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Abill is a proposal for a new law, or a proposal to substantially alter an existing law.[1]
A bill does not become law until it has been passed by thelegislature and, in most cases, approved by thehead of state (sometimes theexecutive).
Bills are introduced in the legislature and are there discussed, debated on, and voted upon. Once a bill has been enacted into law by the legislature, it is called anact of the legislature, or astatute.
The wordbill is mainly used in English-speaking nations formerly part of theBritish Empire whose legal systems originated in thecommon law of theUnited Kingdom, including theUnited States. The parts of a bill are known asclauses, until it has become an act of parliament, from which time the parts of the law are known assections.[2]
In nations that havecivil law systems (includingFrance,Belgium,Luxembourg,Spain andPortugal), a proposed law is known as a "law project" (Fr.projet de loi) if introduced by the government, or a "law proposition" (Fr.proposition de loi) if aprivate member's bill. Some legislatures do not make this terminological distinction (for example theDutch parliament useswetsontwerp andwetsvoorstel interchangeably).
In Canada, bills in the federal parliament are always bilingual. The term "projet de loi" is used for the French version, while "bill" is used for the English version.
Bills generally includetitles,enacting provisions,statements of intent,definitions,substantive provisions,transitional clauses, and dates which the bill will be put into effect.[3] The preparation of a bill may involve the production of a draft bill prior to the introduction of the bill into the legislature.[4] In the United Kingdom, draft bills are frequently considered to be confidential.[5] Pre-legislative scrutiny is a formal process carried out by a parliamentary committee on a draft bill.[6]
In theParliament of India, the draft bill is sent to the individual ministry relating to the matter. From there the bill goes to theMinistry of Law and Justice and is then passed on to theCabinet committee, which theprime minister heads.
Pre-legislative scrutiny is required in much of Scandinavia, occurs in Ireland at the discretion of the Oireachtas (parliament) and occurs in the UK at the government's discretion.[7]
In theParliament of Ireland underPoynings' Law (1494–1782) legislation had to be pre-approved by thePrivy Council of Ireland andPrivy Council of England, so in practice each bill was substantively debated as "heads of a bill", then submitted to the privy councils for approval, and finally formally introduced as a bill and rejected or passed unamended.[8]
In theWestminster system, where the executive is drawn from the legislature and usually holds a majority in the lower house, most bills are introduced by the executive (government bill). In principle, the legislature meets to consider the demands of the executive, as set out in theKing's Speech orspeech from the throne.
Mechanisms exist to allow other members of the legislature to introduce bills, but they are subject to strict timetables and usually fail unless a consensus is reached. In the US system, where the executive is formally separated from the legislature, all bills must originate from the legislature. Bills can be introduced using the following procedures:
Bills are generally considered through a number of readings. This refers to the historic practice of the clerical officers of the legislature reading the contents of a bill to the legislature. While the bill is no longer read, the motions on the bill still refer to this practice.
InIndia, for a law to be made it starts off as a bill and has to go through various stages:
In the United Kingdom, a proposed new law starts off as a bill that goes through seven stages of the legislative process: first reading, second reading, committee stage, report stage, third reading, opposite house, and royal assent. A bill is introduced by amember of Parliament (MP) in theHouse of Commons or by a member of theHouse of Lords.
There will be afirst reading of the bill, in which the proposition in the bill is read out, but there is minimal discussion and no voting.
Asecond reading of the bill follows, in which the bill is presented in more detail and it is discussed between the MPs or Lords.
The third stage is thecommittee stage, in which a committee is gathered. This may include MPs, Lords, professionals and experts in the field, and other people who the bill may affect. The purpose of this stage is to go into more detail on the bill and gather expert opinions on it (e.g. teachers may be present in a committee about a bill that would affect the education system) and amendments may be brought.
After this is thereport stage, in which the entire house reviews any and all changes made to the bill since its conception and may bring further amendments.
The fifth stage is thethird reading of the bill, in which the full bill is read out in the house along with all amendments and is given final approval by the House.
The next stage is where the bill is handed over to theopposite house for approval. (If it started in the House of Commons it will be handed to the House of Lords and vice versa.) Here the bill will go through the same process as before, with amendments able to be brought. If amendments are brought, the bill will again be handed to the opposite house, going through the same process, which repeats until both houses arrive at an agreement on the bill. (In the rare circumstance that the two houses cannot agree, the House of Commons has the final say since it is an elected body, whereas the House of Lords is not).
Once the bill is finalised, it will move to the final stage,royal assent, when the monarch signs or otherwise signifies approval for the bill to become law. Theoretically, the monarch could refuse assent to a bill, but no monarch has done so since Queen Anne in 1708, and the royal veto has fallen into disuse. Once the assent is granted, the law comes into effect at the date and time specified within the act; if this is not specified within the act, it comes into effect at midnight on the same day it is granted royal assent.
Where a piece ofprimary legislation is termed anact, the process of a bill becoming law may be termedenactment. Once a bill is passed by the legislature, it may automatically become law, or it may need further approval, in which case enactment may be effected by the approver'ssignature orproclamation.
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Bills passed by the legislature usually require the approval of the head of state such as the monarch, president, or governor to become law.[9] The refusal of such an approval is typically known as aveto.
Exceptions are theIrish Free State from the abolition of thegovernor-general in December 1936 to the creation of the office ofpresident in December 1937, andIsrael from its formation until today, during which period bills approved by theOireachtas andKnesset respectively became/become law immediately (though, in Israel's case, the laws are ceremonially signed after their passage by the president).
Inparliamentary systems, approval of the head of state is normally a formality since the head of state is a ceremonial figurehead. The exercise of the veto is considered areserve power and is typically only used in rare circumstances, and the legislature can usually override the veto by a simple majority vote. However, in most cases, the executive – a cabinet of ministers responsible to parliament – takes a veto by the head of state into account.[10]
Inpresidential systems, the head of state is also the chief executive, and the need to receive approval can be used as a political tool by them. The legislature is only able to override the veto by means of asupermajority vote in some countries such as Mexico, Kenya, and Argentina, while other presidential republics such as Brazil allow an override by merely a majority of the members of each House of Congress.
Some vetos held by some presidents allow them to disallow some particular clauses in the bill, while approving of others, as in France, and in some cases pertaining to expenditure bills, may allow the amounts for some line items to be reduced or eliminated, as is the case for most American state governors.
In some jurisdictions, a bill passed by the legislature may also involve review by aconstitutional court. If the court finds the bill would violate theconstitution it may annul it or send it back to the legislature for correction. In Ireland, the president has discretion underArticle 26 of the Constitution to refer bills to theSupreme Court. In Germany, theFederal Constitutional Court has discretion to rule on bills.
Some bills may require approval byreferendum. In Ireland this is obligatory forbills to amend the constitution; it is possible for other bills viaa process that has never been used.
A bill maycome into force as soon as it becomes law, or it may specify a later date to come into force, or it may specify by whom and how it may be brought into force; for example, byministerial order. Different parts of an act may come into force at different times.
An act is typicallypromulgated by being published in anofficial gazette. This may be required on enactment, coming into force, or both.
Legislatures may give bills numbers as they progress.
Bills are not given numbers in Australia and are typically cited by theirshort titles. They are only given an act number uponroyal assent.
In Brazil, bills originating in both theSenate and theChamber of Deputies are numbered sequentially, prefixed with "PL" (Projeto de Lei) and optionally suffixed with the year they were proposed, separated by a slash, as in PL 1234/1988. Until 2019, each house used a different numbering and naming system, but the system was unified by a 2018 joint act by the secretaries of both houses.[11]
Before the 2019 unification, the Senate numbered bills starting at the beginning of each year,[12] while the lower house numbered bills starting at the beginning of each legislature.[citation needed] This meant that bills sent from one house to another could adopt two or more different names.
In theHouse of Commons of Canada, thepro forma bill is numbered C-1, Government Bills are numbered C-2 to C-200, numbered sequentially from the start of eachparliamentary session, andPrivate member's bills are numbered C-201 to C-1000, numbered sequentially from the start of each Parliament.[13]
The numbering system is identical in theSenate of Canada, except that bills first introduced in the Senate of Canada begin with "S" instead of "C".
In the IrishOireachtas, bills are numbered sequentially from the start of each calendar year. Bills originating in theDáil andSeanad share a common sequence. There are separate sequences for public and private bills, the latter prefixed with "P". Althoughacts to amend the constitution are outside the annual sequence used for other public acts,bills to amend the constitution are within the annual sequence of public bills.[14]
In thePhilippines, all bills passed into law, regardless of whether they were introduced in theHouse of Representatives or theSenate, are numbered sequentially beginning with the first Republic Act that became law on July 15, 1946. There have been 11,646 Republic Acts as of January 21, 2022.[15][16] All laws passed by Congress, once given presidential assent, become law and are given a sequential number and are prefixed with "Republic Act" or "R.A." for short. They are also given a secondary sequential number by the chamber they are introduced in. Aforementioned numberings restart every three years after the formation of a new Congress.
In the United Kingdom, for example, theCoroners and Justice Act in 2009 started as Bill 9 in the House of Commons. Then it became Bill 72 on consideration by apublic bill committee; after that it became House of Lords Bill 33. Then it became House of Lords Bill 77, returned to the House of Commons as Bill 160, before finally being passed as Act 29.[17][18] Parliament recommences numbering from one at the beginning of each session. This means that two different bills may have the same number. Sessions of parliament usually last a year. They begin with theState Opening of Parliament, and end withprorogation.
In the United States, all bills originating in theHouse of Representatives are numbered sequentially and prefixed with "H.R." and all bills originating from theSenate begin with an "S.". Every two years, at the start of odd-numbered years, theCongress recommences numbering from 1, though for bills the House has an order reserving the first 20 bill numbers and the Senate has similar measures for the first 10 bills. Joint resolutions also have the same effect as bills, and are titled as "H. J. Res." or "S. J. Res." depending on whether they originated in the House or Senate, respectively.
This means that two different bills can have the same number. Each two-year span is called acongress, tracking the terms of Representatives elected in the nationwide biennial House of Representatives elections, and each congress is divided into year-long periods calledsessions.[19]
During each session of a Parliament, government bills are numbered consecutively from C-2 to C-200. Private Members' bills are numbered consecutively from C-201 to C-1000 throughout the life of a Parliament, since they are not nullified by prorogation. Private bills, which are rarely introduced in the House, are numbered beginning at C-1001. In order to differentiate between bills introduced in the two Houses of Parliament, the number assigned to bills introduced in the Senate begins with an "S" rather than a "C".
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