Tools for Legislative Action
Basics of the Legislative Process
(Process and terminology may vary slightly from state to state)For you visual folks, click here for a diagram.
1. Sponsored: A Representative or Senator decided to sponsor the bill, usually with co-sponsors.
2. Introduced: The sponsor introduces the bill on the floor, and the bill is given a number.
3. To Committee: The bill is assigned to a committee; one of the committee’s subcommittee hears the bill, through a presentational process, and may amend, votes to hold, or recommend the bill. If recommended, the full committee hears, may amend, and can then vote the bill out of committee, when it goes to the floor. They may also table it (which means the bill is dead for that session).
4. To the floor: If voted out of committee, the bill goes to the floor for a vote. In some cases, a bill may be required to go through Rules Committee before it can get on the agenda for a floor vote. The Rules Committee evaluates the provisions of the bill to be sure they satisfy legal requirements.
5. Floor Vote: On the floor, where the full legislator votes, the bill may be amended, passed, or killed.
6. In a bicameral legislature (most states—with the notable exception of Nebraska—have two houses of the legislature, generally, a “House” and “Senate”) the bill may simultaneously go through the equivalent process in the other chamber, or may automatically proceed to the other chamber after passage in the first.
7. Reconciled: If differing versions are passed in the House and Senate, the bill goes to a Conference Committee (made of equal numbers from each chamber) which can change the bill however it sees fit. The conference version must go back to both chambers for yea or nay votes as-is; no floor amendments allowed.
8. Governor's Signature: The final version of the bill as passed by both chambers must be signed by the governor to become law.
9. Lifespan: Each legislative session starts with a clean slate; bills not voted on in the previous session must be reintroduced to be active.
Many thanks to Citizens for Midwifery for material adapted from their web site. Click here to go there for a lot of other great information and contact to others in your community who are interested in birth issues.
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