How a Bill Becomes a Law in Utah: Part 2
Once a bill has been prepared a reading clerk introduces each numbered bill into the House (for all bills sponsored by a House member) or the Senate (for Senate-sponsored bills). From there, every bill goes to the House’s or Senate’s respective Rules Committee.
The Rules Committee decides which bills go to which Standing Committees and when the bills are sent to those committees.
Standing Committee Chairs decide which bills are on the committee agenda. For a bill to advance in the process, a standing committee must approve the bill by a majority vote. If a bill passes out of Standing Committee, it moves to “The Floor” for consideration by the entire body.
Though the process for full consideration by the House and the Senate have important differences, each chamber must pass a piece of legislation by a constitutional majority for it to proceed. Once a bill is passed by a majority of one legislative chamber (House or Senate, often called the “first body” or “first house”), it moves over to the other body (“second body” or “second house”) for consideration.
The process in the preceding 4 paragraphs repeats in the “second house.” When a Senate bill, for example, passes out of the Senate and moves to the House for consideration, a member of the House assumes control of the Legislation as the House Sponsor, and this sponsor must see that the bill moves from House Rules to a House Standing Committee and through a floor vote. At any point, the second body can amend or substitute the bill. Differences between the House and Senate must be resolved to the satisfaction of a majority of each body for the bill to pass the Legislature. Once the House and Senate approve a bill, it then moves to the Governor for consideration.
The Governor can sign a bill into law or veto the bill. If the Governor neither signs nor vetoes a bill, it automatically passes into law. When the Governor vetoes a bill, it dies or is reconsidered by the Legislature in a veto override session.
Utah citizens have the last word on legislation, through the referendum process. To subject a legislatively-passed bill to a citizen referendum, signatures must be immediately gathered (within 40 days of the end of the legislative session) from 10% of all Utah voters who voted in the last presidential election. Further, those signatures must be geographically dispersed (i.e., 10% of the presidential votes in each of (any) 15 of Utah’s 29 counties). If enough signatures are gathered, the issue will appear on the ballot where a majority of voters will determine whether the bill becomes a law.
Lastly, citizens always hold the power to amend or create laws through the Initiative Process.