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....