Introduction
First, a bill is introduced in either the Senate or the Assembly. The bill must be introduced by a legislator or standing committee. The only exception is the Executive Budget, which is submitted directly by the Governor. The bill is then referred to the appropriate standing committee where the committee can take the following actions:
- Schedule a public hearing;
- Amend the bill;
- Defeat the bill;
- Hold the bill; or,
- Report the bill for consideration by the full Senate or Assembly.
Passage
If the bill is reported out of committee (i.e. passed), then it goes to the Assembly Second Reading Calendar OR the Senate General Orders Calendar. If it advances, it then goes to the Third Reading calendar where the bill must "age" for three legislative days. At this point, it is subject to amendment, star (i.e. placed in an inactive file), recommittal to a standing committee, loss, tabling or passage.
If passed by a majority, the bill then goes to the other house where it is treated as a new bill and must follow the same process again. If the other house passes the bill unchanged, it then is returned to the original chamber to be transmitted to the Governor. The Governor then can either sign the bill (making it law) or veto it. Sometimes the Senate and Assembly pass similar bills but not identical and cannot reconcile the differences between them in a reasonable time frame. In such cases, a conference committee can be used to iron out the differences. After the conference committee (made up of five members from the Senate and five from the Assembly) reaches an agreement, a bill is printed and processed again through the system.
Final Approval
While the Legislature is in session, the Governor has 10 days (not counting Sundays) to sign or veto bills passed by both houses. Signed bills become laws; vetoed bills do not. However, the Governor's failure to sign or veto a bill within the 10-day period means that it becomes law automatically. Vetoed bills are returned to the house that first passed them along with a statement of the reason for their disapproval. A vetoed bill can still become law if two-thirds of the members of each house vote to override the Governor's veto. If the bill is sent to the Governor when the Legislature is out of session, the rules are slightly different. At such times, the Governor has 30 days in which to make a decision. Failure to act has the same effect as a veto. This is often referred to as a "pocket veto."
