The Idaho Legislative Process

How a Bill Becomes

A Law Idaho Council on Developmental

DisABILITIES

As Introduced

As Amended in Committee

As Amended on Second Reading

As Enacted

As Funded by Joint Budget Committee

As Implemented by the State Agency

As Reported by the Media

As Understood by the Public

???

What Was Actually Needed

The Process

Someone has a great idea

They contact their Senator or Representative

Legislation is drafted (first step is Routing Slip or RS)

The Senator or Representative will introduce the RS in Committee

~ OR ~

A State Agency identifies a need

The Agency drafts legislation

The Agency will work with a Senator or Representative to introduce the RS in Committee

The Committee will:

Vote to print the legislation: it will be sent to Legislative Services to review and be given a bill

number

Vote not to print the legislation: Try again, later in the session or next year

Once a bill is printed

After being printed and receiving a bill number (H### in the House and S### in the Senate), the bill goes to the First Reading Calendar on the Floor of the chamber On First Reading, the bill is introduced and assigned to a committee

Committee hearing and action

Table or Hold the bill in Committee for further discussion or testimony

OR

Vote not to support the bill; this means the bill is dead for the session

OR

Vote to send the bill to the floor either with a recommendation to pass or no recommendation

OR

Vote to send the bill to the Amending Order to change the bill on the floor

The committee will put the bill on the agenda for consideration during a meeting. They will take public comment at that time. After hearing about the bill and its impact, they will do one of 4 things:

The bill goes to the floor and1. The bill appears on the Second

Reading Calendar

2. On Third Reading, the bill’s sponsor will rise to explain the bill and open debate. The Senators or Representatives will debate the good and bad points of the bill until the Lieutenant Governor (in the Senate) or the Speaker of the House (in the House of Representatives) asks the sponsor to close debate; and then . . .

The Vote

If a majority of the House or Senate vote “yes”, then the Bill will move to the opposite “side of the rotunda” to the House or the Senate.

If a majority of the members vote “no”, then the bill is dead.

The bill is introduced in the

other chamber

On First Reading, the bill is introduced and assigned to a committeeThe bill will be sent to a committee; the Chairperson will decide if/when the bill will be considered by the committee.The sponsor from the other side will work with the Committee Chairperson to identify a committee member to “carry” the bill in this committee.

Just like the first Committee, this Committee will

Table or Hold the bill in Committee for further discussion or testimony

OR

Vote not to support the bill; this means the bill is dead for the session

OR

Vote to send the bill to the floor either with a recommendation to pass or no recommendation

OR

Vote to send the bill to the Amending Order to change the bill on the floor

put the bill on the agenda for consideration during a meeting. They will take public comment at that time. After hearing about the bill and its impact, they will do one of 4 things:

Once again, the bill goes to the floor and

2. On Third Reading, the bill’s sponsor will rise to explain the bill and open debate. The Senators or Representatives will debate the good and bad points of the bill until the Lieutenant Governor (in the Senate) or the Speaker of the House (in the House of Representatives) asks the sponsor to close debate; and then . . .

1. The bill appears on the Second Reading Calendar

The Next Vote

If a majority of the House or Senate vote “yes”, then the Bill will move to the Governor’s desk

If a majority of the

members vote “no”, then the bill is dead.

Some things worth mentioning

If a bill is amended in the second chamber, it must go back to the original chamber for approval of the amendmentsConcurrent and Joint Resolutions and Memorials are handled somewhat differently from bills: for example, a Concurrent Resolution creating a legislative study committee, after passing both chambers, is held by leadership until the end of the session and then the leaders decide which study committees will be authorized

The Joint Finance – Appropriations Committee develops and approves all budget bills; no public testimony is allowed during this process, although the Committee sometimes seeks input from the germane committee chairs or other experts.

The Governor can:

Sign the bill into law

Veto the bill, killing it for the year

Not sign the bill, but allow it to become law without his signature

After the Bill is signed,

The appropriate agency will draft rules and regulations implementing the law; these can be just as important as the law itself, and the legislature must approve them at the next session

Some interesting “factoids”

There are 105 legislators in Idaho – 35 in the Senate and 70 in the House; this means that every Idahoan has 3 people representing them in the legislature All Idaho legislators serve 2-year terms Until 1969, the legislature met every other year; now it meets every year starting on the Monday on or closest to January 9The longest legislative session was 118 days in 2003; the shortest sessions were 68 days in 1995, 1996, 1999, and 2002.In the 2008 session, 635 bills were introduced and 413 (65%) passed; most bills were introduced in 1994 (860) and the most bills that were passed was in 2000 (487).

More interesting “factoids”The Lieutenant Governor presides over the Senate and the Speaker of the House presides over the House of RepresentativesIn the Senate, votes are taken by roll call; in the House, members vote electronically by pushing a button at their deskCurrently there are 14 House committees and 10 Senate committees; all meetings are open to the publicIdaho is one of 17 states that has a “citizen legislature”: part-time, low salaries, few staff and lawmakers have other jobsIn 1890, legislators were paid $5/day; now they are paid $15,646/year plus $1,700 in office expenses for the session

Tracking LegislationNow you know the process, but how

can you track a bill? On line – Go to www.legislature.idaho.gov

Select the Legislation link Select the Mini-Data Bill Status information

link, then choose the bill number you want, OR

Select Legislative Topic Index to bills which groups bills by topic in alphabetical order and choose the bill number you want

Tracking LegislationOn line cont’d When you click on the bill number, it will

give you an outline of what has happened with the bill since introduction –For example: 01/31 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing 02/01 Rpt prt - to Jud (this means the Judiciary Committee)

02/14 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg 02/15 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg 02/19 3rd rdg - PASSED - 69-0-1 Then it will list the names of all

who voted for or against the billIt will also tell you the same information for the other chamberIt will NOT give you information about what happened to the

bill in a committee except if it received a recommendation to pass

Tracking Legislation On-line cont’d After listing what has happened with

the bill, it will provide the full text of the bill the Statement of Purpose (SOP) – a plain

language version of what the bill does the fiscal impact – what the bill will cost

the state legislative sponsors or other contacts,

with phone numbers

Tracking LegislationYou can also track legislation by:

Attending legislative committee meetings

Checking the websites of other organizations or agencies

Networking with others who share your concerns

Reading the newspaper, watching TV Getting legislative alerts from

organizations

Some helpful websites

Idaho Legislature Home Page: http://www.legislature.idaho.gov

State of Idaho Home Page: http://www.idaho.gov

Council on Developmental Disabilities Home Page: http://www.icdd.idaho.gov

State Independent Living Council Home Page: http://www.silc.idaho.gov