Parliament of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth
Countries.
throughout the Commonwealth.) In the circumstances of
republics, Royal Assent is substituted with Presidential
Assent. [citation needed]
A bill is proposed legislation under consideration by a
legislature .[1] A bill does not become law until it is passed
by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the
executive . Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is
called an Act or a statute .
Usage
The term bill is primarily used in the United States and the
Commonwealth . In the United Kingdom, the subparts of a
bill are known as clauses while the subparts of an Act are
known as sections.[2]
Preparation
The preparation of a bill may involve the production of a
draft bill prior to the introduction of the bill into the
legislature. [3] In the United Kingdom, draft Bills are
frequently considered to be confidential. [4]
Introduction
In the British/Westminster system, where the executive is
drawn from the legislature and usually holds a majority in
the lower house, most bills are introduced by the
executive ( government bill ). In principle, the legislature
meets to consider the demands of the executive, as set
out in the Queen's Speech or Speech from the Throne.
While mechanisms exist to allow other members of the
legislature to introduce bills, these are subject to strict
timetables and usually fail unless a consensus is reached.
In the US system, where the executive is formally
separated from the legislature, all bills must originate
from the legislature. Bills can be introduced using the
following procedures:
Leave: A motion is brought before the chamber asking
that leave be given to bring in a bill. This is used in the
British system in the form of the Ten Minute Rule motion.
The legislator has 10 minutes to propose a bill, which can
then be considered by the House on a day appointed for
the purpose. While this rule remains in place in the rules
of procedure of the US Congress, it is seldom used.
Government motion: In jurisdictions where the
executive can control legislative business a bill may be
brought in by executive fiat .
Legislative stages
Main article: Reading (legislature)
Bills are generally considered through a number of
readings. This refers to the historic practice of the clerical
officers of the legislature reading the contents of a bill to
the legislature. While the bill is no longer read, the
motions on the bill still refer to this practice.
In the British/Westminster system, a bill is read the first
time when it is introduced. This is accompanied by an
order that the bill be printed and considered again. At the
second reading the general merits of the bill are
considered – it is out of order to criticise a bill at this
stage for technical defects in drafting. After the second
reading the bill is referred to a committee, which
considers the bill line by line proposing amendments. The
committee reports to the legislature, at which stage
further amendments are proposed. Finally a third reading
debate at which the bill as amended is considered in its
entirety. In a bicameral legislature the process is repeated
in the other house, before the Bill is submitted to the
executive for approval.
Enactment and after
Where a piece of primary legislation is termed an act , the
process of a bill becoming law may be termed enactment .
Once a bill is passed by the legislature, it may
automatically become law, or it may need need further
approval, in which case enactment may be effected by the
approver's signature or proclamation .
Approval
Bills passed by the legislature usually require the approval
of the executive such as the monarch, president, or
governor to become law. [5] An exception was the Irish
Free State from the abolition of the Governor-General in
December 1936 to the creation of the office of President in
December 1937, during which period bills approved by the
Oireachtas became law immediately.
In parliamentary systems , approval is normally a formality,
since the ceremonial head is directed by an executive
controlled by the legislature. In constitutional monarchies ,
this approval is called royal assent . In rare cases approval
may be refused or "reserved" by the ceremonial head's
use of a reserve power. The legislature may have
significantly less power to introduce bills on such issues
and may require the approval beforehand. In
Commonwealth realms the royal prerogative informs this.
In the United Kingdom, for example, cases include
payments to the royal family, succession to the throne,
and the monarch's exercise of prerogative powers.
In presidential systems, the need to receive approval can
be used as a political tool by the executive, and its refusal
is known as a veto . The legislature may be able to override
the veto by means of a supermajority vote.
Afterwards
A bill may come into force as soon as it becomes law, or
it may specify a later date to come into force, or it may
specify by whom and how it may be brought into force; for
example, by ministerial order . Different parts of an act
may come into force at different times.
An act is typically promulgated by being published in an
official gazette . This may be required on enactment,
coming into force, or both.
Numbering of bills
Legislatures give bills numbers as they progress.
In the United States, all bills originating in the House of
Representatives begin with "H.R." and all bills originating
from the Senate begin with an "S.". Every two years, at the
start of odd-numbered years, the United States Congress
recommences numbering from 1, though for bills the
House has an order reserving the first 20 bill numbers
and the Senate has similar measures for the first 10 bills.
Joint resolutions also have the same effect as bills, and
are titled as "H. J. Res." or "S. J. Res." depending on
whether they originated in the House or Senate,
respectively. This means that two different bills can have
the same number. Each two-year span is called a
congress , tracking the terms of Representatives elected in
the nationwide biennial House of Representatives
elections, and each congress is divided into year-long
periods called sessions. [6]
In the United Kingdom, for example, the Coroners and
Justice Act in 2009 started as Bill 9 in the House of
Commons. Then it became Bill 72 on consideration by the
Committee, after that it became House of Lords Bill 33.
Then it became House of Lords Bill 77, returned to the
House of Commons as Bill 160 before finally being passed
as Act no. 29. [7][8] Parliament recommences numbering
from one at the beginning of each session. This means
that two different bills may have the same number.
Sessions of parliament usually last a year. They begin
with the State Opening of Parliament , and end with
Prorogation.
See also
Legislative act
List of legislatures by country (most legislature articles
have information on their processes)
Resolution (law)
White paper
I'm Just a Bill
Bill (United States Congress) (stub created to clean up
this article)
References
1. ^ [1] - Education 2020: Government course; topic
House of Representatives (USA), definition of bill : "A
proposed law presented to a legislative body for
consideration."
2. ^ UK Parliament http://www.parliament.uk/site-
information/glossary/clause/ . Retrieved 15 July 2015.
Missing or empty |title= ( help )
3. ^ Hilaire Barnett. Constitutional and Administrative
Law. Second Edition. Cavendish. 1998. Page 537.
4. ^ Bradley and Ewing. Constitutional and Administrative
Law. Twelfth Edition. Longman. 1997. Page 718.
5. ^ http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/
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