The Steps to How a Bill is Created and Becomes Law
Step by Step including who assigns numbers, when, and why numbers are assigned
9/11/2019
The process for how a
bill becomes law is far from what is taught in high schools across the nation
and the State of Ohio. To be frank, it is a gross oversimplification of a
complex process. Working through all the steps can take months if not years to
do.
In school, we are taught that a legislator writes and introduces a bill and then works the bill through committees and votes until it is passed by both chambers of the government with the final step being the signature into law by the chief executive officer.
A grossly oversimplified explanation of a far more complicated process.
The Steps
1. A flaw, area of concern, or possible improvement to the law is identified by either a legislator or citizen of the state.
2. A meeting is held to discuss possible solutions and the reasons why the changes should be made are discussed. This could take repeated meetings as the legislator researched what they have been told by other groups of citizens or other legislators and government agencies.
3. A final meeting is held if the legislator agrees to introduce the changes and the appropriate agency from that state is called in to hear what changes are needed to the law. For Ohio, that is the Legislative Select Committee (LSC) which is a group of attorneys that write all proposed bills, resolutions, and various presentations that are made by legislators. LSC will often allow you to work with their assistance in writing the proposed bill or if you have a bill already written now is when you present that to them.
4. LSC will find and cross-reference all areas of the Ohio revised code that are affected by the language that you are using or that what you have proposed will change. This is how what seems like a short simple change becomes a long multiple-page bill. GA 125 HB232 took over a thousand emails and about a hundred hours on the phone before it was ready to go back to the primary sponsor.
5. Once finalized the language goes to the Attorney General’s office for rechecking to ensure there exist no unseen conflicts or possible Constitutional issues.
6. Once the language of the bill is approved, LSC will assign a reference number to the proposal for future use before floor introduction on the floor of either the House or Senate.
7. The primary sponsor will pick a time for the “Floor Introduction” of the bill which is nothing more than a brief very general speech that describes what the goals of the bill are. This process is called “dropping the bill”.
8. Once dropped, the proposal is then assigned to the Committee that will handle the bill for hearings and possible amendments by members of the Committee. This is the point when the bill officially gets its number assignment.
9. The committee introduction is the point where the Primary Sponsors explain in more detail how this corrects and what changes are to Ohio law and why the bill should move forward. This can, but will not always include testimony by other proponents of this bill. The Committee may at that point discuss the merits of the bill and discuss individual concerns that members of the Committee have. All who testify can be asked questions by the Committee so those who are testifying need to know the information off the top of their head and react quickly.
10. If the Committee chairman decides that the bill has merit to move forward the chairman may call for public proponent and oppositional testimony. This is the point where each side of the issue states before the Committee states their concerns about language and why or why not the bill needs to be further considered or changed. An amendment can be proposed.
11. The Sponsor may call for an “Interested Parties Meeting” for discussion between the various groups to discuss the bill and support why they want it changed. These meetings may also include other agencies and legislators from the state. The goal is to iron out any conflicts between different groups that are expressing concerns about the bill. We have participated in several of these meetings and have been able to support ourselves with both oral and written testimony.
12. The bill may now move
forward to a full Committee vote as to whether it should move to the floor for
a full vote before the chamber in which it was introduced and a full floor
debate including possible floor amendments. 
13. If after the debate, a motion is made for a full vote, the President of the Senate, or the Speaker of the House the full chamber will vote on the bill. If passed the bill is then referred to the other chamber for consideration and the Sergeant of Arms will send a message to the other chamber announcing their vote and that the bill is now being referred to that Chamber for consideration.
14. Once accepted and assigned to Committee the entire process starts over again in the other chamber.
15. Again there is the possibility that the bill could be amended in Committee or on the floor at the debate and voting process.
16. If passed by that Chamber, it then goes back to the originating Chamber with a note as to the changes made to the bill.
17. The originating Chamber can accept, amend further, or reject the changes.
18. If there is disagreement on the final language the bill can be sent to a Conference Committee to work out the changes to the bill. If that Conference Committee agrees with the changes recommended bill then goes back to the individual Chambers for a final vote by both Chambers.
19. If passed by both the bill then goes to the Governor for his signature (It then becomes law after 180 days), veto or it can be allowed to die on his desk. If vetoed, the bill goes back to both chambers for a vote to possibly override that veto.
As you can see this is a long and time-consuming process that takes patience, constantly communicating, and multiple trips to the Capital to complete.
Ray R. Lautenschlager
Legislative Director
Ohio Family Rights
