen telling you how many were successful. You can then open the newly created amended version in the Editor.
In the Editor, successfully applied amendments will appear as red and blue tracked changes in the body of the bill, and will have corresponding numbered cards on the right-hand side of the window, in the ‘Inline Amendments’ pane. Amendments which could not be applied will appear in the ‘Review’ pane, with an error message. The Inline Amendments pane allows you to click a card and jump to the applied amendment.
Assuming you are happy with the applied amendments, you click ‘Accept all’ on the Inline Amendments pane to apply the changes and remove the track change mark-up from the bill version. This will create a clean ‘as amended’ copy of the bill.
You can make further manual edits to the text of this version, before or after you have accepted the applied amendments, if you need to.
Known limitations and bugs
Lawmaker’s auto-apply function helps clerks speed up the process of creating ‘as amended’ versions of bills. It allows a large number of amendments to be applied to a bill version without manual intervention. However, there will always be some amendments which fail to auto-apply for one reason or anothera variety of possible reason, and will therefore require manual edits to integrate into the bill version.
If you know which amendments are likely to fail, and the manner in which they tend to fail, you will be better placed to use the auto-apply feature effectively and to avoid creating problems in the resulting bill XML. The details of the known limitations listed below should help you to manage any problematic amendments you encounter when creating an “as amended” version of a bill.
...
Amendments to rows, columns, and text in specific cells in tables can’t be auto-applied. We plan to extend auto-apply to handle these instruction types in future. For now, you will have to apply these amendments manually. If you do attempt to auto-apply amendments to tables, there is a slight risk that the amendment will appear to apply successfully but produce bad XML in your bill version.
...
Incorrect amendment wording sometimes causes amendments to be applied successfully but disappear from the
...
Editor
Amendments which are worded slightly incorrectly sometimes appear to apply correctly successfully (Lawmaker reports that shows a notification to say they were successfully applied), but when the new amended bill version is opened in the Editor the amendment is missingamendments are missing - they have not been applied to the bill text and there is no error message relating to the amendments in the Review pane.
There are two known cases of problematic amendments which suffer from this issue:
“leave out … and substitute” - amendments : Amendments which use the word ‘substitute’ in place of ‘insert’ will appear to be applied successfully but may not show up in the Editor
amendments which leave out a phrase beginning with punctuation, such as leave out “, and any other costs”, : These will also appear to be applied successfully but may not show up in the Editor
We are currently in the process of fixing the bug which prevents Lawmaker accurately reporting success and failure of auto-applied amendments such as like these.
Amendments which insert or leave out a combination of sections/paragraphs and Parts, Chapters, and cross-headings
...
Handle more complex amendments which span several XML levels
Implement auto-application of amendments to tables
Implement auto-application of Move and Divide instructions
Improve auto-application of amendments which begin before a Quoted Structure and end part-way through it
Improve handling of “leave out line” amendments
Refinements to the “Accept all” action