How a bill works...

When a bill is drafted and introduced it is given a number and then an impact statement is

done,...then it usually heads off to the Rules Committee...either the Senate Rules or House Rules

Committee. It is the job of this committee to determine who is to 'hear' the bill, what the subject of

the bill is etc... Often times bills such as these will be assigned to go to an AGRICULTURE

Committee or HEALTH WELFARE or SAFETY Committee....it is now that the bill first becomes

known by any of the legislators unless they have been lobbied by the author already. Most will not

have a clue of anything as they focus on what is before them only. Once in the hands of that first

committee, they review it and it is THEN that we really need to hit them with lots of data etc...they

will usually then schedule a limited public hearing and then they will decide.....now, during

this...insiders are lobbying hard to get the bill passed or failed at this point. Once the Committee

makes their decision, it may be moved into another committee etc....FINALLY if all of the

committees pass the bill, it will go to the floor for a full House or a full Senate vote...again this is

when we hit them AGAIN...REAL, REAL hard and go visit them in their offices etc... If it is killed on

the floor, this will usually end it....if it is passed it will then go the other house...ie, if is is a House

bill it will then move to the Senate to go through the same type of procedures.

NOW...there are other things that can happen during all of this, but by and large this is the

process in a short nutshell..

Ultimately if a bill gets through both houses, it then heads for the Governor to sign into law or

veto....

So, there are lots of opportunities to fight a bill and I have found in the past that we don't want to

burn out our sources too early on or we will not have them during the final push....