LEGISLATIVE  PROCESS

Legislative process is a compendium of Senate rules and procedures in association with the United State Congress that considers thousands of bills during each session at the legislative meet. The process of suggesting a bill which later goes through a series of evaluation, consideration and prioritized based on importance within various committees and sub committees is the legislative process of America. In simple words, it can be said as the process involved that starts from a bill which ends as a law.

The system is subject to various terms and conditions beyond which it will not be accepted by the government body. A member of the Congress, house or senate has the sole rights to suggest a bill for consideration known as ‘sponsor’. Those other members who support, and involve themselves in pushing the bill ahead will be the ‘co-sponsors’. Several co-sponsors will participate in important bills.

The four basic types of legislative bill as considered by the congress are; bills, simple resolution, joint resolutions, and concurrent resolutions. A suggested bill will go official after it is printed by the Government printing office in the Congressional Record accompanied with an identification number as H.R. # for House bills and S.# for Senate bills. It goes to committee consideration after which the committee action occurs.

 The latter process involves committee members actively involved in assessing the necessity of the bill and its impact on the federal budget. Majority of the bills without action will be stamped as ‘died in committee’ while a few which pass the test will enter the legislative process.

The subcommittee review beings with testimonials from industry experts, government officials and the like to endorse the bill. Once approved, the full committee will make amendments in the step named as ‘Mark Up’ and it will be reported officially as committee action reporting a bill when it officially reaches the Senate or the House.

 Further legislative process proceeds with the Publication of Committee Report which will be allotted a time for debate based on Legislative calendar and voted for declaration. With the winning votes, the bill will move from one chamber to another i.e. from House to Senate or vice versa where a similar process is repeated. A conference committee follows on majority approval it will be forwarded to the President for his approval signature.

Legislative process ends with President’s approval and if denied it goes to a ‘Veto’ that can be overridden to pass the bill by the members of House and Senate.  

 Questions:

• How does the legislative body operate in government bills?
• What are the steps involved before a bill becomes a law?