LEGISLATIVE BRANCH - CONGRESS
Main US legislative body is Congress
Congress consists of:
- Senate (100 Members, 2 Senators each State)
- House of Representatives (435 Members, elected every 2 years) ... State represented according to its population.
Legislative proposals may be in the form of:
Bills
- Most common form of proposed legislation.
- Originate in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.
- In practice, legislative proposals of any form are mostly introduced to the House of Representatives.
- All REVENUE RAISING bills must originate in House of Representatives, but Senate can propose or agree with amendments)
To become law:
- bills must be agreed in an identical form by
- House of Representatives; and
- Senate;
- AND must receive presidential approval.
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Joint Resolutions
- Similar to bills.
- Can originate in either the House of Representatives or in the Senate.
- However, joint resolutions that propose amendments to the constitution are not presented to the President for approval.
- Two-thirds of both Senate and House of Representatives must approve JOINT RESOLUTIONS
- AND they must be submitted to the States for ratification (confirmation of adoption).
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Concurrent Resolutions
- House of Representatives and Senate approval required.
- Concurrent resolutions usually regulate administrative issues ( operations of both the House of Representatives and the Senate).
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Simple Resolutions
- Bypass the President.
- Regulate issues related to the operation of either the House of Representatives or Senate.
[ Presumably become law when approved by both House of Representatives and Senate (not expressly stated in source) ]
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Introduction and Referral to COMMITTEE
- Bills can be introduced by any Member in the House of Representatives.
- Can have an unlimited number of 'co-sponsors' (proposing parties).
- Proposed bill is assigned a LEGISLATIVE NUMBER.
- Then it is referred to the COMMITTEE which has jurisdiction over specific area of law.
- Then it is printed in its INTRODUCED FORM.
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Consideration
- Initiated by PUBLIC HEARING.
- Committee members hear debate proposed legislation.
- A transcript of the TESTIMONIES is taken during the hearings.
- TRANSCRIPT is made available for inspection in the COMMITTEE OFFICE.
- After HEARING (mentioned above), bill is considered in detailed in a session.
- Detailed session known as: the 'MARK-UP' SESSION.
- Now, at this point, members of the COMMITTEE can propose amendments and a vote is taken for or against amendments.
- COMMITTEE then determines by vote what further action should be taken on the proposed legislation.
- It can be REPORTED (with or without amendments) or TABLED ( which means that no further action will occur).
- If extensive amendments needed, Committee REPORTS A NEW BILL (which incorporates the all the approved changes (“clean bill”)).
- The COMMITTEE REPORT is the document that explains the purpose and the scope of the bill, and the reasons for its approval.
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House Floor consideration
(ie House of Representatives)
- Legislation mostly gets to this stage after REPORTING by Committee.
- EXCEPTION: sometimes brought to the Floor directly.
- The procedure in the FULL HOUSE is regulated by “rules”.
- 'Rules' are resolutions that determine the debate time and whether amendments will be offered.
- After the debate, the House of Representatives votes (for or against the bill).
- Alternatively, it may decide to RECOMMIT the proposed legislation to a committee for consideration.
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Senate stage
- Following House of Representatives approval:
- Proposed legislation submitted to Senate for consideration.
- Both Senate and House of Reps must AGREE on SAME final draft, before presenting to PRESIDENT.
- Any changes to draft by Senate, must therefore go back to the House of Representatives for consideration.
- House of Representatives and Senate appoint a CONFERENCE COMMITTEE with both House and Senate members to deal with this lengthy process.
- CONFERENCE COMMITTEE is charged with NEGOTIATING and RESOLVING what is at issue between the bodies.
- FINAL VERSION of the bill returns to the House and the Senate for VOTE on FINAL PASSAGE.
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Presidential action
- Bill then resented to the President for approval.
- If the President signs the bill, it becomes law.
- The President has the right to refuse to sign.
- In this case, the President must return a bill with objections to Congress (10 days [excl Sundays]).
- Otherwise, Bill becomes law as if it had been signed -- if president fails to return it to Congress.
- Congress has the right to prevent a bill’s return by adjournment.
- In this case the bill cannot become law, even if the President has not sent objections to the Congress.
- This procedure is known as “pocket veto”.
- The extent of pocket veto authority is disputable and it has not yet been determined by US courts.
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ABOVE SOURCED AT:
http://www.out-law.com/page-7767
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COMMENT
Largely for my benefit, as I didn't know exactly how laws are passed in the US.
I'll probably forget the ins and outs of this, but it's a useful guide to tuck away.
