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How Bills Become Law: Step 1: The Bill Is Drafted

The document outlines the 7 steps for how a bill becomes law in Washington State. It begins with stakeholders drafting a bill, which is introduced in the House or Senate and referred to committee. If the committee passes it, it goes to Rules and then the legislative floor for votes. If it passes both the House and Senate, the bills are reconciled between the chambers before being sent to the governor. The process provides many opportunities for a bill to be amended or fail to advance further.

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72 views

How Bills Become Law: Step 1: The Bill Is Drafted

The document outlines the 7 steps for how a bill becomes law in Washington State. It begins with stakeholders drafting a bill, which is introduced in the House or Senate and referred to committee. If the committee passes it, it goes to Rules and then the legislative floor for votes. If it passes both the House and Senate, the bills are reconciled between the chambers before being sent to the governor. The process provides many opportunities for a bill to be amended or fail to advance further.

Uploaded by

kmrfrom
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Washington State Legislature Civic Education Programs

HOW BILLS BECOME LAW


(AND MANY WAYS THEY DON’T)
Outline

Step 1: The bill is drafted


How it works:
• Stakeholders (public, agency, Governor, legislators) identify a problem they want solved
through legislation.
• A legislator agrees to be the prime sponsor.
• Legislative staff work with the stakeholders to draft the bill.
• The Code Reviser’s Office puts the bill into final legal language.
• The prime sponsor asks other legislators in their chamber to sign on as co-sponsors
using a blue (House) or pink (Senate) sheet.
• The bill with the signature sheet is dropped in the Hopper, a wooden box in the Code
Reviser’s Office, where it’s given a number (1000-3999 for House, 5000-7999 for
Senate).
Key Players:
1. Stakeholders (affected individuals, state agencies, the Governor, businesses, interest
groups, tribes, federal government, local government, unions, etc.)
2. Legislative staff (Senate Committee Services or House Office of Program Research, party
caucus staff, and others, who work with legislators and agencies to research and draft
bills addressing problems)
3. Code Reviser's Office (puts the bill into technical legislative language and assigns an
number)
4. Prime sponsor (the legislator who first signs on to the bill)
5. Co-sponsors (other legislators who sign on to the bill; indicates they support it)
Ways to “die”:
Until it’s “dropped in the Hopper” at the Code Reviser’s Office, the proposal is not yet a bill and
can be halted for further revision.

2014
Washington State Legislature Civic Education Programs

Step 2: Introduced in the Senate or House – First Reading


How it works:
• Once the bill is assigned a number, it is “read” on the floor of whichever chamber the
prime sponsor belongs to.
• The “reading” doesn’t actually mean the whole bill is read aloud – usually just the first
and last line.
• The bill is referred to a committee based on its subject matter (committee referrals are
decided by the House Majority Leader or Senate Floor Leader).
Key Players:
1. Leadership (elected by each party in each chamber; the majority leadership has the
most control)
• House: Speaker of the House (Majority); Minority Leader
• Senate: Majority Leader; opposite party Leader
Can it be amended? No.
Ways to “die”: None this time!

2014
Washington State Legislature Civic Education Programs

Step 3: Committee
How it works:
• Committee staff (nonpartisan legislative staff) research the bill and prepare a bill report,
in addition to working with the Committee chair to prepare the agenda for hearings.
• The Committee chair, in consultation with the Vice Chair and sometimes the Ranking
Member, decides whether to give the bill a public hearing. Leadership can also influence
what bills get heard. A public hearing is REQUIRED for the bill to advance.
• At the hearing, the prime sponsor, stakeholders, and members of the public can testify
about their opinions on the bill. Anybody can sign up to testify.
• After the hearing, the Committee Chair decides whether to move the bill into Executive
session.
• In executive session, the bill can be amended (committee members put forward
amendments, and the committee votes on them)
• Once amendments have been voted on, the committee votes on the entire bill,
as amended.
• NOTE: Amendments are changes to the language of the bill itself (not like the Bill
of Rights, an enumerated list at the end)
• If it’s passed out of committee, the bill can be referred to:
• another committee for a second hearing (often a fiscal committee if it has
significant budget impact)
• OR referred to the Rules committee.
Key Players:
1. Committee chair (determines whether to hear and take executive action on the bill)
2. Committee members (ask questions during hearing, propose amendments, vote)
3. Public, stakeholders, lobbyists (testify in the public hearing)
Can it be amended? Yes.
Ways to “die”:
• Chair decides not to give it a hearing
• Chair decides not to bring it to executive session
• Fails to win a majority vote of committee members in executive session (can happen as
a result of amendments)

2014
Washington State Legislature Civic Education Programs

Step 4: Rules Committee


How it works:
• Rules is the powerful “gatekeeper” committee that controls which bills that pass
committee will advance to be considered by the entire House or Senate.
• The process looks confusing because there are many ways to get through this step.
• The Rules Committee determines which bills will be put on a “floor calendar” for
consideration by the body.
• Noncontroversial bills can go to the Suspension Calendar in the House or the
Consent Calendar in the Senate (normal floor rules suspended, no debate)
• Regular Floor Calendar is for bills that will require some debate
• Bills that have been passed out of policy committees are put on the “Rules Review”
sheet in the House or the “White Sheet” in the Senate. They can stay here for a long
time, get sent back here, etc. – it’s a holding space.
• Each time Rules meets, each committee member can “pull” a certain number of bills
from the Review/White Sheet to the Rules Consideration/Green Sheet, and from the
Consideration/Green Sheet to the Floor Calendar.
• Once a bill is on the Floor Calendar, it can be brought up for debate, amendment, and
voting by the entire body – but this doesn’t guarantee that it will.
Key Players:
1. Speaker of the House/Lieutenant Governor (presides)
2. Rules committee members (select bills to pull, vote on pulls in Senate)
Can it be amended? No.
Ways to “die”:
• Doesn’t get pulled to the Consideration list/Green Sheet
• Doesn’t get pulled to the Floor Calendar (although leadership can sometimes bypass
Rules to put a bill on the Floor Calendar)
• X-filed (Senate) - Rules committee agrees it will not be sent to the floor (can come back
from the X-files, though)

2014
Washington State Legislature Civic Education Programs

Step 5: Floor Action – Second and Third Reading and Final Passage
How it works:
• The first step on the floor calendar is Second Reading (this is where bills are normally
placed after Rules).
• Ordered “engrossed”, if it was amended in committee in the house of origin (all
the amendments are incorporated into the body of the bill)
• Bill is debated with speeches from members, and can be amended on the floor.
• On Third Reading, the bill is voted on for final passage. According to the rules, there
should be one day between 2nd and 3rd Reading, but this is commonly suspended to go
directly to 3rd Reading (bypassing a second stop in the Rules committee).
• Not all bills on the Floor Calendar actually get a Second or Third Reading. Party
leadership controls what happens on the floor, and will rarely bring a bill up that does
not have enough votes to pass.
Key Players:
1. Majority party leadership (decides which bills to bring up for consideration)
2. Body members (speak on bills and amendments, offer amendments, vote)
Can it be amended? Yes, on Second Reading.
Ways to “die”:
• Doesn’t get a second or third reading
• Doesn’t come up for a vote
• Fails to win a majority of votes for final passage

2014
Washington State Legislature Civic Education Programs

Step 6: Opposite chamber


How it works:
• Steps 2-5 are repeated in the second house, following the very same process.
• Bills can die or be amended by the second chamber in the same ways as they did in the
chamber of origin.
• If a bill passes the second chamber but was amended from the bill that passed the
chamber of origin, we have a problem: the very same language must be voted on by
BOTH House and Senate before the bill can become law.

Step 7: Negotiate, concur, and conference between the chambers


How it works:
• If a bill is amended at any point on its way through the second chamber, it must be
returned to the first house for a vote because both houses must agree and vote for the
exact same language. Leadership decides which bills returned from the second house
will be placed on the concurrence calendar for discussion.
• The house of origin votes to concur or not concur with the second chamber’s
amendments. If they concur, the bill has passed the legislature.
• If they do not concur, the first house can ask the second house to recede. If the second
house recedes from their amendments, the bill has passed the legislature.
• If the houses cannot agree, either may request a conference committee. Leadership
appoints members from both houses to negotiate mutually acceptable language. If
conference committee agrees on changes, they issue them in a “conference report.”
• Both houses must vote to adopt the conference report. If they do, the bill has passed
the legislature. If it does not pass either or both houses (by vote or inaction), the bill has
not passed.
Key players:
1. Party leadership (both houses)
2. Conference committee members, if appointed
Can it be amended? One or both versions may be amended to ensure that both houses pass
the same bill.
Ways to “die”:
• First chamber doesn’t concur and no further action is taken
• Second chamber doesn’t recede when asked and no further action is taken
• Conference committee doesn’t come to an agreement
• Either chamber doesn’t act to adopt the conference report
• Either chamber votes down the conference report

2014
Washington State Legislature Civic Education Programs

Step 8: Governor action on the passed legislation


How it works:
• Once a bill has passed both houses, it goes to the Governor for signature.
• The Governor has 5 days (excluding Sundays) to sign, veto, or partially veto a bill (he
must veto an entire section, not just one word or line) passed during session, and 20
days (excluding Sundays) for bills passed in the last five days of session.
• The Legislature may override a veto or partial veto by a 2/3 majority vote in both
houses.
• If the governor does not take action, it becomes law as though it had been signed.
• The bill goes to the Secretary of State, where it is assigned a session law chapter
number.
Key players:
1. Governor
Can it be amended? No, but the Governor may change it by a partial veto.
Ways to die:
• Vetoed (if not overridden)

Step 9: Enrolled as law


Bills that make it all the way through this process are sent to the Secretary of State’s Office,
where they are assigned a session law chapter number. It becomes law as part of the Revised
Code of Washington.

2014

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