GRAND RAPIDS, MI — In his first two years on Capitol Hill, U.S. Rep. Justin Amash and his staff tried to read every piece of legislation that crossed his desk.

They learned a lot, chiefly that federal laws can be nearly impossible to understand.

Earlier this week, Amash, R-Cascade, introduced the Readable Legislation Act,

. The bill, one of a few pieces of transparency legislation expected from the conservative Congressman, intends to make bills easier to understand for both the public and members of Congress.

"It gives members of Congress one fewer excuse to not study bills before voting on them," said Amash's spokesman, Will Adams, who added it will "allow members of the public to follow what Congress is doing."

Bills are often riddled with cross-references to other laws, amendments and sections of U.S. code. Laws sometimes change simply because they are referenced in a bill without explanation. Amash's Readable Legislation Act aims to stop that practice.

‘‘No Act shall be revised or amended by mere reference to it. Every bill or joint resolution which amends an existing section, subsection, or other subdivision of any Act shall set forth the section, subsection, or other subdivision sufficiently to enable the intent and effect of the bill or joint resolution to be clearly understood," the two-page bill states.

Amash pushed through similar reforms at the beginning of the legislative session

. In one rule,

House committees must print not only the current law but also surrounding provisions. If sections of other laws are changed by the new legislation, the committee report accompanying the bill must print those changes. A second rule required

Congress to print cross-references to the U.S. Code in legislation.

The Readable Legislation Act would extend these rules to all bills and make the rules binding from one Congress to the next, Adams said. Rules can be changed at the start of a session.

Adams pointed to President Barack Obama's health care reform as a bill that could have benefited from Amash's legislation.

"It is so riddled with cross-references and deletions and insertions that no one would be able to understand it unless they had a full copy of the U.S. Code in front of them and spent hours chasing down cross-references," Adams said.

Amash championed congressional transparency during his first term. The recent legislation grew out of frustration over bills during that first term, Adams said.

The rules proposed by Amash in January enjoyed widespread support among Congressional Republicans and easily passed. Adams expects bi-partisan support for the Readable Legislation Act.

"I can't imagine what the argument against it would be," he said.

Amash plans to announce a couple more bills aimed at making Congress more transparent. Adams was mum on details but said they would be similar to the Readable Legislation Act.

— Contact Aaron Aupperlee at aaupperl@mlive.com or (616) 430-4820. Follow him on Twitter at @tinynotebook.