Legislative Process

Overview

While the legislative process for pension legislation can become rather complicated and drawn-out, there are certain basic steps that must always occur. A chart outlining the overall procedure can be found on page 13. The steps are as follows and are described in more detail below:

1. Draft the bill.
2. The bill is introduced in the first chamber.
3. The bill goes to the legislative committee.
4. The bill goes to the full chamber.
5. The bill goes to the second chamber and repeats the process.
6. The bill goes to the Governor and is signed into law.

Note that while all of these steps must occur before a bill becomes law, a bill can die at any point during the process. Of the eight to 10,000 bills that are introduced during each General Assembly, generally only about 10 percent become law. Bills are also known as “legislation,” “legislative proposals,” “legislative measures,” or simply “measures.”

See a chart of the steps a bill can take to becoming (or not becoming) law