Understanding Legislation Step by Step
The process of making an immigration law (or any other law for that matter) is quite complex and time-consuming. This article explains the process of lawmaking (legislation) and the difference between a law and a bill.
For future immigrants or anyone involved in immigration, reading about new immigration laws in newspapers or hearing about it from other people can be confusing. You might read about a new rule that will make it harder for certain people to enter the country, driver’s licenses that are harder to get, and many more regulations. When you talk to people, it seems everybody knows something about recent immigration law changes, but often times, facts get mixed up and leave immigrants wondering what is going to happen next. Even journalists get it wrong and once in a while write about a new immigration law that is in fact still a bill in need of approval from one of the legislative parties, and therefore might never see the light of day.
One of the greatest things in a democracy is that anyone can draft a bill and thereby shape our society.
In the United States, only members of Congress can introduce legislation. Usually, interest groups and lobbies promote their cause by urging Congressmen to consider their proposals for introduction in Congress. In Switzerland for example, anyone can draft a bill or initiative as they call it, gather 100,000 signatures and send it to Congress, where it goes through the legislative mill before it becomes law or gets dropped.
How does the process work in the United States?
If a member of Congress decides to introduce legislation, he becomes the sponsor. Basically, there are four types of legislation: bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions, and simple resolutions. The legislative process starts
- • When a bill or a resolution is labeled and numbered, for example H.R. 1234 or S. 1234, H.R. standing for House of Representatives (short: House) bill or S for Senate bill
- • When the bill or resolution is referred to a committee and the Government Printing Office prints the document
From here on, the bill or resolution (in this article referred to as “motion”) enters a 13 step program:
- 1. Referral to Committee: Motion is referred to a committee in the House or Senate.
- 2. Committee Action: Motion is put on calendar of committee and either examined by the committee or referred to a subcommittee, such as the House Immigration Subcommittee. If the committee doesn’t do anything with the motion, it dies.
- 3. Subcommittee Review: The Subcommittee reviews the motion and holds hearings for the public that usually include experts in the field, members of the executive and other supporters or opponents.
- 4. Mark Up: After the hearings, the subcommittee might make changes and amendments to the motion before it passes it on (“report legislation”) to the full committee. If the subcommittee votes not to pass on the motion to the full committee, it dies.
- 5. Committee Action to Report a Bill: The full committee can hold further hearings or vote on the proposed changes, and then refer it to the House or the Senate. This process is known as ”ordering a bill reported.”
- 6. Publication of a Written Report: The committee prepares a report of the motion that includes the objective and the effect on existing laws, and the position of committee members and members of the executive.
- 7. Scheduling Floor Action: The motion is put on the calendar of the House or the Senate. The majority leader and the Speaker determine when a motion is debated on the floor.
- 8. Debate: Rules determine how and how long a motion is debated on the Senate or House floor.
- 9. Voting: Once the debate is over and possible amendments have been made, the members vote to either pass the motion or defeat it.
Understanding Legislation Step by Step
- 10. Referral to Other Chamber: After a motion has passed in one chamber, it is passed to the other one, where it goes through the same process as before, from committee review to debate on the floor. This other chamber can accept the motion as it is, reject it, change it or ignore it.
- 11. Conference Committee Action: If the other chamber makes significant changes to the motion, a conference committee is created in order to even out the differences between the Senate and House versions of the motion. Again, if the conference committee can’t come to an agreement, the motion dies. If an agreement is reached, the conference committee prepares a report that details the changes. Both chambers, House and Senate must approve the conference report.
For the legislation to become law, the President has to do one of two things: either sign the motion or take no action for ten days while Congress is in session. The President can also reject or veto the motion, or take no action after Congress has ended its second session, it then becomes a “pocket veto” and the motion or legislation dies.
- 13. Overriding a Veto: Congress has the ability to override the President’s veto. In order to do so, a sufficient number of Congress members is needed with a 2/3 roll call.
As you can see, there are many opportunities along the way where a motion can die and never make it to the President. Just because a newspaper writes about bills and legislation does not mean it will ever become law. The time-consuming and tedious process of legislation ensures that extreme and unrealistic proposals have little chance of ever becoming reality, and it takes dedicated people with stamina to push for a new law.
However, a large number of bills are introduced each year. According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), there are currently 151(!) immigration-related bills debated in the 109th Congress.
http://immigration.about.com/od/ussocialeconomicissues/a/lawmaking.htm
