The legislative development process

¶ … legislation from the point of conception to actual bill language, to legislative assignment and review, consideration by Assembly and/or Senate, and becoming law is a multi-faceted process that consists of several specific steps. Given the complicated nature of this process, it sometimes frustrates stakeholders in light of time consumed, probable constant revisions of the language, and issues that may arise in different legislative committees and special interest groups. Consequently, the process in the development of legislation has been described using various terms including laborious task and mysterious routine. Actually, individuals who engage in the development of legislation state that it is usually a very difficult and time consuming process.

Legislative Process:

The legislative process in California is the process with which laws are developed and enacted by the California State Legislature, which is made of two houses i.e. The Assembly and the Senate ("A Guide for Accessing California Legislative Information," par, 10). The first phase in the development of legislation is the idea or concept stage where all legislation begins. While concepts and ideas are generated from various sources, the legislative process usually starts when an Assembly Member or Senator decides to draft a bill. Therefore, only an Assembly member or Senator may write legislation though the source of idea or concept can come from a wide range of sources. However, a legislator sends the concept for the bill to the Office of the Legislative Counsel for it to be drafted in bill form.

Once the bill is drafted by this office, it is returned to the legislator for introduction. The introduction of the bill is carried out in the specific house where the legislator is a member. In essence, if the author or legislator is a Senator, the introduction is carried out in the Senate while it is introduced in the Assembly if the author is an Assembly Member. During the introduction of the bill, the bill is read for the first time in the floor of the house by stating the bill number, author's name, and descriptive title. This is followed by sending the bill to the Office of State Publishing. Notably, rather than the Budget Bill, no bill may be acted upon until a month has elapsed from the date of its introduction.

The third phase is committee hearings, which is carried out after a bill undergoes the rules committee of the house after its introduction. During this stage, the bill is allocated to the appropriate policy committee based on its subject areas for its first hearing. The author or legislator presents the bill to the committee, which may also hear testimony in favor or support of the bill. Committee members are basically responsible for reviewing legislation and providing any suggestions for amendments to the entire body ("Legislative Process," par, 2). While bills may be amended several times, the committee votes to pass the bill or pass based on amendments after hearing the testimonies. The passing of the bill basically requires a majority of votes of the committee's membership.

The stage is followed by second and third reading where bills passed by committees are read in the floor of the house of origin for the second time and allocated to third reading, which also involves preparing bill analyses. The third reading incorporates explanation of the bill by the author, discussion by Members, and voting through a roll call vote. For bills that take effect immediately, they require 27 votes in the Senate and 54 votes in the Assembly to be enacted while other kinds of bills require 21 and 41 votes in the Senate and Assembly respectively. The legislator or author may seek reconsideration and another vote if the bill is not passed.

Since the legislature is a bicameral body, a bill proceeds to the other house once it is approved in its house of origin where the above stages are repeated. In cases where amendments are effected in the second house, the bill must be returned to the house of origin for concurrence on the amendments. If the concurrence does not occur in the house of origin, the bill is taken to a two-house conference committee to find solutions to any differences. The conference committee is made of three members from the Senate and three from the Assembly. If the conference committee reaches a compromise, the bill is taken to both houses for voting.

The approval of the bill in both houses is followed by taking it to the Governor who can sign it into law, let it become law without his/her signature, or reject it. However, a governor's rejection of the bill can be overturned by a two-thirds vote in the Senate and the Assembly. Notably, if the governor rejects a bill, his/her office releases veto messages that explain this decision and can be accessed from his/her office or the Internet ("Legislative Process," par, 19). According to legal requirements, most enacted bills usually take effect on the first day of January of the following year. However, there are other bills that take effect immediately depending on their subject matter and other measures and are commonly referred to as urgency bills.