The Legislative Journey: Bill To Law Explained

In the United States, laws are made by the Congress, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. A bill is a proposal for a new law or a change to an existing one. The idea for a bill can come from a sitting member of the Senate or House of Representatives, be proposed during their election campaign, or be petitioned by citizens or citizen groups. Once a bill is introduced, it is assigned to a committee whose members will research, discuss, and make changes to the bill. It is then put before the chamber to be voted on. If the bill passes one body of Congress, it goes through a similar process in the other body. Once both bodies vote to accept a bill, they must reconcile any differences between the two versions. The bill then goes to the President, who can approve it, veto it, or do nothing. If the President chooses to veto a bill, Congress can vote to override the veto and the bill becomes a law.

A bill is proposed

A bill is a proposal for a new law or a change to an existing law. The idea for a bill can come from a sitting member of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, be proposed during their election campaign, or be petitioned by citizens or groups of citizens. Once a member of Congress has an idea for a law, they can draft a bill. The primary Congress member supporting the bill is called the "sponsor". The other members who support the bill are called "co-sponsors".

When a Representative has written a bill, the bill needs a sponsor. The Representative talks with other Representatives about the bill in the hopes of getting their support for it. Once a bill has a sponsor and the support of some of the Representatives, it is ready to be introduced. Only members of Congress can introduce legislation, but anyone can write it. Some important bills are traditionally introduced at the request of the President, such as the annual federal budget.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, a bill is introduced when it is placed in the hopper—a special box on the side of the clerk's desk. Only Representatives can introduce bills in the House of Representatives. When a bill is introduced, it is assigned a number that begins with H.R. A reading clerk then reads the bill to all the Representatives, and the Speaker of the House sends the bill to one of the House standing committees.

The bill is introduced

The bill is then referred to the appropriate committee for review. There are 17 Senate committees, with 70 subcommittees, and 23 House committees, with 104 subcommittees. Committees are not set in stone and can change with each new Congress. Each committee oversees a specific policy area, and the subcommittees take on more specialised policy areas. For example, the House Committee on Ways and Means includes subcommittees on Social Security and Trade.

A bill is first considered in a subcommittee, where it may be accepted, amended, or rejected. If the members of the subcommittee agree to move a bill forward, it is reported to the full committee, where the process is repeated. Throughout this stage, the committees and subcommittees call hearings to investigate the merits and flaws of the bill. They invite experts, advocates, and opponents to appear before the committee and provide testimony, and they can compel people to appear using subpoena power if necessary.

If the full committee votes to approve the bill, it is reported to the floor of the House or Senate, and the majority party leadership decides when to place the bill on the calendar for consideration. If a bill is particularly pressing, it may be considered right away. Others may wait for months or never be scheduled at all.

When the bill comes up for consideration, the House has a very structured debate process. Each member who wishes to speak only has a few minutes, and the number and kind of amendments are usually limited. In the Senate, debate on most bills is unlimited. Senators may speak to issues other than the bill under consideration during their speeches, and any amendment can be introduced. Senators can use this to filibuster bills under consideration, a procedure by which a Senator delays a vote on a bill by refusing to stand down. A supermajority of 60 Senators can break a filibuster by invoking cloture, or the cession of debate on the bill, and forcing a vote.

The bill goes to committee

Once a bill has been introduced, it is referred to a committee. Both the House and the Senate have various committees composed of groups of Congress members who are particularly interested in different topics such as health or international affairs. When a bill is in the hands of the committee, it is carefully examined and its chances of passage by the entire Congress are determined. The committee may even choose to hold hearings to better understand the implications of the bill. Hearings allow the views of the executive branch, experts, other public officials, supporters, and opponents of the legislation to be put on record. If the committee does not act on a bill, the bill is considered to be "dead".

Committees provide the most intensive consideration of a proposed measure as well as a forum where the public is given the opportunity to be heard. There are, at present, 20 standing committees in the House and 16 in the Senate, as well as several select committees. In addition, there are four standing joint committees of the two Houses, with oversight responsibilities but no legislative jurisdiction. The House may also create select committees or task forces to study specific issues and report on them to the House.

Each committee's jurisdiction is defined by certain subject matter under the rules of each House and all measures are referred accordingly. For example, the Committee on the Judiciary in the House has jurisdiction over measures relating to judicial proceedings and 18 other categories, including constitutional amendments, immigration policy, bankruptcy, patents, copyrights, and trademarks. In total, the rules of the House and of the Senate each provide for over 200 different classifications of measures to be referred to committees.

Until 1975, the Speaker of the House could refer a bill to only one committee. In modern practice, the Speaker may refer an introduced bill to multiple committees for consideration of those provisions of the bill within the jurisdiction of each committee concerned. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the Speaker must designate a primary committee of jurisdiction on bills referred to multiple committees. The Speaker may place time limits on the consideration of bills by all committees, but usually, time limits are placed only on additional committees to which a bill has been referred following the report of the primary committee.

In the Senate, introduced measures and House-passed measures are referred to the one committee of preponderant jurisdiction by the Parliamentarian on behalf of the Presiding Officer. By special or standing order, a measure may be referred to more than one committee in the Senate.

Membership on the various committees is divided between the two major political parties. The proportion of the Members of the minority party to the Members of the majority party is determined by the majority party, except that half of the members on the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct are from the majority party and half from the minority party. The respective party caucuses nominate Members of the caucus to be elected to each standing committee at the beginning of each Congress. Membership on a standing committee during the course of a Congress is contingent on continuing membership in the party caucus that nominated a Member for election to the committee. If a Member ceases to be a Member of the party caucus, a Member automatically ceases to be a member of the standing committee.

Members of the House may serve on only two committees and four subcommittees with certain exceptions. However, the rules of the caucus of the majority party in the House provide that a Member may be chairman of only one subcommittee of a committee or select committee with legislative jurisdiction, except for certain committees performing housekeeping functions and joint committees.

A Member usually seeks election to the committee that has jurisdiction over a field in which the Member is most qualified and interested. For example, the Committee on the Judiciary is traditionally populated with numerous lawyers.

Subcommittee review of the bill

Subcommittees are organized under committees and have further specialisation on a certain topic. Often, committees refer bills to a subcommittee for study and their own hearings. The subcommittee may make changes to the bill and must vote to refer a bill back to the full committee.

Committee mark-up of the bill

When the hearings and subcommittee review are completed, the committee will meet to "mark up" the bill. They make changes and amendments prior to recommending the bill to the "floor". If a committee votes not to report legislation to the full chamber of Congress, the bill dies. If the committee votes in favour of the bill, it is reported to the floor. This procedure is called "ordering a bill reported".

Final committee action

At full committee meetings, reports on bills may be made by subcommittees. Bills are read for amendment in committees by section and members may offer germane amendments. Committee amendments are only proposals to change the bill as introduced and are subject to acceptance or rejection by the House itself. A vote of committee members is taken to determine whether the full committee will report the bill favourably, adversely, or without recommendation.

If the committee votes to report the bill favourably to the House, it may report the bill with or without amendments. If the committee has approved extensive amendments, the committee may decide to report the original bill with one "amendment in the nature of a substitute" consisting of all the amendments previously adopted, or may introduce and report a new bill incorporating those amendments, commonly known as a "clean" bill. The new bill is introduced (usually by the chairman of the committee), and, after referral back to the committee, is reported favourably to the House by the committee. A committee may table a bill or fail to take action on it, thereby preventing its report to the House. This makes adverse reports or reports without recommendation to the House by a committee unusual. The House also has the ability to discharge a bill from the committee.

The bill is reported

When a committee has approved a bill, it is sent—or reported—to the House floor. Once a bill is reported, it is ready to be debated by the U.S. House of Representatives.

When a bill is debated, Representatives discuss the bill and explain why they agree or disagree with it. Then, a reading clerk reads the bill section by section, and the Representatives recommend changes. When all changes have been made, the bill is ready to be voted on.

There are three methods for voting on a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives:

• Viva Voce (voice vote): The Speaker of the House asks the Representatives who support the bill to say "aye" and those that oppose it to say "no."
• Division: The Speaker of the House asks those Representatives who support the bill to stand up and be counted, and then those who oppose the bill to stand up and be counted.
• Recorded: Representatives record their votes using the electronic voting system. Representatives can vote "yes," "no," or "present" (if they don't want to vote on the bill).

If a majority of the Representatives vote "yes," the bill passes in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill is then certified by the Clerk of the House and delivered to the U.S. Senate.

When a bill reaches the U.S. Senate, it goes through many of the same steps it went through in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill is discussed in a Senate committee and then reported to the Senate floor to be voted on.

The bill is voted on

Once a bill has been introduced, assigned to a committee, and reported to the House floor, it is ready to be voted on. There are three methods for voting on a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives:

Viva Voce (Voice Vote)

The Speaker of the House asks the Representatives who support the bill to say "aye" and those that oppose it to say "no."

Division

The Speaker of the House asks those Representatives who support the bill to stand up and be counted, and then those who oppose the bill to stand up and be counted.

Recorded

Representatives record their vote using the electronic voting system. Representatives can vote yes, no, or present (if they don't want to vote on the bill).

If a majority of Representatives vote yes, the bill passes in the House and is then certified by the Clerk of the House and delivered to the U.S. Senate. In the Senate, the bill is assigned to another committee and, if released, debated and voted on. Again, a simple majority (51 out of 100) passes the bill.

If the bill passes in the Senate, a conference committee made of House and Senate members works out any differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The resulting bill returns to the House and Senate for final approval. The Government Publishing Office prints the revised bill in a process called enrolling. The President then has 10 days to sign or veto the enrolled bill. If the President does nothing for 10 days and Congress is not in session, the bill will be vetoed by default, in what is called a "pocket veto."

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