How a Bill Becomes a Law

For a bill to become a law a legislator of either the House or Senate must decide to sponsor the bill. For our purposes we will assume it is a Senate bill.  Once the bill is written by the legislator, it's assigned a number SB1XXX and first read (Senate bills all begin with a 1, while House bills all begin with a 2). After the first reading of a bill the Senate President will refer the bill to the appropriate committee(s).   

If the bill passes committee(s), then it goes to the Rules committee to ensure it is constitutional and in proper form. Following rules, the Senate president will place it on the Caucus calendar.  It only needs to move through the Majority Caucus in order to move forward.  

The next step is the Committee of the Whole (COW) where amendments are offered and voted on.  Amendments that were passed in committee are also voted on in COW. These votes are cast by voice; only if there is doubt does the vote on an amendment go to a roll call vote. Following COW and before the bill leaves the Senate it must be Third Read. That is when it is voted on, by roll call vote, by the entire body. Every member of the Senate must be present unless excused.  

Now it is ready to go to the opposite body, in this case the House, for the same process.  It is first read, and assigned to a committee(s) by the Speaker of the House. If passed by the committee(s) it goes to Rules, Caucus, COW, and then Third Read. If the bill gets amended in the House then the bill would go back to the Senate for concurrence on amendment.   

If the Senate concurs, then the bill moves to a Final vote and passed to the Governor.  If not then the bill goes to Conference Committee to resolve any disputes on the amendments. This group is made up of Senators appointed by the Senate President and Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House. The conference committee then gives its report to each house for adoption and Final Passage. Then if passed the bill will go to the Governor. 

The Governor then has three options: sign the bill, allow the bill to become law without signature, or veto the bill. 

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