He helped write provisions into the Constitution of New Mexico to protect the rights of Hispanics in the areas of education, voting, and civil liberties.

The public will not be notified or have an opportunity to intervene unless states write such provisions on their own.

As a legislator, Swift wrote provisions in the California State Constitution which gave the county board of supervisors the authority to control water rates.

Another sponsor, T-Mobile, has written stricter antidoping provisions into its contracts and has instituted internal medical tests to ensure that its riders are clean.

Mr. DiFulco said his agency might also try writing provisions into the gate leases or instituting congestion charges, requiring airlines to pay more at peak periods.

Industry lobbyists have been invited to help write provisions weakening the Clean Water Act.

Ultimately, he said, he decided that Congress should "meet the same high standards in writing constitutional provisions as both the Founding Fathers and those who followed them met."

Congress can exempt itself and others from laws by simply writing such provisions into the law.

Members of Congress wrote special provisions into the bill to soften its effect on a handful of states, including Connecticut, Texas and Georgia.

If Ecuador tried to write anti-creditor provisions into its contracts, creditors would take their money elsewhere.