Legislative Branch

Legislate – to make law

Legislature – A body of lawmakers (Congress, Assembly, etc.)

Legislator – An individual lawmaker

When our system of government was created the fears that our
founding fathers had about tyranny still existed. To prevent the
abuse of power several systems were created. Federalism was created
to ensure that state governments could exercise local control and
Separation of Powers was created to further divide the power of the
national government. Separation of Powers has within it a system of
checks and balances. These checks and balances set one branch of
government against the other to ensure a healthy competition. This
competition safeguards against one branch gaining too much power.

Internally, the legislative branch has its own way of balancing
power. The legislative branch, as you know is broken up into two

parts or houses. This is known as a bicameral
legislature. Each of the houses of Congress has its differences and
there are something they must do together as well. See the charts
below as a guide:

STEP ONE – An idea is developed

Ideas can be generated by a variety of sources.

• Individual citizens and citizens groups may pressure members
  of government to take an action.

• Members of local government may request that members of a
  higher level of government take action.

• Interest Groups (organized groups of citizens that share a
  common political goal) may pressure Congress.

• PAC’s (Political Action Committees) may apply pressure. A PAC
  is like an interest group.

• All of these groups may hire “lobbyists” to plead their case.
  A lobbyist is a professional who goes and speaks to congressmen to
  get something done.

STEP TWO –
The legislation gets “sponsored” and introduced.

• A congressmen, or several, must be interested enough in the
  idea to write it up and officially send it to the House or Senate
  with their name on it. This is called “sponsoring” the bill.

• When the send the bill to the
  floor of the house or Senate this is known as being
  “introduced.”

STEP THREE –
The bill is assigned to a committee

• The Speaker of the House or
  Majority Leader of the Senate assign the bill to an appropriate
  committee.

• The committee debate the bill and
  holds “hearings.”

• The committee votes on the bill
  and either give it a favorable recommendation or an unfavorable
  recommendation.

STEP FOUR –
The bill must get voted on and pass the House or Senate
(wherever it started) with a majority vote.

STEP FIVE –
The bill goes to the other chamber and repeats the process.
THE BILL MUST PASS BOTH HOUSES!

• If the bill started in the House
  it then must pass the same system in the Senate.

• If the bill started in the Senate
  it then must pass the same system in the House.

• Sometimes a bill does go through
  both at the same time.

STEP SIX –
Differences in the bills passed in both houses must be worked out at “Conference
Committee.”

• Conference Committee are the
  leading members of the House and Senate from both Political
  Parties.

STEP SEVEN –
The bill goes before the President.

• The President may sign the bill.
  It then become a law.

• The President may veto the bill.
  It then may be overridden with 2/3 vote of the House and
  Senate.

• If the President lets the bill
  sit on his desk for ten days without taking any action and
  Congress is still in session the bill automatically passes (pocket
  pass).

• If the President lets the bill
  sit on his desk for ten days without taking any action and
  Congress ends their session before ten days are up the bill
  automatically fails (pocket veto).