standing: permanent committees

temporary: legislation finds a problem and fixes it. once it’s fixed, it’s disassembled

conference: formed when a bill has a disagreement between the house and senate

interion: newest committee. no power to pass legislation, but can meet between terms of the legislature. it can listen to voters and generate ideas.

how a bill becomes a law in TX - bills go through house and senate at the same time and must pass in both

house:

bill is introduced by a member and files it with the clerk

1st reading - speaker of the house gets up and reads the bill, then he assigns the bill to a committee

the committee gets the bill - most bills die here. maj kills the vote and cannot be revived for 2 years, or they table it which means they go back to it “later,” or they pigeonhole it which means they never look at it again. decision is decided by the chair of the committee. the only way out is if the majority of a committee votes in favor, and it must be able to be amended.

2nd reading - speaker re-reads the bill, the rest of the house and senate get the chance to propose amendments, and pass it with a majority vote

3rd reading - amend with 2/3 vote, helpful if the wording is clumsy. then maj vote to pass

the 3 readings came in tradition from britian because a long time ago not everyone could read

senate:

1st reading

committee - internal rule when it goes to com. - tagging role. tagging bill means com has to stop debate for min 48 hours. good for when you need for 48 hours to prepare for attack on your district. usually used for they meet for 140 days straight. sometime you only need some time to kill a bill by delaying it.

floor of tx senate - traditional: needs 2/3 rule. only took 11 members to block stupid bill, ppl can usually come to a conclusion. new way: 60% rule have to vote to take a bill to the floor

2nd reading: adds the filibustering rule - any member of senate can talk about a bill and it cannot pass as long as he’s standing and talking

3rd reading - same as house

conference committee - when house and senate both pass bill but have different amendments. after they work it out then it goes back to house and senate. they can either send it back, make a new conference committee, or pass it because it would take too much time to reform it.

govener step: