Making Law Pennsylvania LEGISLATION IN THE PA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AMENDMENTS Imagine studying A Balance of Power thousands of Changes to subjects and developing an informed The Pennsylvania Constitution placed specific portions opinion about each one. That a fundamental check on legislative of a proposed is exactly what legislators in the power by creating two bodies which law. Amendments Pennsylvania General Assembly do must cooperate to make law – the may be offered in every term as they consider and vote House of Representatives and the committees or on the House Floor. on proposals that may become law Senate. Together, they form the for all Pennsylvania citizens. State General Assembly, with 50 legislators representatives and senators perform in the Senate and 203 Representatives other services for those who elect in the House. Who’s the Boss? them to office, but none are more Each body must approve the You are. Along with every important than lawmaking. lawmaking actions of the other – or Pennsylvanian represented by a There are many steps in the else work out compromises through making law legislator. According legislative process, and it can look amendments to proposed laws. to the Constitution, complex on the surface. Actually, Even then, the General Assembly can HaveHave youyou ever wished that government wouldwo just step in the people of the sequence of turning a good idea enact law only with the participation Pennsylvania aandnd pass a law to correct some situation yoyou find totally into law is quite straightforward, of the Governor, who heads the select moving in deliberate steps, but at a Executive Branch. The Governor unacceptable?t bl ? Fortunately F t t l for f all ll of f us, it’s it’ not that simple. representatives and cautious pace. The founders of our can reject a proposed law by using senators to act on Making law in Pennsylvania is a meticulous process – and for state planned it that way. As former a veto; however, the General our behalf with the subjects of a king, they knew that Assembly can override the veto if it “There oughta good reason. State laws influence our environment, economy, condition that they answer a fair society is impossible when a has enough votes. In this way, power directly to the citizens single group or individual can act is evenly distributed, or balanced, be a law!” education, our families, our health, and virtually every aspect who elected them. That without restraint to make law for between the House and the Senate happens in the voting booth. of our daily lives, now and for generations to come. To make everyone else. They were determined and between the General Assembly Exercising control through our that no one would have the power and the Executive Branch. These new laws or change those already on the books, lawmakers votes is another check on runaway to create law alone or on impulse constitutional safeguards are some power. Legislators must earn our follow time-honored constitutional procedures. On the and they filled the Pennsylvania of the famous “checks and balances” approval while in office – two-year Constitution with safeguards to you probably first learned about in following pages, you’ll see how a legislative system developed terms for representatives, four year prevent it. Thanks to the vision of school. for state senators. During that period, our first legislators, making law centuries ago still works today, both for lawmakers and the we expect them to represent our best in Pennsylvania today requires EXECUTIVE BRANCH interests every time they consider a Pennsylvanians who send them to Harrisburg. Then, the next responsible collaboration by many proposed law. How well legislators individuals – elected to represent the time you wish your legislators would just “lay down the law,” GENERAL meet our expectations determines interests of thousands more. ASSEMBLY you’ll have a good idea of what it takes to make that happen. whether they remain in office at the HOUSE OF end of their terms or are replaced by REPRESENTATIVES SENATE candidates who voters believe will do a better job. a formi dable responsibility 3 The Life Cycle of Fictional House Bill 652 Rites of Passage 3 House Bill 652 is The unit of examined by the Standing Committee on lawmaking is Environmental Resources and Energy, which votes to accept it as written the “bill.” and reports it to the House Floor. But Legal experts at the Birth of a Bill Development first, the topic takes A bill is the written version Legislative Reference The Chief Clerk names The idea for Bill The Speaker assigns a brief detour 1 Bureau write the the new proposal by 2 652 came from a the bill to a Standing into the caucus of an idea which legisla- proposal in the proper assigning it a number. group of Pennsylvania Committee. At the same room for a second legislators committed form for a bill. tors consider as a new law time, the new bill is copied round of review. to environmental and distributed to House issues. or a change to an existing members and made available to the public. law. From its first appear- Entering a Wider World ance in print, every House 5 Like all bills, 652 is considered by members on the House Floor on or Senate bill travels the three separate days. same precarious course to The Second Day of The First Day of Consideration Consideration Majority Minority the moment it becomes law The number and title of Bill 652 debuts on the House Caucus Caucus The Third Day of Floor with an announcement by Consideration Bill 652 are again read Peer Review – or goes down to the agony to the members, who the clerk from the podium that Members actively Majority and minority party continue to prepare for the bill has been reported from 4 debate House Bill 652. members meet in separate caucus of defeat. On the next few discussion of the bill. committee. Members begin to Ultimately, they vote rooms. There, they review the content Amendments may be inform themselves about the bill. for its passage. The Final Interview of House Bill 652 and decide whether pages, we’ll examine that offered at this time. The bill arrives on the to support or oppose it, as well as The Speaker of the House 7 course and it’s optional Governor’s desk where the other bills scheduled for discussion on signs House Bill 652 on Governor signs it into law. the House Floor. Leaving the Nest the House Floor and the twists and turns as we fol- 6 House Bill 652 President Pro Tempore of Joining the Team moves to the Senate the Senate signs House Bill 652 officially low the life cycle of fictional where it is examined in 8 it in the becomes law and is given committee, in caucus, Senate. an Act number. House Bill 652. and by members on the Senate Floor. The Senate passes the bill without amendments. of a bill 4 bio graphy 5 birth development 1 The Idea Emerges 2 Fitting the Mold Anatomy of a Bill Current Printer’s Number The idea for Bill 652 could have The legislators sponsoring the idea During this stage, bluebacks come from almost anywhere – send their proposal to the Legislative mature into bills and multiply. The Bill Printer’s No. 111 individual legislators, private citizens Reference Bureau, where it is written Speaker of the House initials a number THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA or organizations, the Governor, or in the proper format by legal experts, blueback copy of House Bill 652 and for life of from bills considered in the past. copied, and placed in the blue assigns it to a committee for review. bill Ideas for laws can be sparked by folders known as “bluebacks.” The The Speaker reports that assignment HOUSE BILL sponsors sign the folders and send on the Floor of the House at the next Session of federal government regulations NO. 652 2003 them to the Chief Clerk, who names or some ruling of the courts. day’s session. Before the blueback Sponsors’ the proposal by giving it a number Introduced by: Our sample House Bill 652 was goes to committee, however, it names – in this case, House Bill 652. House proposed, or sponsored, by a group returns to the Legislative Reference Committee Referred to Committee on: of representatives who share an bills are numbered in the sequence Legislative Reference Bureau to be made into an official Assignment in which they are presented to the interest in environmental issues. Bureau bill. There it receives a Printer’s Chief Clerk over a two-year term. Number from the Legislative History Before the Legislative 1. Room and is duplicated as needed. 2. Reference Bureau (LRB) Now authentic, House Bill 652 is 3. Title was formed in 1909, bill- 4. filed in the House Document Room, Bill Line writing was far less efficient. 5. along with thousands of others that Numbers Lawmakers asked House 6. are stored there by the end of a two- 7. or Senate clerks to write year session. Copies of the bill are 8. up their bills, hired private distributed to members of the House 9. attorneys to do it for them, or and made available to the public. The wrote their own. As House bill is also entered into the Legislative Underline indicates amendments added Clerk for 15 years, Benjamin Data Processing computer network. to original law Franklin quietly wrote many bills for members, submitting Public Access to Bills a few ideas of his own under During an average two-year their names.