Bill Becomes A Law

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Jim Beam 6/4/12 Government Final Period 9 How a Bill Becomes a Law A bill starts out as an idea for a new law. The idea is to change or do away with an existing law. There are hundreds of bills enter the legislative process in West Virginia each time the Legislature meets. Two of the groups that elected citizens are 34 senators and 100 delegates that study, discuss and vote on bills, and in doing so act for the people of West Virginia. Bills that enter the legislative process either through the House of Delegates or the Senate. But to become laws, the bills must pass both chambers and avoid a governor’s veto. Anyone can propose an idea for a bill to a legislator - a private citizen, corporation, professional…show more content…
To draft a bill on a particular subject, the appropriate portion(s) of West Virginia law are combined with the proposed changes. After the draft legislation is prepared, the legislator reviews it and submits it for introduction to the clerk of the chamber of which he or she is a member. Prior to introduction, the clerk identifies each bill with a separate number. This number is used as a reference for the bill throughout the legislative session. After the bill is numbered, the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Delegates assigns the bill to a committee or committees to be considered. When the bill is formally introduced on the floor of the chamber, the bill number and the committee references are announced. Standing Committees are small groups of senators or delegates assigned to study bills involving a particular subject. This process enables a larger number of bills to receive more detailed study than can be done by the entire House or Senate. Since a committee represents only part of the membership of either chamber, it only can make recommendations about a bill for the full membership to consider. When a committee has completed work on a bill, it files a written committee report that recommends one of the…show more content…
Once a bill is out of committee, the committee’s recommendation for that legislation is read on the floor of the House or Senate. The Rules Committee of each chamber then determines what bills will be considered and places them on the House or Senate calendar, which is a daily list of bills to be acted on in each chamber. The calendar of bills to be acted on is divided into bills on third reading, bills on second reading and bills on first reading. Under the State Constitution, a bill is to be read three times. The first reading of the bill is the information stage and alerts membership that the bill will be considered. On second reading, members vote on the committee’s amendment(s) and the amendment(s) individual legislators have proposed to the bill. The vote on passage of the bill takes place on third reading. If a bill is passed by one chamber, it is sent to the other body where it will be referred to committee and the process is
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