Ideas for legislation can come from legislators who have experience in a particular field, or legislators can copy legislation because an idea that works well in one jurisdiction can be useful to its neighbors.
Legislators also receive proposals from the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws ; a conference of lawyers appointed by governors to represent the states. The Council of State Governments , the American Law Institute , the American Bar Association , and numerous other organizations all produce model acts for legislatures.
Protection and promotion of social and economic interests of particular groups also motivate legislation. Interests groups usually become involved in the legislative process through lobbyists. The general procedure of enactment of legislation is governed by the relevant constitution. When a bill is first introduced by a sponsor it is referred to a committee. They are then published with an explanatory memorandum, which outlines the purpose of the SI and why it is necessary.
The parent Act also determines whether the parliamentary approval process is an affirmative or negative one. The affirmative procedure requires the SI to be debated and approved by both Houses. Unless either House stops it within a fixed period usually 40 sitting days , it will come into effect.
The Bill is examined section by section and amendments may be made. Committee Stage is a detailed examination of each section of the Bill and an opportunity for Government and Opposition Members to make changes to the text. Once each section of the Bill has been agreed to, the Bill is set down for Report Stage. Before Committee Stage, Members who want to change a Bill may put down amendments, and a list of the amendments is published.
During the Committee Stage debate, Members are called on to move each amendment and discuss it with the Minister. There is no limit to the number of times a Member may speak on an amendment, so Committee Stage can be lengthy. The Minister then says whether he or she accepts the amendment. Amendments arising out of Committee Stage are considered. Report Stage is the last opportunity for Members to make amendments to the text of a Bill. Members may not bring forward any new amendments, only amendments which arise from Committee Stage.
Unlike Committee Stage, Members may speak only twice on each amendment, and their second contribution is limited to two minutes. When all the amendments have been dealt with, the Bill is received for final consideration.
Fifth Stage may be scheduled for another day, but is usually taken immediately after Fourth Stage. If the Government wants to introduce new amendments on Report Stage, it may do so by recommitting the Bill. Effectively this returns the Bill to Committee Stage in respect of an individual amendment. Fifth Stage often follows directly after Report Stage.
No amendments may be tabled and there is generally no in-depth discussion of the Bill. Instead, Members usually make short statements on whether the Bill would constitute good law. When a Bill passes Final Stage in the House in which it was initiated, it is sent to the other House. There, it must go through the Stages of debate, beginning on Second Stage. Any amendments made by the second House may be rejected by the House in which the Bill was initiated. These amendments are known as the "cream list".
Therefore, if the second House makes amendments to a Bill, it is returned to the first House, where it goes through some of the Stages of debate again. Once a Bill has been passed on Fifth Stage by both Houses, and all cream list amendments have been dealt with, the Bill is ready to be enacted. It becomes an Act and is added to the Statute Book.
Some Acts come into force immediately, while others are commenced on a later date by the relevant Minister. In certain rare circumstances, the President has the power to decline to sign a Bill. The President consults with the Council of State before taking such a decision.
All laws must be compatible with the Constitution. Its purpose is to consider the principles of the bill. Debate may cover, for example, reasons why the bill should be supported or opposed, the necessity for its proposals or alternative means of achieving the same objectives. Government and non-government Members then usually speak in turn. The total time for the debate is not restricted by the standing orders. If this is agreed to the House has agreed to the bill in principle and the Clerk stands and reads out the long title of the bill to signify the completion of this stage—the second reading.
Consideration in detail. The purpose of this stage is to consider the text of the bill in detail, clause by clause, and to enable changes to it to be proposed. Proceedings are less formal than they are for the second reading debate and procedures can be more flexible. For example, Members may speak briefly 5 minutes each an unlimited number of times on each proposal put forward. The form of an amendment may be by omitting, substituting, or adding words. These procedures ensure that every part of the bill is considered and agreed to with or without changes.
However, Members may be in agreement that a particular bill does not need to be examined in detail. In this case the consideration in detail stage may be bypassed. The Chair ascertains the wish of the Members in the House and if no-one objects allows the bill to proceed directly to the third reading.
Detailed debate is considered unnecessary for many bills which are supported by all parties or, in a technical or drafting sense, are very limited in scope or when, in the case of appropriation and taxation bills, private Members would be prevented from moving certain amendments.
Third reading. This is the final stage in consideration of a bill and is usually a formality. Debate at this stage is relatively rare and is restricted to the contents of the bill, that is, the matters contained in the clauses and schedules of the bill. When the motion has been agreed to, the Clerk again reads out the long title of the bill. This signifies that the bill has finally passed the House. Alternative procedures. Bills considered by the Federation Chamber.
The Federation Chamber is a committee established to be an alternative to the main Chamber of the House for the consideration of a restricted range of business. All Members of the House can take part in the debates in the Federation Chamber. It meets while the House is sitting, making it possible for two streams of legislation to be debated at the same time.
Generally speaking, bills are only referred to the Federation Chamber following agreement on the referral between government and non-government Members. The Federation Chamber can amend the bill just as the House can and the same rules of debate apply.
However, the Federation Chamber operates by agreement—divisions cannot take place—and matters on which the Federation Chamber cannot agree are referred back to the House for decision there. Before their third reading, bills which have been considered in the Federation Chamber go through an additional stage—the report stage—when the House considers and votes on the bill as reported back to it.
Debate is restricted to matters the Federation Chamber could not agree on. Cognate debate—bills debated together. On the conclusion of the debate separate questions are put as required on each of the bills and they pass through other stages separately. Imposing a time limit on debate—the guillotine. When a declaration of urgency has been agreed to by the House, the Minister proceeds to move a motion specifying the times to be allotted for the various remaining stages of the bill.
If these details are agreed to, when the time fixed for a stage has been reached, the debate is interrupted immediately and the questions necessary to dispose of that stage are put.
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