Background Essay

Background Essay

Writing bills and making them into laws can seem like a complicated process, but it’s pretty simple if you know the terminology.

Defining the terms “legislator” and “bill” is the best place to start. Legislators are members of the legislature, a group of elected officials who make, amend, and repeal laws. In Kentucky, our legislators are either members of the House of Representatives or the Senate. The House of Representatives is the larger of the two groups; its 100 members represent the people of 100 districts or divisions throughout Kentucky. The Kentucky Senate consists of 38 members who represent 38 larger districts in our state. Every Kentucky citizen has an elected representative in both the House and the Senate.

A bill is a proposal, or suggestion, for a law. Bills are usually written by legislators; however, anyone can write a bill and submit it to their legislator to present. In short, the bill-to-law process starts with a bill that is introduced by a legislator.

Once a bill is written, it goes through a series of committees and chambers. Committees are a group of representatives or senators who review a bill and decide whether or not it should go on to the full chamber. Chambers refers to the House (of Representatives) Chamber and the Senate Chamber.

Bills are assigned to committees based on their subject. For example, if the bill concerns education, it will go to an education committee for review. If it deals with agriculture, it will go to an agriculture committee for review. If a bill is introduced by a member of the House, it will go to a House committee for review first. Likewise, it goes to a Senate committee for review if it is introduced by a Senator.

The committee members review the bill. If they don’t approve a bill, it “dies in committee.” If they approve it, the bill is sent to the full chamber for consideration. So the bill either goes to the House or Senate chamber, depending on where it was introduced. Once it is passed by the full House or Senate, it goes to a committee made up of members from the other chamber. If the bill is approved by that committee, it goes to the second full chamber for review.

After a bill is passed in both committees and both chambers, it goes the governor who can sign it into law or veto it. If the governor agrees with a bill, he or she will sign the bill and it becomes a law.

However, it the governor doesn’t agree with a bill, he or she can choose not to sign it. If the governor chooses not to sign a bill, that’s called a “veto.” When a governor vetoes a bill, it doesn’t become a law unless the House and Senate vote to override or reverse the veto. If the House and/or Senate feel strongly enough about a bill, they can decide to override, or reverse, the veto. In order for this to happen, the House and Senate have to vote on the bill as a whole group. If there is a supermajority vote (a number that is much more than half of the total number of legislators) voting) in favor of the bill, it will become a law.

After a bill becomes law, the governor, city and county governments, state and local police officers, and the courts are pledged to enforce it as best they can. Often, the people affected by the law are made aware of it and what it means to them and what they have to do differently.

Whew! It takes a lot of steps for a bill to become a law! To help students better understand this process, the KET interactive, “How Does a Bill Become a Law?,” provides an excellent visual that takes students through the steps in a way that is easy to follow.

Discussion Questions

1.  How is a bill different from a law?

2.  Who can write a bill?

3.  Explain the difference between committees and chambers.

4.  What happens if the governor vetoes a bill?

Activity

How a Bill Becomes a Law

Students will learn the process of how a bill becomes a law and then write a short story about “the life of a bill.”

Vocabulary: bill, law, legislature, legislator, House of Representatives, Senate, committee, chamber, veto, supermajority

Materials

·  Construction paper

·  Markers

·  Glue

·  Internet access for the following link to the vocabulary as well as How Does a Bill Become a Law interactive: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/kidspages/legislative%20glossary.pdf (All of the terms except for supermajority and legislature can be found here. You will need to provide these definitions.)

·  Computer with projector

Procedures

Day 1:

1.  Hand out materials to make Flag Book Foldable (directions can be found at http://www.squidoo.com/flag-book). Adjust the directions to make 10 definitions instead of eight. This requires one extra fold and slightly smaller insert cards.

2.  Walk students through the process of making the foldable. Label the front cover How a Bill Becomes a Law: Vocabulary.

3.  Once Flag Books are complete, project the vocabulary link on the whiteboard and have students copy the terms onto their foldable, one definition per page.

Day 2:

1.  Have students work in pairs to complete a flow chart for how a bill becomes a law using the KET interactive How Does a Bill Become a Law as their resource. In each box of the flow chart students will summarize each step in their own words.

2.  Once the flow chart is complete, have students take turns explaining the process to their partner without looking at the flow chart.

Day 3:

1.  Have students work individually to write a short story about the life of a bill. The more creative the better!

2.  If students do not complete their short story in class, have them complete it for homework.

Day 4 (if time permits):

1.  Have students share their stories with each other. They will critique each others’ stories based on creativity and accuracy.