How Do Bills Become Law?

The legislative process, though sometimes confusing, is not mysterious. The first responsibility of anyone working to achieve change at the Capitol is to become informed about the means by which laws are made. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and allied Minnesotans are important participants in the legislative process. For members of our community to participate effectively, we must develop a clear understanding of how the Legislature works. The following is a simple outline of how an idea becomes a law.

#1 Idea

A bill is an idea for a new law or an idea to change an existing law. Anyone can suggest an idea for a bill - an individual, consumer group, professional association, government agency, or the Governor. Most often, however, ideas come from legislators. They are the only people who can begin to move an idea through the process. There are 134 House members and 67 Senators.

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#2 Legal Form

The Office of the Revisor of Statutes and staff from other legislative offices work with legislators in putting an idea for a new law into proper legal form. The revisor's office is responsible for assuring that the proposal's form complies with the rules of both House and Senate before the bill is introduced.

#3 Authors

Each bill must have a legislator to sponsor and introduce it in the Legislature. That legislator is the chief author whose name appears on the bill along with the bill's file number to identify it as it moves through the legislative process. There may be up to four co-authors from the House and four from the Senate.

#4 Introduction

The chief House author of the bill introduces it in the House; the same usually occurs in the Senate. Identical bills introduced in each body are called companion bills. The bill introduction is called the first reading. The presiding officer of the House or Senate then refers it to an appropriate committee for discussion.

#5 Committee

The bill is discussed in one or more committees depending upon the subject matter. After an appropriate hearing, committee members recommend action-approval or disapproval-to the full House and full Senate. House and Senate committees then send a report to their respective bodies about action on the bill.

#6 Floor

After the full House, or Senate, accepts the committee report, the bill has its second reading. From here, the bill is usually placed on the House and Senate agendas-called General Orders. (A committee can recommend that a strictly local or non-controversial bill bypass General Orders and go onto the Consent Calendar where it usually passes without debate.)

#7 General Orders

On General Orders, all House or Senate members, acting as the "committee of the whole," have a chance to debate the issue, offer amendments, and present arguments on the bill. Afterwards, they vote to recommend: passage of the bill, progress (delay action), or further committee action. And sometimes they recommend that a bill not pass. Members' votes on General Orders are usually not recorded unless there is a specific request to do so. From here, the bill is placed on the Calendar.

#8 Calendar

The Calendar is a list of bills the full House and full Senate vote on. At this point, the bill has its third reading. The bill cannot be amended unless the entire body agrees to it. Here, representatives and senators vote on the bill for the last time. A bill needs 68 votes to pass the House and 34 votes to pass the Senate. If the House and Senate each pass the same version of the bill, it then goes to the governor for a signature.

#9 Special Orders

Toward the end of the session, the rules committees of the House and Senate designate bills from the General Orders calendar to receive priority consideration. These Special Orders bills are debated, amended, and passed in one day. The House also has a Rule 1.10 calendar which allows the chairs of the Taxes and Appropriations committees to call up for consideration any tax or appropriations bill that has had a second reading.

#10 Conference

If the House and Senate versions of the bill are different, they go to a conference committee. In the House, the Speaker of the House appoints three or five representatives, and in the Senate, the Subcommittee on Committees of the Committee on Rules and Administration selects the number of senators to form the committee. The committee meets to work out differences in the two bills and to reach a compromise.

#11 Floor

The conference committee's compromise bill then goes back to the House and the Senate for vote. If both bodies pass the bill in this form, it is sent to the governor. (If one or both bodies reject the report, it must go back to the conference committee for further consideration.)

#12 Governor

Once the governor has the bill, he or she may:

a.) sign it, and the bill becomes law;
b.) veto it within three days; or
c.) allow it to become law by not signing it.

During session, the House and Senate can override a governor's veto. This requires a two-thirds vote in the House (90 votes) and Senate (45 votes). The governor also may "line-item veto" parts of a money bill, or "pocket veto" a bill passed during the last three days of the session by not signing it within 14 days after final adjournment.

Laws go into effect on August 1^st following a legislative session unless otherwise specified. Exceptions are appropriation bills, which become effective July 1, the same date the fiscal year begins.

Text adapted from House of Representatives Public Information Office, Minnesota State Government Series #6, "State Law Process."