HOW A BILL BECOMES LAW IN COLORADO

Introducing a bill

Bills are introduced by legislators

A bill can be introduced in the Colorado House or the Colorado Senate

In the House …

Introduction First reading by

the House clerk Assigned to

committee by speaker of the House

You can search for, and look up the status of a bill here:

http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/CLICS2009A/csl.nsf/BillFoldersHouse?openFrameset

House Committees

Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources

Appropriations Business Affairs and

Labor Education Health and Human

Services

Judiciary Local Government State, Veterans,

and Military Affairs Transportation and

Energy

You can find House Committee Membership Here:http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2009a/directory.nsf/HouCommWp?OpenView

You can find Bills by Committee Here (Click on “By Committee” on the lower line)http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/CLICS2009A/csl.nsf/BillFoldersCom?OpenFrameSet

In Committee

Committee hearing Public and Expert

Testimony Amendments may

be offered A passing vote

from the Committee sends the bill back to the House

Committees publish their calendars here:http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/CLICS2009A/csl.nsf/Calendars?OpenFrameSet

You can listen to committee hearings on a bill here:http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2009a/cslFrontPages.nsf/Audio?OpenForm

Back on the House Floor

Committee reports offered (committees report on the status of a bill that was assigned to it)

House floor and second reading (may include debate and additional amendments)

House floor and third reading final passage

On to the Senate… Introduction First reading by the Senate

clerk Assigned to committee by

Senate President Committee hearing (may

contain any amendments) Committee reports offered Senate floor and second

reading (may include debate and additional amendments)

Senate floor and third reading final passage (without any additional amendments)

Senate Committees

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Appropriations Business, Labor,

and Technology Education Finance

Health and Human Services

Judiciary Local Government

and Energy State, Veterans,

and Military Affairs

Transportation

Decision Time

If a bill passes the Senate without amendments, it goes to the Governor

Otherwise, it goes to Conference Committee.

Conference Committee A conference committee

is composed of 3 members from each house, meeting to work out language acceptable to both houses on a bill that passed each house in different forms.

A majority of the members of the committee must agree before the Conference Committee Report may be submitted to the Senate and House

The bill then returns to each house for a final up-or-down vote

If a bill requires appropriations…

Legislative Legal Services, the non-partisan research staff of the Legislature, analyzes a bill to determine it effect on the state’s spending or revenues

Any bill that would require funding (or would reduce revenue without reducing spending) if implemented is sent to the Appropriations Committee as part of the process.

In the Appropriations Committee an appropriation clause is added to the bill that includes the amount of funding required.

The Governor Once passed by the

House or Senate, the bill becomes Colorado law when signed by the governor.

If the governor fails to sign a bill within 10 days upon receiving a bill while the General Assembly is in session or within 30 days if the General Assembly is adjourned, the bill becomes Colorado law.

If the governor vetoes …

If vetoed, the governor sends a veto message to the General Assembly

If the General Assembly decides to override the governor's veto, it must have two-thirds votes of all members from both the House and Senate.

The People

May approve Constitutional amendments and statutory changes proposed by the legislature (Referenda)

May approve Constitutional amendments and statutory changes placed on the ballot by petition (Initiatives)

People have the right to review all laws passed by the legislature, unless…

The law has a clause, known as, “The Safety Clause,” that this law is necessary for the public safety.

As a result, most laws now contain the Safety Clause