lawmaking process

local laws

apply to counties, cities, municipalities, towns, townships, village; cover rent, zoning, local safety, permits, etc

state laws

own courts system, vary from state to state; cover divorce, criminal matters, welfare, public assistance, wills, inheritances, real estate, personal injury, work mans comp, mal practice, taxes

federal laws

apply to all 50 states and everyone in them; immigration, bankruptcy, social security, anti-discrimination, civil rights, patents, criminal offenses

who can propose a law

anyone can suggest an idea, only a congress member can take a proposal to HoR or Senate

what happens first

congress member drafts a bill, submit bill to house or senate, then sent to appropriate committee

what is in front of a bill that denotes where it orignates

HR for house of representatives, S for senate

standing committee

permanent committee in the house or senate that studies bills related to a general topic, education, agriculture or science; assigns bill to the appropriate subcommittee

subcommittee

studies the bills relate to a sub-set of the topics covered by the standing committee and all members are apart of the standing committee

where does the most discussion in congress take place

subcommittees

what does the subcommittee do

decides if a bill is necessary or wise if not the bill dies; holds hearings on the bill giving supporters, opponents, and experts a chance to voice their opinions

how can the subcommittee change a bill and what happens after

can make amendments and vote on them; may write an entirely new bill; vote on whether or not it should go to full committee for a vote; if the bill doesnt pass it dies

after the subcomittee what does the standing committee do

discusses the bill; suggest and vote on amendments; votes on whether to send the bill to full house/senate; then sent to senate/house

what is included with the bill if it passes the full standing committee

a report including key points, changes made, bill compared to current laws, why they recommend this bill for approval

in any stage of the law making process if a bill does not pass what happens to it

it dies

debate on house floor

a time limit is set before debate for each member to spend; first member to speak is for the bill then against and it goes back and forth; debate on bill can be ended with simple majority vote; amendments to the bill can be suggested / debated with the same rules; finally bill put to vote

debate on senate floor

no time limits to debate ; amendments may be offered at any time during debate; at the end of debate the bill is put to a votewh

why is there no time limit in the senate debate

senators can filibuster

what happens to the bill after the house and the senate have debated it

both must pass similar forms of the bill; if a bill is passed only in the house and the senate has passed a similar bills it gets to the other side of congress for debate, amendments, and a vote; two bills are sent to a conference committee if they are similar

conference committee

both house and senate members; discuss differences in the two bills; rewrite the bill in a form they think will pass in the house and the senate to vote on it; they write a report with the rewritten bill explainign the differences and the rewritten bill

back to the floor

committee report with the rewritten bill to the house or senate for a vote (depends on where originates); if house passes bill it is sent to senate; if house OR senate does not pass bill it dies; if passed by congress then sent to President

sign into law

signs the bill then becomes a law

law without signature

let the bill site on his desk for 10 days without signing it while congress is in session; bill then becomes a law

veto

choose not to sign the bill so it will NOT become a law

pocket veto

if after 10 days he has not signed it and congress is no longer in session the bill does not become a law and can't be overruled

how can a veto be over ruled

if the bill gets passes by 2/3 of congress it still becomes a law despite the veto