Question to be answered by Julie Kate K, Warren K, Randy L, and Sarah L. Again, here are some short factual questions that I will only assign to a few people, but all should read the answers as well as any corrections I make.
- What are the three readings that each bill must have to pass the house and senate?
- What do committees do and what powers do the chairs of these committees have?
- On the floor, what is a “contested bill?”
- What does a conference committee do and what are “free conference powers?”
- What veto powers does the governor have?
5 comments:
A. A bill’s first reading is done by the clerk. The clerk reads the title of the bill and the officer passes the bill along to the appropriate committee. The second reading is done when the committee passes it on to the floor of the chamber that is considering the bill. The third reading occurs when the bill is finally passed.
B. Committees have many jobs. They sort through bills and decide which can proceed through the readings. They also let legislators specialize in certain areas. The chairs of the committees decide how the bill will be dealt with by the committee. They also have the option to pass bills on to subcommittees to be debated or amended. They also have the ability to kill the bill.
C. A contested bill is a bill that is put off until all other bills are finished. Members put their names on a “desired to be present” list, which means that it is contested and can only be dealt with when all uncontested bills are done. The bill may be placed on the contested calendar assuming that enough member sign up. The House needs five members to sign up and the Senate only needs one.
D. A bill has to be agreed on in its final form. If the House and the Senate both pass the bill but the bill is in a different form from each, a conference committee is formed. A conference committee is made up of three members of each the House and the Senate. The committee elects a chairperson who decides when the committee will meet. The committee is allowed to remove items from the bill but it is not allowed to add anything. If the committee can reach an agreement on the bill, the bill goes back to each house to be approved. If not the committee can ask for “free conference” powers. “Free conference” powers give the committee the right to add things to the bill which basically rewrites it. Both houses must have a two-thirds majority vote to allow “free conference” powers.
E. After the House and Senate pass a bill it goes to the governor. The bill will become law in five days whether the governor signs it or not. Unless, of course, the governor vetoes the bill. If it is vetoed, the bill goes back to the General Assembly. If the General Assembly can gain a two-thirds vote in each house it can override the governor’s veto.
-Sarah Luckey
A. The order of the readings is as followed: First reading is done by the clerk. Second reading is done when the committee passes on to the floor and the third reading occurs when the bill is passed.
B. Committees are groups of people working together to get a job done. We see that they are used a lot more often so that more things are able to get finish. What happens is that legislators are delegated to committee that is best suited/ favored for them. We see that a committee does many things to see that the job gets done. For example screenings bills and deciding which deserve to more forward in the process. As far as the chair position: that person is a powerful person. He/she would decide of how the bill will be dealt with in the committee. They have the power to let the bill go on further or have the ability to kill it. So the committee chairperson is an important and powerful position.
C. A contested bill is a bill that is results in a delay until the uncontested bills is dealt with.
D. During the conference committee the house speaker and the Senate president ProTem appoint 3 members of each chamber respectively. During this time all they could do is work together to see if the bill that the house and the senate could come together and create a final form of the bill. No new language can be added to the bill so they can only remove the language from it. If they can’t come up with an agreement then they could request a Free Conference which means they can add new language to the bill. Meaning they could rewrite it again. But the only way that Free Conference powers can by granted is by each house voting to grant them a supermajority of two- third’s vote.
E. Each bill it goes to the governor that is passed by the house or senate. The bill will become law after 5 days whether the governor signs or doesn’t sign it. With in those 5 days he has a chance to veto the bill. If he happens to veto the bill it then returns back to the General Assembly. If the General Assembly can gather up a two-thirds vote in each house it can override the governor’s veto.
Randy Lucas
a. The first reading consists of the clerk reading the bill. After the clerk does the first reading, the committee follows up by doing the second reading. Finally, once the committee allows the bill to hit the floor, the third reading occurs on the floor.
b. After taking Congressional Politics in the Fall, I learned a lot of things about how the U.S. House of representatives works. If there is one thing you could remember about the class it is that committees can make or break a bill. Although we are discussing the Senate and House in South Carolina, the process is basically the same. Bills go to committees before they ever hit the floor of the House or Senate. Committees are in place to screen bills before they move on in the legislative process. Committees receive bills under their area of expertise concentration. The chairperson decides how the bill will be handled in the committee. Some options the chairperson has for the bills are to place the bills under debate, amend the bill, or take no action. Ultimately, the chairperson can kill a bill that they do not care for.
c. A bill is contested if one or more members ask that their names be added as “desiring to be present” when the bill is read the second time. When a bill is contested, the bill is delayed.
d. A conference committee is used to resolve differences. No language can be added to the bill when the members of the committee discuss it. If the reach a agreement, the bill can go back to each house for final approval. If not, the can request a “free conference.” Free conference powers means that new language can be added to the bill. These powers can only be granted by each house voting to grant them by a supermajority of two-thirds vote.
e. The governor can accept or reject a bill that is passed by a state legislature and gives the governor direct input into the legislative process. The governor has a time period in which he has to either sign the bill or veto the bill; however, if he takes no action then the bill becomes law.
Julie Kate Keeney
All three of you did great jobs! the rest of the class can read any of the answers and get fairly detailed accurate information.
A couple of points. Yes, Julie Kate, the working of committes in SC is much like that in the US Congress except that in SC Committee chairs are relatively more powerful. If you go back to the 1980s committee chairs in the US Congress had more power than they do today.
An editorial in The State newspaper today illustrates the power of committee chairs. Warren Bolton was lamenting about the failure of the legislature to do anything to regulate "pay-day lenders." You may know of this business -- they loan small amounts of money to poor people at extremely high interest rates (sometimes in the 300% range) and claim to be providing a valuable service to these usually ill-educated people. In any case, Bolton said that he knew the legislation was doomed when the chair of the house committee only held one meeting on the bill and did little to support the bill (which had a majority of all house members as co-sponsors, enough to pass it).
A. The First reading is done by the clerk. The Second reading is done when the committee passes on to the floor and the third reading occurs when the bill is passed.
B. The committee groups work together to get a job done. I see that groups are used a lot more in order to get things done. The legislators are delegated to the committee that is the best for each different situation and or each group that best fits the circumstances. They also use many methods to see that the work gets done, they screen bills, they also decide which bills deserve to move forward, they debate within the committee in order to see which bill is more important. The most important position in the committee is the Chair, and they decide how the bill will be dealt with, they also have the power to kill a bill, and they also guide and give the direction of the bill.
C. A contested bill is a bill that results in a delay until the other bills, uncontested bills are dealt with.
D. Each chamber ha three appointed member and these members are chosen by the house speaker and the senate president. At this point and time all they could do is work together to get bill passed and they could not add any new language, but they could remove language from the bill.
E. All bills go to the governor and is then passes by the house or senate. Bills become law after five or six days depending on a signature of the governor. If the governor signs it then it goes into effect, but within in those five days the governor has the opportunity to veto the bill, and then it returns back to the general assembly. If the general assembly can gather up a 2/3 vote in each house it can override the governor’s veto.
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