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Making a Bill a Law: The Federal Legislative Process

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As mentioned before, getting a federal law passed takes more steps than a state or local law. A member of Congress must first introduce the bill. After the bill is introduced to Congress it is then referred to a committee or multiple committees. The committee that the bill is referred to depends on what committee has jurisdiction over the primary issue of the bill (Steps in Making a Bill a Law: The Federal Legislative Process). Sometimes the bill is referred to a subcommittee first. According to, “Steps in Making a Bill a Law: The Federal Legislative Process,” once referred to a committee, “The chairman of the Committee determines whether there will be a hearing on the bill and whether there will be ‘mark up’” (Steps in Making a Bill a Law: The Federal Legislative Process). A “mark up” is when members of the committee meet to offer changes that could be made to the bill. After changes are accepted or rejected, the chairman moves to vote the bill favorably out of committee then the entire body of the committee favorably reports out the bill (Steps in Making a Bill a Law: The Federal Legislative Process). The third step to making a bill a law is a committee report. In this step, the committee chairman’s staff writes a report of the bill. The report of the bill describes the intent of legislation, the bill’s legislative history, the impact the bill will have on existing laws and programs, and the position that the majority of the members of committee take on the bill (Steps
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