Omnibus, << OM nuh buhs, >> bill is a term sometimes used for a bill that includes several unrelated measures when it is put before a legislative assembly. It is used to pass several bills at once. The bill is named for an omnibus (bus), a vehicle that carries a number of people.
The term was first used in 1850. In that year there were a number of questions in dispute between the North and the South in the Congress of the United States. Various bills had been offered dealing with slavery and the treatment of fugitive slaves. The Compromise of 1850 was proposed in an attempt to settle all these questions at once. It was denounced and jeered at as an omnibus bill. See Compromise of 1850 .
Omnibus bills are considered bad practice. When a number of unrelated items are crowded into one bill, it is hard to give each the study it deserves. In addition, an omnibus bill may include provisions that would be unlikely to pass on their own merits. Sometimes, legislators attach an amendment called a rider to an important bill. Opponents are forced to accept the rider if they want the rest of the bill to become law. The constitutions of most states and provinces provide that a single bill shall relate to one topic only.
