FOLLOWING A BILL/LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

As bills we’re tracking come up in committee, there are many opportunities to impact this process. It is imperative that concerned folks, like you and me, take action to defend liberty.

1) Bills are assigned to various committees and are heard in a public hearing. Prior to a scheduled hearing, express your testimony to committee members – phone calls may be more impactful than emails. On Gencourt website, each committee page provides contact information for members.

2) Public Committee hearing – you can sign in your stance, attend, and testify. Sign in to support or oppose bills online. If attending in person, use the paper sign-in. Signing in for these is essential to be counted and, if desired, to have the opportunity to speak. After the hearing, you could follow up with representatives to thank them for hearing your testimony, reiterate your position, rebut misleading information, and offer to answer questions they might have before the executive session vote happens.

3) Executive session – committee will be deliberating & voting on bills.  The committee makes a recommendation that will move on to the House or Senate. Some bills, however will first require further study, or move to other committees e.g. for fiscal considerations, or other steps).

OTP (ought to pass); ITL (inexpedient to legislate); Designation “A” is added if amended; “F” if fiscal considerations

4) Floor Action – committee recommendations go forward to all members of the house or senate. Some strong recommendations will be on the Consent Calendar for quick approvals by the body floor. Other bills will be debated and voted on. Some may be tabled/set aside (see links below for more details).

5) Bills that pass in the House will crossover to Senate and vice versa.

6) Bills that pass in both House & Senate move on to the Governor for approval. He has five days to veto. 

DO YOU KNOW WHO YOUR LOCAL REPS ARE? We’ve provided a link button to easily find their names and contact information.

• Save your local Representative(s) and Senator as contacts in your phone. Include email address and phone number.
• Be sure to identify yourself as a constituent in the subject line of an email or when calling.

How a Bill Becomes a Law     Find Your Representatives     Senate Bill Sign-in    House Bill Sign-in     Senate Streaming     House Streaming      Email us for support!