How a Bill Becomes Law in Idaho



How a Bill Becomes Law in Idaho

1. Law starts out as a bill.

• A bill is a proposal to create new law, or amend or repeal an existing law or appropriate tax money.

• A bill can originate in either the House or Senate, except for revenue bills

• Revenue bills must start in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee (Rev and Tax)

2. A Bill must pass both Houses

• It must be approved by a majority of each house and be signed by the Governor

• If a bill is vetoed by the Governor, the veto can be overridden by a two thirds vote of each house.

• A bill can become law without his signature if he does not sign or veto it within 5 days (except Sundays).

3. After the Legislative Session ends, the Governor has 10 days to sign the remaining bills.

4. Creating the Bill

• A bill may come from suggestions of a citizen or group of citizens.

• The suggested legislation must be sponsored by a legislator who turns it over to the Legislative Services Office staff to determine its place in the Idaho Code and write it into the proper bill format in the Legislature’s computer network.

5. Proposed Legislation -- A House Bill

• The proposed legislation starts out as a “routing slip” (RS) which is the draft legislation presented to the committee.

• The RS is presented to the committee that deals with the subject, for consideration to be printed.

• There is no public hearing for RS’s. RS’s are not available to the public for comment.

• If the committee decides it is to be printed, it will be assigned a bill number by the Chief Clerk of the House, and Introduced the next day.

6.. Introduction of a Bill

• A bill may be introduced by a member of the legislature, a group of members, or a standing committee.

• The Speaker may assign a Personal Bill, one which has not been reviewed by a committee, to the Ways and Means Committee, where it may not get a hearing.

• There are deadlines for members and committees to introduce bills.

• Deadline dates are listed in the Legislative Directory and Mini Directory

• After those deadlines, only privileged committees may introduce bills.

• Privileged committees are: House State Affairs, Appropriations, Education, Revenue and Taxation, and Ways and Means Committees; Senate State Affairs, Finance, and Judiciary and Rules Committees.

7. First Reading of the Bill

• The First Reading comes in the House, where the Speaker will assign it to the Judiciary and Rules Committee, to be printed.

• After it is printed, it is returned to the Speaker who will assign it to a standing committee.

• The Speaker may hold it at his desk, allowing no action to be taken on it. This rarely happens. In 2017 HJR 003, to reduce the majority required for bond elections from 2/3 to 60% was printed and held at the Speaker’s desk.

8. Committee Action

• After a bill is assigned to the committee, the members may study it and then recommend action to the rest of the House.

• The Committee Chair may hold it in his desk, killing it.

• A subcommittee may be assigned to study the bill or a collection of bills on the same subject and make a recommendation to the committee.

• The committee may hold a public hearing on the bill. At this time, members of the public may testify on the bill.

9. Committee Recommendations

• The Committee may vote to send the bill to the floor:

Recommend “Do Pass”

Without recommendation

Place on General Orders for Amendment

• Withdraw the bill and recommend a replacement be introduced

• Refer to another committee

• The Committee may vote to hold the bill in committee, killing it, unless there is a motion for the chair to hold it for possible reconsideration.

10. Action on the House floor.

• If the bill is not to be amended, it is placed on the Second Reading calendar

• Usually it is not read in full; there is a vote to dispense with the second reading.

• After the Second reading, it is placed on the Third Reading calendar.

• The Third Reading usually comes the day after the Second Reading.

11. Amendments

• Bills to be amended are referred to the Committee of the Whole for amendment.

• At the proper time in the Order of Business, the entire House membership becomes the Committee of the Whole to consider amendments to House bills or Senate bills which they wish to amend.

• When the amendment(s) have been accepted by the House, the bill is sent to the engrossing committee.

• The engrossing committee inserts the amendments into the bill and it is placed back on the calendar do be considered as a new bill with the same bill number as before, with “aa” added for “as amended”.

12. Third Reading Floor Debate and a vote on the bill.

• At the Third Reading, the House may vote to dispense with the formal reading of the Bill.

• At this time, there will be floor debate and a vote on the bill. A member of the committee that studied the bill will be the floor sponsor who opens and closes formal debate on the bill.

• A bill is passed by a majority of those present. Votes are recorded electronically and on a large video screen for all to see.

• A member may change his vote before the voting is closed.

• If the bill fails to pass, it is filed with the Chief Clerk.

• If it passes, it is sent on to the Senate where it will be assigned to a committee and voted upon the same as in the House.

13. Senate Action on House Bills

• After final action in the Senate on a House Bill, it is returned to the House with an explanation of the Senate action.

• If the bill passed the Senate without amendment, it is enrolled by the House Judiciary and Rules committee.

• Then it is signed by the speaker of the House and the President of the Senate and sent to the Governor’s office for his action.

14. If the Senate amends the bill

• The House must vote on whether it agrees with the amendment(s)

• If the House agrees with the Senate amendments, the process goes on as above.

15. If the House does not agree

• If the House does not agree with the Senate’s amendments, the bill goes to a Conference Committee to work out a compromise

• Then the House and Senate must vote on the compromise bill.

14. Governor’s Action on bills passed by both the House and Senate

• Approve by signing within 5 days (except Sundays) or within 10 days after end of the Session.

• Allow the bill to become law without his signature by not signing or vetoing it within 5 days or 10 days after the end of the Session.

• Veto the bill within 5 days during the session, or 10 days after end of the session (sine die)

15. Effective Date

• Newly passed legislation becomes law July 1 after the session ends, unless an emergency clause or other specific date of enactment is stated in the law.

• An emergency clause makes it effective upon the governor’s signature.

16. A Senate Bill goes through the same process

• It starts as a Routing Slip in a committee which decides whether to print it.

• It then passes through First reading, a Senate committee hearing, and the second and third readings in the Senate

• On to the House for the same readings and hearings.

• Agreements, disagreements or compromises,

• Governor’s signature, or not.

Elinor Chehey, 2/17

Paraphrased from LSO How a Bill Becomes a Law

Printed copies of bills are not readily available for the public at the Statehouse. We are expected to get them from the Legislative Website.

You may ask the staff at the Visitor’s Welcome Desk in the Rotunda of the Garden Level to print a copy of a bill for you. They are not always able to do that.

You can get printed copies on request from the Copy Center on the first floor of the Statehouse, room C104, next to the State Street entrance into the center of the building. They charge 10 cents per printed side. Be careful what you ask for. Some bills are many pages long and could easily eat up your lunch money. Staff in the Copy Center can see how many pages it will be and tell you before you ask for printing.

There is free public wi-fi in the Statehouse. It is listed as “Public” in the list of available wireless networks in the building. It is unprotected.

Useful news sources during the session and year round..

• Betsy Russell’s blog eyeonboise/ $10/month for on line subscription to the Idaho Press

• Idaho Education News funded by the Albertsons Foundation

• Idaho Education Trends funded by the Albertsons Foundation

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