Prefiling: Members can prefile bills for introduction in the month before session begins. Prefiled bills are officially introduced the first day of the session.
Introduction, or First Reading:Â The first thing that happens to bills on the "floor" is introduction and referral to committee. This is also referred to as the bill's first reading. (Bills must have three readings in each house in order to pass the Legislature.)
Leadership determines to which committees bills will be referred; this is usually determined by the bill's subject matter. Bills that require an appropriation or that raise revenue must also go to a fiscal committee for review.
To see which bills will be introduced for the upcoming legislative day, go to the Agendas, Schedules, and Calendars page and display House Introductions or Senate Introductions.
Committee Action: The chair of each committee works with leadership and staff to schedule bills to be heard by the committee. Committees hold three kinds of meetings: (1) work sessions, where issues are determined and reviewed; (2) public hearings, where testimony from interested parties is taken; and (3) executive sessions, where the committee decides how it will report the bill to the whole house. The Senate flash calendar lists only those bills that were "pulled" from Rules at the last Rules Committee meeting. To see which bills are on the calendar in either house, go to House Floor Activity Report or Senate Floor Activity Report.
Second Reading:Â It is on second reading that the chamber discusses the merits of the legislation. It is here, too, where members can offer amendments to the bill. Most bills that get this far get their second reading in the couple of weeks following the committee cut-off.
If a bill has been amended in committee or on the floor in the first house, it is ordered engrossed. Engrossing a bill means incorporating the amendments into the body of the bill so that the second house gets one document.Â
Third Reading:Â Third reading is where the roll call vote on final passage is taken. If the bill finally passes, it continues in the process. If the bill fails on final passage, it goes no further. Under certain circumstances, the chamber may decide to reconsider the vote that was taken; in that case, the chamber has twenty-four hours to make a motion to reconsider the bill.
If the bill passes third reading in the second house and the second house did not amend the bill, the bill has passed the Legislature.
At the start of the session, both houses agree on "cut-off" dates by which bills have to be finally passed out of the first house and finally passed out of the second house.
Concurrence, Dispute, and Conference Committees:Â If the bill has been amended by the second house, the first house has to decide whether it will concur in the amendments or not. Leadership decides which bills returned from the second house will be discussed and places those bills on the concurrence calendar (House) or concurring calendar (Senate).Â
If the first house disagrees with the second house, it can ask the second house to recede from the amendments. If the second house recedes, the bill has passed the Legislature.
If the two houses cannot resolve their differences, one of them can ask for a conference committee. Members from each house meet to discuss the differences. If they agree on what is to be done, the conference committee makes a report. Both houses must adopt the conference committee report for the bill to pass the Legislature. If one house does not adopt the conference committee report (whether by vote or inaction), the bill has not passed. The House Floor Activity Report and the Senate Floor Activity Report list the bills on the concurrence, dispute, and conference calendars.
Enrolling:Â Once a bill has finally passed the Legislature, it is enrolled. A certificate proclaiming that it has passed is attached and, if necessary, the amendments from the second house or conference committee are incorporated into the body of the bill.Â
Governor's actions: The Governor reviews the bill. The Governor may decide to sign it, veto part of it, or veto all of it. If the Governor vetoes part or all of it, the Legislature may vote to override the veto. (That happens rarely.) If the governor does not act on a bill after the allotted number of days, it is as if it was signed. From the Governor's desk, bills go to the Secretary of State who assigns a session law chapter number. The Chapter to Bill Table (available on the Bill/Law Cross Reference page) lists the bills that have passed the Legislature, the chapter numbers assigned by the Secretary of State, vetoes, short descriptions, and the effective dates.
Carryover:Â The Legislature works within the framework of a two-year cycle. For instance,
