Georgia General Assembly – The Bill’s Life Cycle

The first stage of any bill is the drafting phase. This comes after a legislator identifies an issue affecting their community or a citizen brings it to their attention. The legislator may then work to create a solution that will go through the process to potentially become a bill and ultimately a law.

The Georgia State Legislative Session begins the second Monday in January and continues for 40 days until adjournment sine die, which is the final day of the legislative session. During this time frame is when all potential legislation will be taken into consideration.

The First Reading of a piece of legislation occurs on the first legislative day after the bill has been filed. The bill’s author will read the title aloud in their respective chamber—either the Senate or the House—and the presiding officer will assign the bill to a standing committee.

The Second Reading, which occurs on the following legislative day, only happens in the House of Representatives. Because each bill is already being considered by a committee, the Second Reading is mostly ceremonial. The Clerk of the House will read the bill’s title aloud again in the House chamber.

The Senate will not perform its Second Reading until a bill passes through committee; if the bill fails to pass through a committee, there will be no Second Reading in the Senate.

Most of the Georgia legislators’ work takes place in committees. Legislators discuss, review, dissect, and debate the bill while it is in the committee phase. This is also when most of the fact-finding work occurs. Legislators may call upon the bill’s author, other legislators, lobbyists, state officials, or even citizens to testify on behalf of the bill. The committee can alter the bill by adding amendments or deleting portions where they feel necessary. After this process, the committee will vote on the bill.

In a “yea” vote, the committee will send the bill to their respective chamber with a favorable report. A bill with a “yea” vote is now ready to be considered on the floor. The bill will be given one of the three following marks when sent back to the legislative chambers:

• Do Pass
• Do Pass with Amendments
• Do Pass by Substitute—can pass after another bill has been moved forward; this means the bill currently under consideration (Bill A) cannot be passed until another bill (Bill B) passes first

A “nay” vote means the committee does not want to pass the bill and will give the chamber an unfavorable report; most bills die in committee. Committees can either mark the bill as “Do Not Pass” or can hold the bill and issue no report. Committees most commonly hold a bill and issue no report.

If a committee holds a bill and issues no report for 10 legislative days, any legislator can begin a petition to discharge the bill, which will force the bill out of its standing committee to be voted on; however, two-thirds of the chamber must sign the petition for the bill to be discharged and added to the General Calendar. Legislators can also use this process to force a bill into another committee. Such petitions rarely work in either case.

Standing committees—the most common type of committee—are more permanent than other types and are formed during each session. All bills are assigned to a standing committee, and all bills must pass through a standing committee before being considered on the floor. The hearings on bills will occur in these meetings; some activity also takes place in the interim between legislative sessions.

Study committees—assigned and authorized by one or both chambers to focus on a specific issue—are the most active type of committee in the interim between sessions. These committees research and learn about a particular subject.

Conference committees—designed to create a compromise—are created when the two houses cannot agree on a bill. Three members from each chamber are assigned to this committee to reach a compromise and report back to their respective houses for approval.

Georgia House of Representatives committee list:
http://www.house.ga.gov/Committees/en-US/CommitteeList.aspx

Georgia State Senate committee list:
http://www.senate.ga.gov/committees/en-US/SenateCommitteesList.aspx

After passing through a committee, bills return to the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate based on which chamber sent it to committee. Each chamber places all favorably returned bills on the General Calendar, which can be extensive.

A Rules Committee for each chamber creates a Rules Calendar containing the list of bills that will be considered on the floor the following legislative day. The presiding officer of each chamber will bring up bills from the Rules Calendar for floor consideration.

For the Third Reading, the Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate will read the bill’s title for a third time. Each bill for the floor that day will be read quickly in long-winded sentences.

After the Third Reading, the bill goes to the chamber from which it originated. Legislators will debate the bill and propose amendments. The chamber will vote on the bill before moving onto the next bill in the queue. On an electronic screen at the front of the chamber, the legislator’s name and their vote—whether it be “yea” and “nay”—will pop up in real time. If the bill fails the vote, it can be taken to the floor in the next Georgia General Assembly, which runs in 2-year cycles. If the bill fails to pass for two consecutive years, it must start the committee process again before going up for another vote.

After the bill is approved in the chamber from which it originated, it must go to the other chamber. While most bills switch houses on Crossover Day (Day 30 of the legislative session), the chambers can move bills at any point in the session; Crossover Day, however, is the final day when bills can switch houses and become law in the current legislative session. The other chamber will debate and discuss the bill, proposing amendments where they deem necessary.

If the bill is approved by the second chamber but with changes, it must return to the original chamber to receive approval for those changes. Once accepted by both chambers, the bill goes to the Governor.

When approved but with changes, the bill returns to the original chamber; if the original chamber does not approve of the changes and the second chamber insists upon them, the bill goes into a Conference Committee to find a compromise. If a compromise can be reached, the bill goes to the Governor. If this committee cannot reach a compromise, a new Conference Committee will be appointed; the bill will die if this committee cannot find a compromise, though such an event is unlikely.

Within 6 consecutive days after a bill passes both chambers, the Governor can ask to sign or veto the bill; however, most commonly, bills are sent to the Governor after the Legislative Session formally ends. The Governor then has 40 days to sign the bill—thus creating a law—or veto the bill.

A vetoed bill returns to the original chamber for the following year’s session, at which point the chamber may decide to override the veto. A vetoed bill requires a two-thirds majority of each chamber for the override to be successful.

In Georgia, the Governor has the option to do nothing; after 40 days, the bill automatically becomes a law without needing to be signed.

Newly created acts and laws are printed into the Georgia Law series and added to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. All passed acts and laws become effective on July 1 unless otherwise stated.