State & Local GovernmentThe Legislative Process

“I’m Just a Bill”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ

• Process of Bill Passage

• Similar method employed at state & federal levels

Part-Time Legislatures

• The Arkansas General Assembly convenes on the second Monday of every other year.

• A session lasts for 60 days unless the legislature votes to extend it. The governor can issue a "call" for a special session during the interims between regular sessions.

• While the process is basically the same, the inner-workings of state legislatures are much different when compared to Congress.

• State legislatures deal with a different set of political issues, and hence their standing committees (focusing on ‘police powers’) are distinct from those found in the national legislature (dealing with ‘defense’ and intelligence issues).

• The major issues are funding of public schools, institutions of higher education, highway and bridge construction, health and human services, state prisons, the State Police and state parks.

The Legislative Process

• Idea• All legislation begins as an idea or concept. Ideas and

concepts can come from a variety of sources. The process begins when a Senator or Assembly Member decides to author a bill.

• The Author • A Legislator sends the idea for the bill to the Legislative

Counsel where it is drafted into the actual bill. The draft of the bill is returned to the Legislator for introduction. If the author is a Senator, the bill is introduced in the Senate. If the author is an Assembly Member, the bill is introduced in the Assembly.

• First Reading / Introduction• A bill is introduced or read the first time when the bill

number, the name of the author, and the descriptive title of the bill is read on the floor of the house. No bill may be acted upon until 30 days has passed from the date of its introduction.

Forms of Congressional Action

• Bills (normal legislation)• Joint Resolutions

• Essentially the same as regular bills

• Concurrent Resolutions• A matter affecting the operations of both Houses

is usually initiated by a concurrent resolution

• Simple Resolutions• A matter concerning the rules, the operation, or

the opinion of either House alone is initiated by a simple resolution.

Writing Bills

• A bill is drafted as legislation. Who writes it? • A member of congress• Staffers• Lobbyists• Interests groups• Members of the Executive Branch• Departments and Agencies

• Strategic bill writing to ensure passage is common.

Introduction & Assignment

• Introducing the Bill• A bill is given to the Chief Clerk of the House or the

Secretary of the Senate and assigned a number. The sponsor(s) of a bill signs the original copy.

• A bill can be introduced first in either the House or the Senate (exception: appropriations)

• Members of the Arkansas legislature are the only ones who can formally introduce a bill (though a representative can introduce a bill for someone ex. the President)

• Once it is introduced, the Speaker of the House (in a House bill) will take it and assign it to a committee

Arkansas Ledge: Speaker of the House

• The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE presides over the body and is elected by the membership every two years. His duties include supervising and directing the daily order of business, recognizing members to speak, preserving order in the House, deciding all questions of order, certifying all measures passed, assigning committee leadership, and naming members to select committees.

• The Speaker also appoints a leadership team, which includes a Speaker Pro Tempore, who presides in the absence of the Speaker. The Speaker also may appoint representatives from each of the House's four caucus districts to serve as Assistant Speakers Pro Tempore who assist in leadership duties.

Referal to Committee

• Each committee's jurisdiction is divided into certain subject matters under the rules of each House and all measures affecting a particular area of the law are referred to the committee with jurisdiction over that particular subject matter.

• For example, the Committee on the Judiciary in the House has jurisdiction over measures relating to judicial proceedings generally, and 17 other categories, including constitutional amendments, immigration and naturalization, bankruptcy, patents, copyrights, and trademarks.

• In total, the rules of the House and [rules] of the Senate each provide for over 200 different classifications of measures to be referred to committees

• The Speaker has the option of referring a bill to just one committee or making a multiple referral: sending it to several committees.

Dead End

• The S of H refers it to committee. 9 times out of 10, that’s it. Most bills don’t even get a hearing. Why?• a. It might not have much support in the

committee• b. The committee might not have enough time to

get to it (impossible to get to all of them)• c. It could be a duplicate bill (was introduced by

more than one Congressman). The committee choses one as ‘the vehicle’ and ignores the others.

Committees

• There are a variety of committees that specialize on particular issue areas. But structurally there are two kinds of committees:• a. Standing committees

• No set duration• Set jurisdiction

• b. Temporary committees• The most important standing House

committees• Rules Committee

Arkansas Ledge

• There are 10 Standing Committees in the House and nine similar Standing Committees in the Senate.

• Each House committee has 20 members; Senate

committees have seven or eight members each. There are five joint committees made up of members from both the House and Senate.

Arkansas House: Standing Committees

• Education • Judiciary • Public Health, Welfare & Labor • Public Transportation • Revenue and Taxation • Aging, Children & Youth, Legislative & Military

Affairs • Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development • City, County and Local Affairs • Insurance and Commerce • State Agencies and Governmental Affairs

Arkansas Ledge: Key Sub-Committees

• Education• Early Childhood Permanent Subcommittee • Kindergarten through Twelve, Vocational/Technical Institutions Permanent

Subcommittee • Higher Education Permanent Subcommittee

• Judiciary • Courts/Civil Law Permanent Subcommittee • Corrections/Criminal Law Permanent Subcommittee

• Public Health, Welfare and Labor• Human Services Permanent Subcommittee • Health Services Permanent Subcommittee

• Public Transportation • Motor Vehicle and Highways Permanent Subcommittee • Public Transportation and Rail Permanent Subcommittee

• Revenue and Taxation • Income Taxes—Personal and Corporate Permanent Subcommittee• Complaints and Remediation Permanent Subcommittee

Arkansas House: Select Committees

• Two Select Committees operate exclusively within the House. Members of the committees are appointed by the Speaker. The House Select Committees are :

• The House Committee on Rules• The House Management Committee

• The Committee on Rules considers all proposed action touching the House rules, the joint rules and the order of business. The Committee also considers all legislation dealing with alcohol, cigarettes, tobacco, tobacco products, coin operated amusement devices, vending machines, lobbying, code of ethics, pari-mutuel betting and similar legislation.

Select Committees con’t

• The House Management Committee works with the Speaker of the House to direct and oversee operations of the House of Representatives. Its duties include the hiring and supervision of the House Staff, the development of personnel policies and procedures, and the monitoring of facility usage and maintenance.

Joint Committees

• Representatives also serve on five committees that operate jointly with the Senate. They are:

• Joint Budget• Joint Retirement and Social Security Programs• Joint Energy• Joint Performance Review • Joint Committee on Advanced, Communications and

Information Technology

Committee Hearings & Markup

• If the bill is important enough, the committee may hold public hearings on it where they deliberate the bill, its merits, and its statutory language.

• Interest groups and interested individuals may testify for and/or against the bill.

• After hearings are completed, the subcommittee usually will consider the bill in a session that is popularly known as the "markup" session. The views of both sides are studied in detail and at the conclusion of deliberation a vote is taken to determine the action of the subcommittee.

• In the “markup” session changes to the language of the bill are considered.

• It may decide to report the bill favorably to the full committee, with or without amendment, or unfavorably, or without recommendation. The subcommittee may also suggest that the committee "table" it or postpone action indefinitely.

Committee Action

• A standing committee may report a bill to the floor in the same way that a subcommittee reports a bill to the full committee. The committee may:• a. Report the bill with favorable recommendation.• b. Report the bill with amendments with favorable

recommendation.• c. Report the bill with the recommendation that a substitute

be adopted.• d. Report the bill without recommendation.• e. Report the bill with amendments but without

recommendation.• f. Report the bill with the recommendation that the bill be

referred to another committee.• g. Take no action on a bill.• h. Vote to not report a bill out of committee.• i. Vote to refer it back to subcommittee.

Committee Action (con’t)

• In the cases of d and e, the bill, upon being reported from committee, is tabled on the floor (temporarily removed from consideration).

• A majority vote of the members present and voting in the house where the bill is tabled is required to remove the bill from the table before it may be given further consideration.

• In both houses, a majority vote of the members serving on a committee is necessary to report a bill.

• If a committee fails to report a bill, a motion to discharge the committee from consideration of the bill may be offered in the house having possession of the bill.

• If this motion is approved by a vote of a majority of the members elected and serving, the bill is then placed in position on the calendar for floor action.

The Golden Rules

• Once the bill is reported out the next step is going to the Rules Committee

• Important bills always go to the Rules Committee• The Rules Committee is controlled by the majority party.• The Rules Committee sets procedure (the rules) for how

the bill will handled from that point on. Procedure can influence the outcome of the bill.

• The Rules Committee can also kill a bill (this is atypical).• The Rules Committee will usually pass it on to the house

with a Rule assigned to it. It will choose bills that will help the party. If the party likes the bill, it can be assigned a closed rule (to prevent mucking). If the party doesn’t like the bill, it can assign it an open rule (so it can be changed to better suit the party).

More Rules

• The Rules Committee sets the schedule for the bill (what day it will come up for consideration).

• The Rules committee sets rules for the length of debate on the bill on the floor. How many hours of debate, who will speak on it, etc. etc.

• The 2 ends of the spectrum of rule making:• Open Rule - any amendment is allowed (as long

as it is germane to the topic). • Closed Rules - no amendments allowed.

• Once the bill passes the Rules Committee, it is reported to the floor.

Debate

• Second Reading• During general debate on a bill, an accurate

account of the time used on both sides is kept and the Chairman terminates the debate when all the time allowed under the rule has been consumed.

• After general debate, the second reading of the bill begins. The second reading is a section-by-section reading during which time germane amendments may be offered to a section when it is read (if amendments are allowed).

Amendments: Germaneness

• The Arkansas Constitution (Article V, Section 2) prohibit amendments of a subject matter different from the text under consideration.

• This rule, commonly known as the germaneness rule, is considered the single most important rule of the House & the Senate in Arkansas, because of the obvious need to keep the focus of a body the size of the House on a predictable subject matter.

• The germaneness rule applies to the proceedings in the House, the Senate, the standing committees, and the joint committees. There are hundreds of prior rulings or "precedents" on germaneness available to guide the Chair.

Strategic Amendments:

• King of the Hill• the last amendment adopted in the

Committee of the Whole is reported back to the House for a vote on final passage

• Queen of the Hill• the amendment with the most votes

adopted in the Committee of the Whole is reported back to the House for a vote on final passage

The Floor: Final Consideration

• The third reading is by title only, and the bill is put to a vote, which may be by voice or roll call, depending on the circumstances and parliamentary rules.

• A member who must be absent at the time of a vote may contract (or “pair”) with a member of the opposition to abstain, balancing each other out.

One down…

• Why do members vote one way or the other?• a. Personal ideology• b. District concerns (constituency)• c. Party & Party leaders• d. Interest groups• e. President

• In order to become law, the bill must be passed in its exact form by the Senate. The same goes for bills that start in the Senate.

A House Divided…

• What happens if the bill passes, but the bills in the Senate and in the House are in any way different?

• When two bills are different, they must be reconciled (reconciliation bill). The most prominent way that important bills are reconciled is in conference.

• Conference committees are committees that have members from both chambers of Congress that are selected by the majority parties in either house, and they compromise/work out the details to produce one bill.

• The reconciliation bill is then sent to the House and the Senate where the vote is up or down on passing or rejecting the bill (no amendments are allowed to a reconciliation bill).

Almost there…

• Once the bill has passed the bill, it goes to the President. The president can• a) sign the bill. It would then be law.• b) the Governor can veto the bill.• c) Not sign it (pocket veto) – becomes law after 5 days in

Arkansas

• If the President vetoes the bill it goes back to the Arkansas Legislature • a. The General Assembly can let the bill die with that.• b. The GA can override the veto (it requires a simple

majority of both the House and the Senate to override a veto).

• c. The veto is a ‘negative’ power of the Governor (it is a power that involves ‘stopping’ legislation as opposed to creating new or different legislation).