What is a placeholder bill (caption, spot, shell or vehicle bill)?

In several states, lawmakers file bills that do almost nothing at first. They hold a bill number or a subject, and the real content arrives later in an amendment. States call them different names:

• Tennessee: caption bill
• California: spot bill
• Indiana and Arizona: vehicle bill
• Hawaii: short form bill
• Other states: shell bill

How we show them

In states where we have confirmed the practice, a bill we are confident is a placeholder carries a label with your state's name for it, and its page explains what that means. Browse also has a filter to show only these bills in those states.

While a placeholder has not been filled in:

• Its text says little about what it will eventually do, so the summary and analysis say little too.
• Home and the Act tab do not suggest it for a letter, because there is nothing meaningful to support or oppose yet.

When it is rewritten

When an amendment fills the bill in, the label changes to show the bill was rewritten. If you follow it and have alerts on, we tell you. If you analyzed the bill before the rewrite, the analysis is marked out of date, and you can run it again without using your one refinement for that bill.

Arizona's "strike everything" amendments, which replace a bill's whole content, are shown as a replaced bill rather than a placeholder.

If this does not solve it, email support@conservativestates.app with the email address on your account.