Washington Legislative Process

Elwood Hampton, Legislative Consultant

U.S. Capitol - Open for Business

LEGISLATIVE PROCESS FLOW PROCEDURE

ITPEU has a moral commitment to represent our members on issues other than those of the collective bargaining agreement, building relationships with congressional delegates, labor advisors from governmental agencies and other unions.

We realize the importance of being as knowledgeable as possible on the legislative front. However, you as a voter and constituent of those elected officials that change year to year are sometimes "shortchanged" if you lack knowledge of how the legislative process actually operates.

Your concerns as related to your elected officials are usually generated and turned into a bill which may become law.

Bill for the House or Senate. This Bill then goes through an elaborate legislative process. If and when the final bill comes up for vote by the House or Senate, you may not recognize it. The Bill that is voted on might not even reflect your original concerns

HOW A BILL BECOMES LAW

1. Introduction of Legislation

There are two basic types of legislation: bills and resolutions. Bills are used to create public policy. There are three types of resolutions-joint, concurrent, and simple - that can be used to appropriate money or express a sentiment of Congress. Constitutional amendments originate in Congress as joint resolutions.

Ideas for bills can come from anyone, although only a Member of Congress can introduce legislation. All bills are assigned an identifying number. Those introduced in the House begin with H.R., and those in the Senate begin with S. Legislation appropriating money must originate in the House.

2. Committee Action

Once legislation is introduced, it is referred to the committee that has jurisdiction over its subject. A bill may be sent to a single committee (single referral), several committees at once(multiple or joint referral), from one committee to another (sequential referral), or different parts of a bill may be sent to different committees (split referral).

Because most of the work done on a bill is at the committee level, committees have a great deal of power to decide which bills will receive the most attention. The more support a bill has, especially from congressional or committee leadership or from the President, the greater its chance of receiving consideration.

3. Subcommittee Action

After it receives a bill, a committee will generally refer it to the proper subcommittee. Subcommittees have a more narrow focus than committees. Three main steps occur at this stage:

	Hearings. Witnesses are called to testify about the merits and shortcomings of a piece of legislation. Questions from committee members and testimony of witnesses are generally prepared in advance to support a particular position on a bill.
	Mark Up. At this stage, committee members may offer their own views on a bill and suggest amendments. Amendments do not have to be related to the subject of the overall bill at this stage.
	Reporting Out. When the mark up is complete, a final draft of the legislation is voted on for approval. If a majority supports the bill, it is "reported out." If the legislation does not receive majority support, the bill dies.

After a subcommittee reports out legislation, the full committee will go through the same consideration process. If the committee approves a bill, it is reported out to the full House or Senate.

4. Publication of a Written Report

After a committee votes to report a bill, the committee chair instructs the committee staff to prepare a report on the bill. This report describes the intent of the legislation, its impact on existing laws and programs, and views of dissenting members.

5. Floor Action

Next, legislation is placed on the House or Senate calendar for debate by the full chamber.

In the House, the Rules Committee sets the terms of debate. This Committee may place limits on the time for debate or on the number and type of amendments that may be offered. If the Committee does not place a rule on a bill, there is little chance of it being debated, and the bill dies. Once a bill comes to the floor, supporters and opponents are given a chance to speak. Any amendments offered on the floor must be germane, or related to the main subject of the legislation.

The Senate places fewer restrictions on debate. The terms of debate are often set by a Unanimous Consent Agreement, which is approved by party leaders. Any Senator may filibuster, or speak against a particular piece of legislation, for as long as he or she wishes. A filibuster may only be ended by invoking closure, which requires that 60 Senators vote to end debate.

When debate concludes in either chamber, a vote takes place to approve or defeat a bill.

6. Conference Committee

Bills may originate in one chamber, and upon passage, move to the opposite chamber to repeat the approval process. Often, however, similar bills work their way through both the House and Senate at the same time. Both chambers must pass identical bills in order for the legislation to be sent to the President for approval, so the House and Senate will form a conference committee to reconcile any differences between their bills. Both chambers may instruct their conferees on acceptable compromises. Once differences are resolved and a conference report is generated, both chambers must once again vote to approve the legislation.

7. Action by the President

The President has four choices upon receiving legislation. He may:

	Sign the bill into law;
	Veto the bill and send it back to Congress with suggestions for reconsideration;
	Take no action while Congress is in session, in which case the bill will become law in ten days;
	Take no action and let the bill die after Congress has adjourned for the session. This is called a "pocket veto."

Overriding a Veto

If the President vetoes a bill, Congress may override his decision. A two-thirds vote in both chambers is required to overturn a veto.

Filibusters

Members of the 109th Congress may or may not used the filibuster. Some of our members have been asking for more information about filibusters in general and what is going on with this Congress.

When a Senator is recognized to speak on a pending measure, few limitations are placed on him or her as they take the podium. Debate is generally unlimited and they can speak as much and as long as they like on all pending measures. A Senator may yield to another Senator for a question, but the Senator speaking still controls the floor.

An individual Senator may maintain the floor for an extended period of time. This is referred to as a Filibuster.

A Senator speaks for a period of time and yields to another Senator. When several Senators participate in extended debate, the Senate realizes a Filibuster. The Filibuster process can threaten any attempt to schedule or consider legislation.

Debate on the floor is limited only when the Senate:
1. Invokes cloture.

2. Limits the debate by unanimous consent of operates under a unanimous time agreement.

3. Considers an option to table or consider a measure governed by rule-making statute. Senate rules prohibit a Senator from speaking more than twice on the same subject in the same legislative day. Each amendment is considered a different subject; the so-called two-speech rule is not a practical limit on debate.

Read your daily newspapers or websites for more information! See you on the Hill!

E Hampton

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