A federal act of congress can be used to refer to the common laws formulated and enacted by the congress in the United States. The laws endorsed could either be common or public depending on how they will relate to the people and their effects. If a law is termed as public, then it applies to every individual in the country and no one is considered to be above the law in this case. On the other hand, private statues relate to explicit rules that apply to a particular group of people (Jensen, J. 2006). For instance, a group of certain professionals are expected to behave differently from another profession. The same case applies to the business people. Before an act becomes a law, it undergoes several processes in the parliament.
The congress members must first propose a bill which is then tabled in the house for all the members to either endorse it or rejected. It is deliberated upon and when it passes that level, it goes to the next level up to when the president assents to it for it to be enacted as a law. Nevertheless, there are some acts passed in the house that becomes a law even without the president’s assent especially the private rules. The following ways are related to how an act can become a law in the United States; by the president appending his signature on the bill, by the reevaluation by the congress when the presidents sends it back to the house but it should be supported by the two-thirds of the members, and lastly if the presidents fails to perform on the bill after receivership. It requires only the consent of the members in the house. It will therefore, become punishable by law upon its violation (United States 2002). However, the arm of the government obligated to perform the tasks is the legislature whose entire work is to legislate. Bearing in mind that ignorance is no defense; the government has taken it upon themselves to provide all their rules in written form. They can either be found in books or electronic materials to ensure that no one would have any excuse if caught violating any.
The president is obligated to return the bill to the house before the time lapses. It is, therefore, upon the president to communicate to the house on time to avoid any assumptions by the house. Nonetheless, the house must be in session for a bill that the president has delayed in assenting to become a law. If there happens to be time lapse and the house is out of session, the bill should be discarded and must never be tabled in the house again. For easy access, the federal acts of congress are arranged in sequential order, and the most applicable one is their passage dates and they all have distinctive numbers be it private or public (Alexander, at al 2012). There are some acts passed by the congress that are regarded as unconstitutional. This is because; they seem to violate the provisions of the constitution. The unconstitutional acts range from trade laws, labor laws to taxation laws that outline the rules that apply for one to be taxed, the amounts to be taxed, and the commodities that require taxation. Some of the proposed federal acts by the congress are; federal trade secret law.
After a series of research, it has been established that trade should be regulated and highly considered by the government as it affects most people. It had been noted that trade is not given the same preference as some of the intangible assets in country are for example, the copyrights and the patents. The newspaper do not avail much information about trade as they do it in other fields. The trade secrets are being deliberated upon by the congress as they touch on every field on their day to day lives. Trade laws should be formulated in a way that they are able to protect the business [people and at the same time improve the country’s economy. the issue of foreign exchange is effected through the trade and if not well checked, the GDP lowers leading to deteriorating economy.
The congress ought to sit and deliberate on the laws since they could either be positive or negative. The trade secrets must also be protected to ensure that they do not leak to the competitors who can later use them to their advantage. The confidential information about trades must only be retained by the responsible people so as to render the adequate and quality services to the citizenry. The state law has the responsibility to protect the trade secrets which has been applied in the different states in the United States. They guarantee protection rights and those who violate the provisions must face the consequences. There are both civil and criminal remedies where civil are never that serious and can be solved by the lower courts. However, criminal cases are added some weight and they are considered more intense than the civil ones.
The house has proposed the regulation of employer- employee relationships as this has led to breach of contracts hence revelation of so many trade secrets. Nonetheless, the laws governing the relationship differ among the states since they depend on the consent of the congress members. In cases where en employee is fired or resigns, there should be a provision governing them on how much content they should reveal to the outside world related to the company they were working for. It acts as a preventive measure against the loss of confidential information of the business that can render it prone to the challenges of keeping secrets.
The judiciary arm of government comes in to play its role when prosecuting such parties who fail to observe the trade secrets. It is their responsibility to ensure that the employers are justly treated in cases of trade secrets. This is where the remedies come in where the employee is required to compensate the aggrieved party. Mostly, the remedies are in form of money. The need for the trade secrets laws has caught many people’s attention hence the urge to create them. Bearing in mind that the trade secrets can only be protected by the state law, they have been termed to be ineffective hence the need to pass laws in the congress to ensure that even the federal laws can protect them (United States 1999). It ensures that they are brought closer to the people who need them most.
Trade Secrets Protection Act of 2014 and the Trade Secrets Acts 2014 have been proposed at the floor of the house to be deliberated upon to ensure that the business people are protected. They both aim at protecting the trade secrets that the business people uphold dearly. However, it has not gained the required publicity as most of the people are not aware of it. Unfortunately, the business people who are the center of attraction in the trade secrets bills were not in support of this. The reasons behind their reactions were known to no one. It created a lot of discontents among the members who were in the support of the bill since they would think that it was not worthwhile to propose the bill when those affected are not interested.
For the bill to gain more votes, the members would concentrate on informing the business people of the existence of the bill to gather more support in the house. If the bills happen to be favored in the house, then the business people would have more advantages in exercising their rights over the state in general (Miller, M. 2009). More prosecution choices would be granted to the business people as they would access to both the state and the federal protection provisions. The overall outcome of the bills would be winning of many cases by the businesses related to trade secrets.
However, a lot of conflicts have arisen as the members differ on the importance of the laws. The members proposing the bill have been unable to defend the laws fully as they have not been able to establish the problems that would be solved upon their enactment. The uniformity in the laws is sidelined by the heated debate in the house as the bills would safeguard the people, giving the business people an opportunity to sue to the state even in the federal courts, something that was only limited to the state courts. Many business people had been put off by that factor of accessing the state courts leading to many cases of trade secrets going unreported. It would encourage them since it was a form of security that would help in the increase of the investments in the country due to the certainty involved.
The competition levels would increase owing to the weak competitors. The protection of the trade secrets promoted healthy competition in the market hence the improvement of the economy. The issue of substandard goods was somehow solved due to the increase of competition and the provision of the rules (Bumgarner, J. 2006). This was to work for some business that had the competitive advantage over their rivals while it worked against others when they were forced out of the market by the strong teams. Conversely, it acted as an entry barrier as new entrants would fear facing the stiff competition from already established businesses.
In cases where the laws are unconstitutional, the judiciary is obligated to declare it unconstitutional for people to know that the law is not is not enforceable at law. The courts are not supposed to enforce them on the citizenry. The judiciary arm of the government is entitled to keep check on the bills and laws enacted by the house as a way of ensuring that the other arms do not violate the laws despite them being independent. The bills that infringe on the individual rights and freedoms should not be approved by the president. They should not even be tabled in the house by the members. The members should be encouraged to shun away from the divisive politics that are tend to be self-interests.
The effects of the unconstitutional bills can at times cause massive financial losses to the country. When passed into law, and the judiciary fail to declare them unconstitutional, the citizens can take to the streets to demonstrate on the laws. The supreme courts and the federal courts have their roles to play in this as a way of guaranteeing the citizens adaptable rules that are in conformity with the constitution. Keeping in check prevents other social evils that could be harmful to the citizens. The environment becomes conducive for human habitat when rights are protected (Hosen, F. 2010). They also portray a positive picture to the public improving their public image hence winning more confidence from them. They can also send a positive image to the people that no one is above the laws and everyone is entitled to the rights enjoyment. The demonstrations can either be peaceful or violent. The violent ones lead to massive loss and destruction of the property hence, heavy financial losses hence registering a retrogressing economic growth.
The federal acts of congress are mostly found in the lower courts and they are aimed at reaching the services to the citizens. Citizens had suffered for long due to the inaccessibility of the state courts and many are the times that the cases went unsolved. It was, therefore, upon the leaders the people had democratically elected to air their plights in the house congress to avoid more suffering (Ely, J. 1996). The main aim of establishing the federal acts of congress is to ensure even share of the national cake when it came to the distribution of the natural resources and the reporting of the minor cases that did not require expertise. The act would also serve to the advantage of the judiciary especially the high courts and the Supreme Court because; their work load would be reduced greatly when the citizens access the lower courts. The conflicts resolutions would be arrived at a faster rate since; there would be adequate personnel to handle the issues.
The federal acts of congress have been known of passing bills that are for the better of the country. For instance, a bill to show whether the food is genetically modified was well received by the people as it would help them identify the [products as the law required them to be effectively labeled. It, therefore, became easier for the citizens to evade the food since it was perceived to be harmful to the health of the individuals. The federal act congress on banning of marijuana was important to the people as it helped them eradicate the drug menace in the different regions. The pollution was also minimized as the smoking would take place at designated locations.
The federal employees were also protected from the exploitation by their employers. They were given the opportunity to join trade unions that would strengthen their bargaining power. The employees would be subjected to adequate remunerations where they would also be considered for overtime payment for the long working hours (Horwitz, M. 1977). They also educated the employees with regard to their rights hence making them knowledgeable in their fields on what they should be subjected to and what they should not be obligated to do. It helped in bringing the exploitative employers to book since the law had been formulated and the provisions outlined there were enforceable at law.
The employers were, therefore, obligated to avail all the necessary materials that would help the employees understand their rights more. For those working in predisposing environments to harm, the employers were supposed to provide protective gear to their employees to facilitate their safety. The fringe benefits were required to be availed to the employees as a way of motivating them to help them develop a sense of belonging in the firm there are working for instance, the social security funds, promotions and pension funds. It helped to make the employees comfortable at the work place and at the same time meet their daily needs. All these were enabled with the help of the federal acts of congress that proposed the bills for their enactment.
The federal enactments provided the employees with the opportunities to realize their worth in relation to the labor laws. The labor laws ensured that both the employees and the employers are protected from exploitation of either party thus enhanced peaceful coexistence at the work place leading to increased productivity rates ((Zietlow, R. 2006). The high production resulted to a gradual economic growth improving on the living standards of the citizens. Employment opportunities were also outlined in the act to ensure that the equal employment opportunities are at the disposal of the citizens without any discrimination. The minority groups happened to be sidelined with the majority ones as discrimination was vast in the United States. Equal employment opportunities contributed to the economic growth as every individual was involved in one way or another in the development of the nation.
Conversely, the federal laws must be encouraged as they brought a lot of satisfaction and relief to most of the people. They ensured that even those who occupied the low status in the society were subjected to the same laws in the U.S portraying that no one is above the law. Better services were also within the reach of most people as the federal acts had provided for that. Therefore, the laws and the congress should not be fought at all times as the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.
References:
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