In the Texas Law Making Process, What Happens After a Bill First Reading?

The Legislative Co-operative of Government

The Texas Constitution divides state government into three separate merely equal branches: the executive branch, headed by the governor; the judicial branch, which consists of the Texas Supreme Court and all state courts; and the legislative branch, headed by the Texas Legislature, which includes the 150 members of the business firm of representatives and the 31 members of the land senate.

Members of the house of representatives are elected to two-year terms and correspond districts of about 167,500 people each. Senators serve iv-year terms and serve near 811,000 people each.

The legislature meets every odd-numbered year to write new laws and to find solutions to the problems facing the state. This meeting fourth dimension, which begins on the second Tuesday in January and lasts 140 days, is called the regular session. The governor can direct the legislature to meet at other times also. These meetings, called special sessions, can last no more than than thirty days and deal simply with bug chosen past the governor.

On the first twenty-four hours of each regular session, the 150 members of the firm of representatives cull one of their members to be the speaker of the house. The speaker is the presiding officer of the house. He or she maintains guild, recognizes members to speak during contend, and rules on procedural matters.

The speaker also appoints the chairs and vice chairs of the committees that study legislation and decides which other representatives will serve on those committees, subject to seniority rules. There are 31 committees, each of which deals with a different subject area, and five committees that deal with procedural or administrative matters for the house. Most members serve on two or 3 different committees.

In the senate, the presiding officer is the lieutenant governor, who is not really a member of the senate. The lieutenant governor is the 2d-highest ranking officer of the executive branch of government and, like the governor, is chosen for a four-year term by pop vote in a statewide ballot.

The showtime thing that the speaker of the house and the lieutenant governor inquire their corresponding houses of the legislature to do is to decide on the rules that the legislators will follow during the session. Some legislative procedures are provided for in the state constitution, but additional rules can be adopted by a business firm of the legislature if approved past a majority vote of its members.

In one case rules have been adopted, the legislature begins to consider bills.

Introducing a Bill

A representative or senator gets an idea for a beak by listening to the people he or she represents and then working to solve their trouble. A pecker may also grow out of the recommendations of an interim committee study conducted when the legislature is non in session. The idea is researched to decide what country law needs to exist changed or created to best solve that trouble. A neb is then written by the legislator, oft with legal assistance from the Texas Legislative Council, a legislative agency which provides pecker drafting services, inquiry assistance, reckoner support, and other services for legislators.

One time a bill has been written, it is introduced by a fellow member of the house or senate in the member'southward own chamber. Sometimes, similar bills about a particular consequence are introduced in both houses at the same time by a representative and senator working together. Nonetheless, whatsoever bill increasing taxes or raising coin for utilise by the state must start in the house of representatives.

Firm members and senators can introduce bills on whatsoever subject during the first threescore calendar days of a regular session. Afterward 60 days, the introduction of any beak other than a local pecker or a bill related to an emergency declared by the governor requires the consent of at least four-fifths of the members present and voting in the firm or four-fifths of the membership in the senate.

After a beak has been introduced, a short clarification of the bill, called a caption, is read aloud while the chamber is in session and so that all of the members are aware of the nib and its subject. This is called the commencement reading, and information technology is the point in the process where the presiding officer assigns the neb to a committee. This assignment is appear on the bedchamber flooring during the starting time reading of the neb.

The Commission Procedure

The chair of each committee decides when the committee will see and which bills will be considered. The house rules permit a house committee or subcommittee to come across: (1) in a public hearing where testimony is heard and where official action may exist taken on bills, resolutions, or other matters; (2) in a formal meeting where the members may discuss and accept official activeness without hearing public testimony; or (iii) in a work session for discussion of matters earlier the committee without taking formal action. In the senate, testimony may exist heard and official activity may be taken at any meeting of a senate commission or subcommittee. Public testimony is near e'er solicited on bills, allowing citizens the opportunity to present arguments on dissimilar sides of an issue.

A house committee or subcommittee holding a public hearing during a legislative session must post notice of the hearing at least five calendar days before the hearing during a regular session and at least 24 hours in accelerate during a special session. For a formal meeting or a work session, written notice must be posted and sent to each member of the committee two hours in advance of the meeting or an announcement must be filed with the journal clerk and read while the house is in session. A senate commission or subcommittee must post detect of a meeting at least 24 hours before the meeting.

After because a bill, a commission may choose to take no action or may effect a study on the nib. The commission report, expressing the commission'south recommendations regarding action on a bill, includes a tape of the commission's vote on the study, the text of the bill as reported by the committee, a detailed bill analysis, and a fiscal note or other impact statement, as necessary. The report is then printed, and a re-create is distributed to every member of the house or senate.

In the house, a copy of the committee written report is sent to either the Committee on Calendars or the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars for placement on a agenda for consideration by the full house. In the senate, local and noncontroversial bills are scheduled for senate consideration past the Senate Assistants Committee. All other bills in the senate are placed on the regular order of business for consideration by the full senate in the lodge in which the bills were reported from senate committee. A bill on the regular order of concern may non be brought up for floor consideration unless the senate sponsor of the beak has filed a written detect of intent to suspend the regular order of business for consideration of the neb.

Floor Action

When a bill comes up for consideration by the total house or senate, it receives its second reading. The beak is read, again by explanation only, and and then debated by the full membership of the chamber. Any fellow member may offer an amendment, only information technology must be canonical by a majority of the members present and voting to exist adopted. The members then vote on whether to pass the bill. The nib is then considered past the full trunk again on tertiary reading and last passage. A bill may be amended once more on third reading, only amendments at this stage require a two-thirds majority for adoption. Although the Texas Constitution requires a bill to exist read on iii separate days in each house earlier it can have the force of law, this constitutional dominion may be suspended by a four-fifths vote of the firm in which the bill is pending. The senate routinely suspends this constitutional provision in order to give a bill an immediate third reading later on its 2d reading consideration. The firm, even so, rarely suspends this provision, and third reading of a bill in the house normally occurs on the day following its second reading consideration.

In either firm, a pecker may be passed on a voice vote or a record vote. In the house, record votes are tallied by an electronic vote board controlled by buttons on each fellow member's desk. In the senate, record votes are taken by calling the ringlet of the members.

If a bill receives a majority vote on third reading, information technology is considered passed. When a nib is passed in the house where it originated, the neb is engrossed, and a new copy of the bill which incorporates all corrections and amendments is prepared and sent to the opposite sleeping accommodation for consideration. In the second house, the bill follows basically the same steps it followed in the first firm. When the bill is passed in the opposite house, it is returned to the originating chamber with any amendments that have been adopted only fastened to the neb.

Activeness on the Other House'south Amendments and Conference Committees

If a bill is returned to the originating chamber with amendments, the originating chamber can either concord to the amendments or request a conference committee to work out differences between the firm version and the senate version. If the amendments are agreed to, the neb is put in final form, signed by the presiding officers, and sent to the governor.

Conference committees are composed of five members from each business firm appointed past the presiding officers. In one case the briefing committee reaches agreement, a briefing committee report is prepared and must be approved by at to the lowest degree 3 of the five conferees from each firm. Briefing committee reports are voted on in each house and must be approved or rejected without amendment. If canonical past both houses, the bill is signed past the presiding officers and sent to the governor.

Governor'southward Activeness

Upon receiving a bill, the governor has 10 days in which to sign the bill, veto it, or let it to become police force without a signature. If the governor vetoes the nib and the legislature is yet in session, the beak is returned to the firm in which it originated with an explanation of the governor's objections. A two-thirds majority in each house is required to override the veto. If the governor neither vetoes nor signs the bill within 10 days, the bill becomes a law. If a neb is sent to the governor within 10 days of last banishment, the governor has until twenty days afterwards final adjournment to sign the bill, veto it, or permit it to become law without a signature.

Ramble Amendments

Proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution are in the grade of joint resolutions instead of bills and require a vote of two-thirds of the entire membership in each house for adoption. Articulation resolutions are not sent to the governor for approval, just are filed straight with the secretarial assistant of state. A articulation resolution proposing an amendment to the Texas Constitution does not get effective until it is approved by Texas voters in a full general election.

• More than Detailed Information on the Steps in the Legislative Procedure

In the Texas Law Making Process, What Happens After a Bill First Reading?

Source: https://house.texas.gov/about-us/bill/

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