HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW:
AN INFORMATION GUIDE TO THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

The legislative process varies slightly by jurisdiction. However, CMOR has developed the following fact sheet to provide the basics of how a bill becomes a law.

Legislative Structure
Every State (except Nebraska) and Congress has two bodies that make up its Legislature -- the House (sometimes referred to as the Assembly) and the Senate. Legislators who are members of the House are referred to as Representatives (if this body is designated by the name “Assembly” rather than “House” the person is referred to as Assemblyman or Assemblywoman). Legislators in the Senate are referred to as Senators.

The Bill
A bill is introduced by a legislator in the body of which he/she is a member (i.e. Senators introduce bills in the Senate, Representatives introduce bills in the House). This legislator is called the bill's sponsor. The bill can amend existing law, repeal existing law or create new law. The ideas or motivations of the bill can come from a variety of sources, not the least of which is the legislator's own constituency.

Committee Assignment
A bill is then assigned a number and referred to an appropriate committee (or committees) in that legislative body for review. Public hearings may be held to gather more information about the bill from members of the pubic. The committee can then take several different actions*:

• Report the bill with favorable recommendations
• Recommend the bill for passage with amendments
• Replace the bill with a substitute
• Report the bill with recommendations that the bill be referred to another committee;
• Recommendation of indefinite postponement;
• Reporting the bill to the floor and giving no recommendation,

Vote
After the bill has gone through the committee process, it is placed on the legislative calendar and is debated and voted on by the legislative body.

Killing a Bill
If a bill fails to pass through the committees to which is was referred and/or pass both legislative bodies, the bill is considered to have "died".

Referral To The Other Legislative Body
If the bill passes in the original body, it goes on to the other legislative body for consideration. If the bill is passed in the same form by both bodies, it is ordered “enrolled” in the body in which it originated. It then goes to the Governor (or in the case of federal legislation to the President) for his/her consideration. If both versions of the bill are not identical then (depending on certain circumstances and the jurisdiction) the bill will either go back to the body from which it originated or be sent to a conference committee made up of members from both bodies to reconcile the differences between the versions of the bill.

Governor/President
After the bill has been approved by both bodies it is transferred to the Governor/President for consideration. The Governor/President can approve the measure, veto it or if he/she takes no action with the bill for a pre-subscribed number of days while the legislature is in session, the bill “dies.” If, during the specified number of days the Legislature has not been in session, the bill is considered vetoed.

If you have any questions or would like more specific information about a specific jurisdiction, please contact CMOR government affairs staff.

*The power of a legislative committee varies slightly by jurisdiction, this information is provided as an example of the type of powers they have.