Transcript The Legislative Process

The Legislative Process
The Legislative Process
• Introduction of a bill (proposed legislation)
• Passed by both houses of Congress
• Signed by president or president’s veto is overridden
• Becomes a “session law” or “public law”
• Incorporated into statutory code
A Bill Is Introduced
• A bill is introduced by a sponsor(s) in one or both houses
of Congress.
• A bill is assigned a bill number (H.R. 14, 107th Cong., 1st
Sess. (2001)).
• This bill number usually follows the proposed
legislation through hearings, amendments,
congressional committees, etc., until enactment or the
end of the current legislative period.
A Bill Is Introduced
• A companion bill may be introduced in the other house of
the legislature at any time.
• Committee hearings may be held and amendments to the
bill may be made. If the committee votes favorably on the
bill, a committee report in support of the bill accompanies
the bill back to the floor in many jurisdictions.
• A bill may die in committee and never reach the full house
for vote.
Bill S. 940
Sponsors
Short Title
Federal bill S. 904 (Leave No Child Behind Act of 2001),
sponsored by Senators Dodd, Wellstone, and Kennedy, as it
appears in the Congressional Bills – 107th Congress database.
A Bill Becomes Law
• When the bill passes one house, it is sent to the other house
for consideration.
• The other house may approve and pass the bill to the
president in identical form.
• More likely, the other house will propose a variation of the
bill and both houses must negotiate a compromise.
• When both houses pass the bill in identical form, it is sent
to the president for a signature or veto.
A Bill Becomes Law
• If signed (or not vetoed within 10 days), the bill becomes
a “session law” or “public law.”
• If the president vetoes the bill, the veto may be overridden
by two-thirds majority in both houses. (If the president
takes no activity on the bill at the end of a legislative
session the bill is, in effect, vetoed. This is called a
“pocket veto.”)
• The public law is renumbered using the number of the
congressional session and the numerical order in which the
law was enacted:
• P.L. 107-14 and P.L. 107-15 are the 14th and 15th bills
to be enacted by the 107th session of Congress.
A public law may
• add a section (statute) in the statutory code
• change language in a section (statute)
• repeal a section (statute) of the statutory code
• re-number a section (statute)
• do all of the above
Public Laws Are Published
• An enacted law is first published officially by the
Government Printing Office as an individual slip law
and sent to government depository libraries and other
libraries that subscribe to these publications.
• Public laws are published in compiled volumes in
chronological order in The Statutes at Large, the
official government publication. There is a two to
four-year lag in publication of these volumes.
Public Laws are Published
• The U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative
News® (USCCAN), published by West, issues monthly
pamphlets including newly enacted laws.
• The monthly USCCAN pamphlets are reissued in
bound volume after each congressional session.
• Public laws are also published in the USCCAN
and US-PL (United States Public Laws)
databases on Westlaw.
A slip law as it appears on Westlaw in the US-PL database
shortly after enactment. There are also archived public
laws in the US-PL-OLD database, which contains
public laws from 1973 to the previous session of Congress.
A Public Law Is Codified
• The public law then changes the statutory code to:
• bring all laws on the same topic together
• eliminate all repealed or expired statutes
• unite amendments with the original statute
• This process is called codification
• the United States Code is divided into 50 titles, often
called codes (see next screen)
• Title 11 is the Bankruptcy Code
• Title 26 is the Tax Code
The Legislative Process
United States Code
is organized in broad
subject categories
called titles. The 50
titles are in rough
alphabetical order.
Each title is further divided into individual sections,
which contain the actual text of the statutes. (The words
section and statute are usually synonymous.)
A single public law may amend or affect many sections in
different titles of the Code.
The Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor Act of 2001 or
P.L. 107-12 amended sections in Titles 42 and 15 of the USCA.
Codification
in the U.S.
Code
Sections in the
public law
Public Law 106-120, the Intelligence Authorization Act
for the Fiscal Year 2001, has been codified in both Title 50
and Title 21 of the United States Code. The USCA-POP
(USCA Popular Name Table) database on Westlaw shows
where a public law section has been codified in the United
States Code Annotated.
Summary of the Legislative Process
Bill Passes
Congress or
State Legislature
President or
Governor
Signs Bill
Session Law/
Public Law
Statutory
Code
Codification occurs when the language of the session or public
law changes the statutory code in some way.
Question
Which of the following is a true statement?
1.
Each public law amends a single statute.
2.
A slip law is the final version of a statute.
3.
Codification is the process in which sections of public
laws amend, add to, or repeal the relevant portion(s) of
the United States Code.
4.
The president’s veto of a bill may be overridden by a
majority of both houses.
Question
Which of the following is a true statement?
1.
Each public law amends a single statute.
2.
A slip law is the final version of a statute.
3.
Codification is the process in which sections of public
laws amend, add to, or repeal the relevant portion(s) of
the United States Code.
4.
The president’s veto of a bill may be overridden by a
majority of both houses.