A Bill Has to Be Read _____time(S) Before It Is Ready to Be Voted Into Law.

Pace 1: How Your Idea Becomes A Pecker

All legislation starts off every bit an idea. These ideas tin come up from everyone and the procedure begins when either an individual or grouping persuades a Fellow member of the Legislature to author a bill. The Member then sends the idea and the language for the beak to the Legislative Counsel'due south Office, where it is drafted into the actual bill. The drafted bill is returned to the legislator for his or her review. Persons or groups that originated the idea for the bill may also review it to ensure that the provisions they desire are in the nib in the right grade. If the author is a Senator, the nib is introduced at the Senate Desk; if an Assemblymember, at the Assembly Desk, where it is assigned a number and read for the first time.

Stride 2: What To Do When Your Beak Goes To Policy Committee

The nib then goes to the Senate or Assembly Rules Committee, where it is assigned to a policy committee. You can find out where your bill is assigned past calling the author. Since bills are not heard in policy committee until thirty days after they have been introduced and printed, there is enough of time to investigate a bill or contact your legislator to communicate your position on the bill.

Each bill must appear in the Daily File for iv days prior to being heard in a committee. The Daily File is the agenda of the twenty-four hours's business, together with public observe of bills fix for committee hearings. Past checking the File, you tin keep track of bills that are being scheduled for committee. If you lot live out of town and programme to evidence at the hearing, information technology is a good thought to call the author or your legislator to make sure that the bill is going to be heard on that appointment. Sometimes bills are taken off the agenda at the last moment.

At this betoken, the role of the District Office should exist emphasized. Commune Part staff are in that location to serve the needs of constituents. They can exist extremely helpful in making contacts and getting information from Sacramento.

It is a skillful idea to schedule a meeting with your legislator while he or she is in the district. Communicate your concerns regarding legislation. Signal that you want to work with the Fellow member's office on a particular issue.

Most bills generate support and opposition from a diversity of groups. Discover out who these groups or individuals are by calling the author'southward office where lists of the messages and phone calls received on each bill are kept. A skilful strategy is to align yourself with the groups that concord your position and piece of work together to talk to the members of the committee Earlier the bill is heard. Go along your letters and discussions with the legislators brusque and to the bespeak.

When testifying before the committee, kickoff state your name and the organization that you lot represent or indicate that you are a concerned citizen and state where yous live. The Members of the committee volition be interested to hear what yous have to say and usually practise not grill private citizens who prove in the same way that they exercise lobbyists. Continue your testimony curt and to the point.

Step 3: What If Your Bill Goes To A Fiscal Committee?

If the pecker has a fiscal impact or a country price, it will be heard in either the Senate or Assembly Appropriations Commission. At this point, you should inform the Members of the committee why you support or oppose the bill based on a fiscal statement. The finance committees are concerned well-nigh fiscal impact and not policy considerations.

Try to see the staff assay that has been done on the pecker past the policy committee, the Department of Finance, and/or the Legislative Analyst. Members of the fiscal committees read these analyses before they vote. These analyses are available on the Cyberspace.

If yous believe that the numbers or the fiscal impact of the bill are not correct as reported in these analyses, you should prepare your written comments before the committee meets. Your written material should exist available to pass out to the committee Members at the hearing where yous present your testimony.

After the pecker passes the fiscal committee, it is read for the second time on the Flooring.

Step four: After Your Bill Passes The House Of Origin And Goes To The Second Firm

Third Reading is the last phase that a bill goes through in the firm of origin before it passes to the second house to become through the committee procedure all over again. On Third Reading, the author presents the bill for passage by the entire business firm. About bills require a majority vote (it must pass past 21 votes in the Senate and 41 votes in the Assembly), while urgency measures and appropriation bills require a two-thirds vote (27 in the Senate, 54 in the Assembly).

At any time during the legislative process the bill may exist amended, either in committee or on the Flooring. After the amendments have been submitted to the author, the beak goes to another printing to reflect the changes that have been made. The Senate or Associates History records the dates when a neb has been amended. Amendments can exist substantial or technical and may affect your position on the nib.

Amendments should be followed very carefully. Contact with the District Office can be helpful in keeping rail of electric current versions of a bill. If yous subscribe to the bill, these amendments will automatically exist sent to you. If you alter your position on a nib due to a favorable or unfavorable subpoena, y'all should inform the author and your legislator.

If a Senate nib is amended by the Assembly, or vice versa, and the house of origin refuses to hold in those amendments, the neb volition go to a conference committee. If the house of origin does concur, the bill goes to the Governor.

Members of the briefing committee are appointed past the Rules Committees; three members from the Senate and 3 from the Associates meet to negotiate out the differences. If they agree on a unmarried version, information technology goes back to both Floors for approving.

Communicate to your legislator or the author which amendments you adopt and why. The conference commission meetings, particularly at the end of the ii-year legislative session, are scheduled quickly and can exist easily missed. You must stay in shut contact with the author'southward staff to stay on tiptop of fast-breaking developments. Information technology is also important to know who will be serving on the conference committee then you can inform them of your position.

Pace five: You Can Nonetheless Act After Your Bill Goes To The Governor

The Governor has 12 days to sign, approve without signing, or veto a bill. A letter or phone telephone call to the Governor'due south Office is appropriate to state your position on the neb.

If the neb is signed or approved without a signature, information technology goes to the Secretarial assistant of State to be chaptered. If the Governor vetoes the bill, a two-thirds vote in each business firm is needed to override the veto. The Governor's Office releases veto messages which explicate the veto; these messages are available from the Governor'southward Role and on the Cyberspace.

A wealth of legislative information is at present bachelor on the Internet. You tin become bills, amendments, staff analyses, committee agendas, and other legislative data, plus a uncomplicated style to rails legislation.

Related Links

Data to help follow the procedure

Glossary of Legislative Terms

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Source: https://www.senate.ca.gov/legislativeprocess

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