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Teacher's Guide Teacher’s Guide State Lawmaking Time Needed: One to Two Class Learning Objectives. Students will be able to: Periods Illustrate how a bill becomes law Identify the role of state governments in policy-making Materials Needed: Student worksheets Explain the influence on the legislative process of political parties, interest groups, grass roots organizations, Copy Instructions: lobbyists, public opinion, and individual voters Reading (5 pages; class set) Analyze the effectiveness of citizen efforts to influence Activity (2 pages; class set) decisions of state and local governments Describe the processes of initiative and referendum STEP BY STEP ANTICIPATE by asking students to predict how many bills actually make it to the governor’s desk and receive a signature into law. Ask why they think the number is high or low? What might impact the success of a bill? DISTRIBUTE the “State Lawmaking” reading notes page and reading pages to each student. READ through the first page with the class, discussing each idea source and clarifying as needed. If your state has recently experienced a referendum or initiative, this is a great time to introduce it to the students. ASK students to continue to read the two pages that follow, using their reading notes to keep track of the legislative process. Then, return to the anticipation questions. Why would the system make the process of lawmaking so difficult? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Discuss. READ the introduction to the “Spotlight on Interest Groups and Lobbying” with the class. ASK students to break down the definition in the space provided. You can do this with the students using the teacher guide page, or ask them to complete individually then review together. (This is a good collaborative white board activity.) READ the remaining portion of the Spotlight page, discussing any questions as they arise. DISTRIBUTE the “State Lawmaking” activity pages to each student. ASK students to complete the two worksheet pages. REVIEW the answers to the activities on the worksheets. Many are open-ended questions that will benefit from class discussion and consensus building. The teacher guide versions provide suggested answers for sections A and C, but there may be additional correct responses. CLOSE by asking students to think of one way citizens are involved with the lawmaking process (directly or indirectly). Call on volunteers until you have the minimum: direct voting in referendums, initiatives; participation in interest groups; testifying at a committee hearing about a bill; suggesting a bill by contacting an elected official; helping author a bill; election of officials that make laws; etc. © 2016 iCivics, Inc. You may copy, distribute, or transmit this work for noncommercial purposes only. This copyright notice or a legally valid equiva- lent such as “© 2016 iCivics Inc.” shall be included in all such copies, distributions or transmittals. All other rights reserved. Find this lesson and more at www.iCivics.org. State Lawmaking Name: Note As You Go! Use this template to put the lawmaking process in your own words. Try to use any new vocabulary, and if you don’t know how to say it- try drawing it! © 2016 iCivics, Inc. Reading Notes State Lawmaking Name: The Lawmaking Process The process of making and changing laws at the state level is very similar to that of the federal government. An idea turns into a written bill and that bill is introduced on the floor of the legislature. Then it moves through the legislative gauntlet of !! ?? committees, hearings, floor debates, and amendments. At the end of a session, a successful bill is placed before the governor. There it may be signed into law, ignored into law, or vetoed. But this process leaves out a lot of interesting details... Where do the ideas come from? How do legislators know how to vote? How does your average citizen get involved? Where do the ideas get their start? The idea behind a bill can come from a variety of sources. By looking at these sources, we meet the people outside of the legislature that can impact how policy is made. The Legislator: Often the elected official has a specific agenda, area of expertise, or experience that can lead to an idea for a bill. These officials also receive messages and ideas from their constituents. Government Agencies: The state executive branch is responsible for carrying out the laws, and sometimes they see a need for those laws to be revised or replaced. In those situations, the governor can request a bill for that state department or agency. Special Interest Groups: People or companies that share a concern or mission may gather into interest groups. Lobbyists (representatives of interest groups) use their collective voice to educate lawmakers on their issues and promote ideas for bills. They may focus on one specific lawmaker and persuade him or her to sponsor, or introduce, a bill. They may also work to grow support across many lawmakers to support a bill already introduced. The Citizen/Constituent: In all the cases above, a citizen of a state can act as the catalyst for a bill. Writing letters to their legislator, engaging with state agencies, and participating in interest groups all provide access to the lawmaking process. Citizens can also participate in town hall meetings and vote in initiatives and referendums that open up the process. Referendums allow citizens to vote Initiatives allow citizens to suggest bills directly on a law. Popular referendums to the legislature to consider, or even push let citizens of a state vote to repeal a new a bill directly to the ballot for a vote. law that is unpopular. © 2016 iCivics, Inc. Reading - Side A State Lawmaking Name: Who Writes the Bills? Specific rules about drafting a bill vary from state to state, but almost anyone can actually write the language for a bill. Legislators can write the first draft based on their own idea or on input from a constituent. If the Secretary of State (part of the executive branch) wants to make a change to the state’s election law, she may draft the bill. If a lobbyist for a group like S.A.D.D (Students Against Destructive Decisions) has a bill designed to decrease underage drinking, he may write it. Regardless of who writes it, the policy will need to be formatted based on the state’s rules and will require a sponsor, or champion, in the legislature to introduce the bill and see that it makes its way through the lawmaking process. On To the Committee! Once the bill is introduced by the sponsor or co-sponsors in their chamber of the legislature (let’s have this example start in the State Senate), the content of the bill goes under the microscope of a legislative committee. These committees investigate, debate, and revise bills within a general area of legislation like agriculture or transportation. While the bill is in committee, public hearings are held to allow experts and witnesses to testify and present evidence. The goal is to help committee members decide if they need to revise the bill, present it for a vote, or let it die through inaction. Hearings and Testimony Who are these experts and witnesses and what do they offer? Depending on the topic of the bill, members of the legislature, government officials, representatives of interest groups, academics, and citizens may be called to provide testimony at a hearing. These people may offer research, personal stories, strong opinions, impact studies, and evidence relating to a specific bill in committee. Hearings can also focus on a topic that impacts a number of bills, like education or prisons. Witnesses are asked to submit written testimony, as well as be available to answer questions from committee members. A bill related to underage drinking may call in law enforcement officials to speak on arrest rates, a student to talk about a personal experience with alcohol abuse, and a doctor to discuss the impact of drinking on brain development in young people. Most hearings are open to the public, and may even allow people like you to sign up and give your own testimony. If you care about an issue, check out your state legislature website to see if there are any issues that you’d like to speak about. Each state is different, but there are many opportunities to engage in this part of the process. © 2016 iCivics, Inc. Reading - Side B State Lawmaking Name: The Gauntlet: Part One Bill to Law Success After all the testimony has been reviewed, the committee takes another look at the bill. Does it need to be altered? Do amendments need to be added? These changes can be done to improve the bill or to reach compromises between supporters and opponents that were heard during the hearings. The fate of the bill is now in the hands of the committee, who will vote to do one of the following: Recommend that the bill be passed as is, or with amendments, out of committee and sent directly to the floor of the State Senate for consideration. Recommend that the bill be sent to another committee for additional discussion. Send the bill to the floor of the legislature or another % committee without a recommendation for passage. Keep it in committee for an indefinite time. Vote it down, ending the process. % Only the first two options will actually see the bill reach the next step of the journey. Many, many bills that get caught up in the last three options, never advance and “die in committee”. The Gauntlet: Part Two If a bill makes it back to the floor of the state senate, it faces additional obstacles.
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