How a bill becomes a law
Learn about the steps and people involved in moving bills through the lawmaking process.
Steps in the lawmaking process
A bill may go through committee meetings, debates, changes, and votes. If both the House of Representatives and Senate pass it, the Governor decides whether to sign it into law. Below are the most common steps a bill will follow.
1. Introduced
A legislator may be introduce a bill in either the House of Representatives or Senate. After a member files a bill, it gets a number.
Filing a bill before session
Members can file bills in the month before session begins. This is called "prefiling." Prefiled bills are officially introduced the first day of the session.
First reading of a bill
Normally, a bill is read the first time by title only in open session of the chamber. This is called the first reading.
Assigning a bill to a committee
Leaders in the House or Senate will decide which committee to refer a bill to. This usually relates to the bill's subject.
Budget-related bills
Bills that affect the state budget must also go to a fiscal committee for review.
2. Assigned to a committee
A committee reviews the bill and holds meetings to discuss it.
It may:
- Pass the bill with or without changes
- Create and pass a new version of the bill
- Reject the bill
- Take no action
Public meetings
Committees often hold meetings to discuss bills. These are usually open to the public to attend and give their comments. Learn how to testify at a committee meeting.
Committee report
If the committee passes a bill, they will make a report and send it to be read in the House or Senate. The bill then goes to the rules committee. To see a list of bills reported out of House or Senate committees each day, go to standing committee reports.
3. Rule committee review
A rules committee chooses which bills the entire House or Senate should vote on.
When a rules committee receives a bill, it can either:
- Schedule it for a second reading in the House or Senate
- Take no action
First rules committee review
In this first step, the rules committee reviews the bill and decides whether or not to move it to the next step. This is called Rules Review in the House and Rules White in the Senate (the report that lists the bills in this step in the Senate is printed on white paper).
Second rules committee review
In this second step, the rules committee decides whether to schedule the bill for a second reading in the House or Senate. This is called Rules Consideration in the House and Rules Green in the Senate (the report is printed on green paper). Bills sometimes skip this step and go to the calendar for second reading.
Bills scheduled for readings
To find out which bills are scheduled for readings, view the links below:
Budget-related bills
If the bill has a major effect on the state budget, the rules committee may ask a fiscal committee to review
4. Debates
Next, members of the House or Senate will debate and vote on bills in up to two separate sessions. These are called the second and third readings.
Second reading: Debates and changes
At the second reading, members will debate the bill and may vote to change it. If they vote to approve the bill, they’ll schedule a third reading for it.
Third reading: Final vote
At the third reading, members will take a final vote on the bill. If the bill passes, it goes to the other house. To see how members voted on a specific bill, view our roll calls on a bill page.
5. Next chamber
After passing one house, the bill goes through the same steps in the other house. If the other house makes changes to the bill, the first house must approve them.
Settling disagreements between the House and Senate
If the House and Senate disagree on changes to a bill, one of them can ask for a conference committee. At a conference committee, members from each house meet and try to come to an agreement.
If they agree on what to do, the conference committee will make a report. Both houses must vote to approve the conference committee report for the bill to pass the Legislature.
6. Governor's decision
After the bill passes both the House and Senate, the Legislature sends it to the Governor.
Visit our bill-to-law cross reference page for a list of bills that went to the Governor.
What the Governor can do
The Governor makes the final decision on whether a bill should become a law. They may either:
- Sign the bill into law
- Veto all or part of the bill
About vetoes
A veto is when the Governor rejects an entire bill or certain sections of it. Unless the Legislature overrides a veto, some or all parts of the bill won't become law.
If two-thirds of the members of both houses vote to override a veto, the entire bill will become a law without the Governor's signature.
Deadlines for the Governor
If the Governor doesn't sign or veto a bill within a certain period, it will become law without their signature. When the Governor receives a bill, they need to act on it:
- Within 5 days if the Legislature is in session, or
- Within 20 days if the Legislature isn't in session