American Government

Chapter 12

Section 3

Types of Bills

• Joint Resolutions– Binding and Non-binding– Symbolic, not really important– Can become actionable later

• Bills– Proposed law– Revenue Bills must originate from HoR

Types of Bills (cont)

• Concurrent Resolutions– Position statements of the Congress– Do not require the signature of the President

• Resolution– Specific measure dealing with a specific issue in

one house. Does not have power of law.

Bill to Law

• First Reading– Clerk of the HoR or Sen assigns number

• H334

• S142

• Assignment to Rules Committee– Directed to appropriate committee for discussion– Committee Chairs flex muscle, positive and

negative

In Committee

• Assignment to sub-committee– Further review and refinement

• Pigeonholed– Effectively killing bill

• Discharge petition– Bills that have been in comm. 30 days or more

must come before assembly for floor vote– Petition must be signed by majority of ALL HoR

members (218)

Four Official Committee Actions

• Report favorably with a “Do Pass”

• Refuse to report – pigeonhole

• Report an amended bill

• Report unfavorably

• Report a Committee Bill – blending of many bills into one

• Bill proceeds to Second Reading

Rules and Calendars

• Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union – Union Calendar

• House Calendar

• Calendar of the Committee of the Whole House – Private Calendar

• Consent Calendar

• Discharge Calendar

Committee of the Whole

• Entire membership of the HoR

• Only 100 needed for quorum

• Allows for faster amendment and debate on bills

• When work is done, CoW rises (dissolves) and HoR resumes with Speaker at helm

HoR Debate

• Parliamentary Procedure governs process

• No speaker may hold the floor for more than one hour without unanimous consent

• Much of the debate has already been resolved in committee

• Once debate ends, voting begins

Voting

• Voice votes

• Standing votes

• 1/5 of quorum may demand a teller vote, replaced through electronic voting

• Record votes, also known as a roll-call vote

• Bill then proceeds to Third Reading

Third Reading

• Final bill, with all amendments, is prepared for distribution to entire HoR

• If bill passes, Speaker signs, and a HoR page delivers it to Senate president’s desk