In legislative procedure, a rider is an additional provision added to a bill or other measure under the consideration by a legislature A legislature is the law-making body of a political unit, usually a national government, that has power to amend and repeal public policy. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as legislation. Legislatures observe and steer governing actions and usually have exclusive authority to amend the budget or budgets involved in the process.Legislature
What is a government rider?
Robert Longley is a U.S. government and history expert with over 30 years of experience in municipal government and urban planning. In U.S. government, “riders” are bills in the form of additional provisions added to the original versions of bills or resolutions considered by Congress.
What is rider government?
What is a rider in government? In legislative procedure, a rider is an additional provision added to a bill or other measure under the consideration by a legislature, having little connection with the subject matter of the bill. Riders are usually created as a tactic to pass a controversial provision that would not pass as its own bill.
What does rider mean in legal terms?
What Are Home Owners Insurance Riders?
- Scheduled personal property coverage. This rider extends coverage for valuables, such as jewelry and antiques, and protects them against additional risks that a standard homeowners policy does not cover, for ...
- Water backup coverage. ...
- Building code coverage. ...
- Business property coverage. ...
- Identify theft restoration coverage. ...
What is the legal definition of a rider?
rider ( ˈraɪdə) n 1. a person or thing that rides, esp a person who rides a horse, a bicycle, or a motorcycle 2. (Law) an additional clause, amendment, or stipulation added to a legal or other document, esp (in Britain) a legislative bill at its third reading 3.
What is the purpose of a legal rider?
The purpose of a rider is to modify, clarify, or add more information to the initial contract after it has already been signed by the legal parties involved. These modifications or additions, when accomplished by means of a rider, save everyone the time and expense of having to rewrite a new contract from scratch.
What's a rider in a contract?
A rider is a document that addresses additional details, conditions, or terms of a contract. For example, in real estate, an attorney may draft a contract rider to supplement a standard Purchase and Sale Agreement.
What does a rider mean in legal terms?
In the legislative context, the U.S. Senate glossary describes rider as an “[i]nformal term for a nongermane amendment to a bill or an amendment to an appropriation bill that changes the permanent law governing a program funded by the bill.” That is, a rider is an amendment to a law or new law that is attached onto a ...
Does a rider supercede the contract?
While these should not change the two parties' basic terms, lawyers typically include language that the riders supersede anything agreed to in the initial purchase and sale agreement.
What is a rider in law?
rider. an additional clause, amendment, or stipulation added to a legal or other document. In particular, a statement made by a jury in addition to its verdict, such as a recommendation for mercy. RIDER, practice, legislation. A schedule or small piece of paper or parchment added to some part of the record; as, when, ...
What is a rider in the Constitution?
A schedule or small piece of paper or parchment added to some part of the record; as, when, on the reading of a bill in the legislature, a new clause is added, this is tacked to the bill on a separate piece of paper, and is called a rider. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.
What is a rider in insurance?
rider. n. 1) an attachment to a document which adds to or amends it. Typical is an added provision to an insurance policy, such as additional coverage or temporary insurance to cover a public event. 2) in legislatures, a rider is an amendment tacked on to a bill which has little or no relevance to the main purpose of the legislation, ...
Why do we have a rider on a bill?
A rider may be attached to a bill in an attempt to sneak through a measure that would not attract majority support if proposed by itself. Sometimes, too, a bill's opponents may attempt to defeat it by adding a controversial rider. In insurance, riders change the contract, or policy, between the purchaser and the insurance company.
What is a rider in a document?
Rider. A schedule or writing annexed to a document such as a legislative bill or insurance policy. A rider is an attachment, schedule, amendment, or other writing that is annexed (added) to a document in order to modify it.
Why are riders controversial?
Lawmakers' attempts to add new laws to bills through riders are sometimes controversial. Since a rider need not be related to the subject matter of the bill , legislators sometimes seize the opportunity to further their political agendas.
Why are riders important?
The addition of riders reveals much about the political agendas of lawmakers. Riders make ideal opportunities to introduce controversial or unpopular fiscal changes. Often these are attached to appropriations bills, which must be passed annually to fund the operation of state and federal government.
What is a rider in Congress?
Congress, riders have been a traditional method for congressional leadership to advance controversial measures without building coalitions specifically in support of them, allowing the measure to move through the legislative process: "By combining measures, the legislative leadership can force members ...
What is a rider in a bill?
Rider (legislation) In legislative procedure, a rider is an additional provision added to a bill or other measure under the consideration by a legislature, having little connection with the subject matter of the bill. Some scholars identify riders as a specific form of logrolling, or as implicit logrolling.
How many states have line item vetos?
To counteract riders, 43 of the 50 U.S. states have provisions in their state constitutions allowing the use of line item vetos so that the executive can veto single objectionable items within a bill, without affecting the main purpose or effectiveness of the bill.
What was the rider attached to the Pension Funding Equity Act?
The rider "Confirmation of antitrust status of graduate medical resident matching programs" was attached to the Pension Funding Equity Act and gave the Association of American Medical Colleges a victory in the antitrust case Jung v. Association of American Medical Colleges.
Can you add riders to a bill in the Philippines?
The Congress of the Philippines is prohibited to add riders in bills. According to Article VI, Section 26 (1) of the Constitution of the Philippines, bills must espouse a particular subject which has to be conveyed in the title thereof.
Can riders be prevented?
In some legislative systems, such as the British Parliament, riders are prevented by the existence of the long title of a bill that describes the full purpose of the bill . Any part of the bill that falls outside the scope of the long title would not be permitted. However, legislators often bypass this limitation by naming a bill vaguely, such as by appending "and for connected purposes" to the name.
Is riding a form of logrolling?
Some scholars identify riders as a specific form of logrolling, or as implicit logrolling . Others distinguish riders from logrolling. Adding riders to legislation is not permitted in legislatures bound by a single-subject rule.
What is a rider in insurance?
A rider is an insurance policy provision that adds benefits to or amends the terms of a basic insurance policy to provide additional coverage. Riders tailor insurance coverage to meet the needs of the policyholder. Riders come at an extra cost—on top of the premiums an insured party pays. Riders come in various forms, including long-term care, ...
Why do insurance companies use riders?
Some policyholders have specific needs not covered by standard insurance policies, so riders help them create insurance products that meet those needs . Insurance companies offer supplemental insurance riders to customize policies by adding varying types of additional coverage. The benefits of insurance riders include increased savings from not purchasing a separate policy and the option to buy different coverage at a later date.
What is the limit for a rider on a homeowners policy?
A rider broadens the standard coverage. For example, an expensive piece of jewelry can be protected by extending personal property coverage through a scheduled personal property rider. A homeowners policy may have a coverage limit of $50,000 for personal property, but it might also have a sub-limit of $1,500 for jewelry.
What is term conversion rider?
A term conversion rider allows the policyholder to convert an existing term life insurance to permanent life insurance without a medical exam. This is typically favorable to young parents seeking to lock in coverage to protect their families in the future.
What are the benefits of a rider on life insurance?
The benefits of insurance riders include increased savings from not purchasing a separate policy and the option to buy different coverage at a later date. Say an insured person has a terminal illness and adds an accelerated death benefit rider on a life insurance policy. This rider would provide the insured with a cash benefit while living.
What is a waiver of premium riders?
Waiver of Premium Riders. This rider is generally available only when the policy begins and may not be available in every state. Under the waiver of premium rider, the insured party is relieved of premium payments if the policyholder becomes critically ill, disabled, or seriously injured.
What happens to the death benefit rider when the insured passes away?
When the insured passes away, their designated beneficiaries receive a reduced death benefit —the face value less the portion used under the accelerated death benefit rider. Buying an insurance rider is up to the insured party, who should weigh the cost against their individual needs.
What is a rider in the US government?
In another form, a rider is an extraneous appropriation of funds, such as Trump’s request for funding for a U.S.-Mexican border wall, attached to an appropriations bill that is necessary to continue funding the government. Not all policy riders are bad, though, but we’ll get to that a bit later.
What is a good example of a policy rider?
A Good Example of a Policy Rider: The Hyde Amendment. First introduced by the late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), the Hyde Amendment is a common policy rider that is attached to the Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations (Labor-HHS) bill, which funds a variety of health care programs. Hyde prohibits the use of federal funding for elective abortions in ...
What happens when a rider like the Hyde Amendment is consistently included over and over again?
When a rider like the Hyde Amendment is consistently included over and over again, it becomes much more difficult to keep it out in future bills, which has had enormous implications for reproductive justice.
Why are policy riders less common?
For the most part, when Congress and the White House are controlled by the same party, policy riders are less common because there is more agreement on must-pass bills. However there are a two key things to keep an eye out for:
What are some examples of good policy riders?
A Good Example of a Good Policy Rider: Blocking Funding for Trump’s Racist Border Wall. When Democrats took control of the House in 2018, that meant that even though Trump was still president, they had a say in how these “must pass” government funding bills were written.
What are must pass bills?
Must-pass bills may still be used in attempts to pass legislation with bipartisan support. For example, the annual bill authorizing the Defense Department (National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA) often receives bipartisan support, and previously was used as a vehicle to enact a paid leave program for federal workers. We need to be wary of this during a trifecta, because bills like the NDAA that receive bipartisan support are often not nearly as progressive as we believe they should be. That means popular policy riders could be used as a way of enticing progressive Democrats to vote for a bad Defense bill that perpetuates endless wars and has giveaways to greedy defense contractors. Moderate Democrats might also use these riders as political cover to justify their vote for the underlying bill, even if it includes harmful compromises.

Overview
Europe
The Constitutional Council of France has taken an increasingly hard view against riders, which it considers unconstitutional and contrary to the rules of procedure of the parliamentary assemblies. In 1985 the Council started striking down amendment to laws because they were unrelated to the subject of the law. Two special categories of riders merit mention: the "budgetary riders", attached to budget bills, and "social riders", attached to the budget bill for social security organizations, cl…
United States
In the U.S. Congress, riders have been a traditional method for members of Congress to advance controversial measures without building coalitions specifically in support of them, allowing the measure to move through the legislative process: "By combining measures, the legislative leadership can force members to accept a measure that might not survive alone because they want the entire bill (or another part of it) to pass." Since the 1980s, however, omnibus bills have b…
Philippines
The Congress of the Philippines is prohibited to add riders in bills. According to Article VI, Section 26(1) of the Constitution of the Philippines, bills must espouse a particular subject which has to be conveyed in the title thereof.
Examples
• CISA Act (2015)
• REAL ID Act (2005)
• Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (2003)
• Lautenberg Amendment
See also
• Christmas tree bill
• Cornhusker Kickback
• Downsize DC Foundation
• Omnibus spending bill