Omnibus bill

An omnibus bill is a proposed law that covers a number of diverse or unrelated topics. Omnibus is derived from Latin and means "for everything". An omnibus bill is a single document that is accepted in a single vote by a legislature but packages together several measures into one or combines diverse subjects.

Because of their large size and scope, omnibus bills limit opportunities for debate and scrutiny. Historically, omnibus bills have sometimes been used to pass controversial amendments. For this reason, some consider omnibus bills to be anti-democratic.

In the United States, examples include reconciliation bills, combined appropriations bills, and private relief and claims bills. Omnibus legislation is routinely used by the United States Congress to group together the budgets of all departments in one year in an omnibus spending bill. During the 19th century, there were three notable omnibus bills.

In Canada one famous omnibus bill became the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69, a 126-page, 120-clause amendment to the Criminal Code, which dealt with issues as diverse as homosexuality, prostitution, abortion, gambling, gun control and drunk driving. In the Republic of Ireland, the Second Amendment of the Constitution was an omnibus constitutional law, enacted in 1941, that made many unrelated changes to the country's fundamental law.