Bill of rights
A bill of rights is a list of rights enjoyed by an individual in a specific context.
The most common usage of the term is to refer to the Bill of Rights included in the United States Constitution; specifically, the first ten ammendments. Other uses typically stem from this usage.
Taxpayer Bill of Rights
Typically known by the acronym "TABOR", the Taxpayer Bill of Rights is part of a social movement in the United States. It typically refers to a restraint on the ability of the government to raises taxes year-over-year.
One example is the TABOR bill passed in Colorado and added to Article 10 of its constitution in 1992. Its basic premise is to limit spending at various government levels by capping increases to the rate of inflation unless an increase above that level is approved by the electorate.
Passenger Bill of Rights
Consumer complaints about treatment by airline carriers in the United States and internationally have led to some to call for a Passenger Bill of Rights. Such a "bill" would be added to the United States' Uniform Commercial Code. Provisions of such proposals compensate air travelers for canceled or delayed flights and for lost, damaged, or delayed luggage. The common model for these provisions are those adopted by the European Union which went into effect in 2005.
In 2007, following a particularly disrupted period caused by a widespread winter storm, U.S. carrier JetBlue issued a Customer Bill of Rights specific to JetBlue and its customers.
International Bill of Rights
The International Bill of Rights consists of several parts:
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- Fact Sheet on the International Bill of Rights from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Library Bill of Rights
The American Library Association adopted a Library Bill of Rights in 1948. The aim was to express a general belief that individuals should not be denied access to books, and that books themselves should not be banned or censored due to origin or content.
Academic Bill of Rights
The Academic Bill of Rights is a proposal put forward to counter a perceived left-leaning bias in college-level academia and the discrimination that bias exposes right-leaning students to. One bill, introduced in the Ohio legislature, mandated that students be judged on the work and their reasoning and not on the conclusions reached as a result; that controversial topics not germane to a subject of instruction not be "persistently" introduced into the coursework; and that instructors will expose students to various viewpoints on subjects of instruction.
- A bill to establish the academic bill of rights for higher education (Note: this bill was introduced in 2005, in the 126th General Assembly, and died in committee.)
Donor Bill of Rights
The Donor Bill of Rights was created to ensure that donors to charities and philanthropic organizations could have confidence to where their donations were going. The bill of rights ensures that the financial statements of a charity must be accessible, that the destination of the funds (such as the percentage used for administration or further fund raising) be revealed, and that the identities of officers of the charity be made public.