FOREWORD Much of this textbook was originally prepared for use in a legislative drafting seminar, the idea for which derived from Appendix D of Reed Dickerson's The Fundamentals of Legal Drafting (Little, Brown & Co. 1965). The seminar's purpose was to train program lawyers of what used to be the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, so that under the guidance of experienced legislative draftsmen they could help write the bills, in the areas of their counseling experience, for HEW's annual legislative program. The best and possibly the only way to learn how to draft a bill is by trying to draft one. Most professional draftsmen wrote their first bills during an apprenticeship in which they learned largely by trial and error. But apprenticeships are time-consuming and labor-intensive. HEW's drafting seminar was an experiment in simulating the apprenticeship for a small group, no more than a dozen. It concentrated the experience into 16 sessions, of 21⁄2 hours each, spread over 8 weeks. The seminar's success encouraged me to complete the book for use by students both in future seminars and independent study. Although many of its examples and exercises are drawn from regulatory statutes, the book's focus remains on federal grant-in-aid legislation. My thanks to the members of the Legislation Division of the Department of Health and Human Services, particularly my deputy, Frances White, and to the former chief of the predecessor HEW Division, Sidney A. Saperstein, for many helpful ideas. I am grateful to my colleague, Leslie A. Platt, now an HHS Deputy General Counsel, who drew on his extensive former experience as HUD's Associate General Counsel for Legislation for a number of useful suggestions. Thanks, also, to Sally Davies of the Department's income security policy staff for doing the computational work that resulted in Appendix B. My deepest gratitude, however, must be reserved for Victor Zafra, who edited the text and suppressed my windier sentences, and for my secretary, Evelyn Jimenez, who managed to remain cheerful despite what must have seemed the endless job of typing and retyping the manuscript. DONALD HIRSCH |