By Richard Rossi, Delaware County SCOPE

This is an overview of the process in the NYS Senate; a similar process is also followed in the NYS Assembly. 

Getting your legislator to either draft or co-sponsor a bill is the first critical step in the process. However, once a bill is referred to the committee - the hard part begins. Committees have tremendous power in this process and a few individuals on the committee can mean the 'death' of a bill - by NOT moving it to the floor for discussion/vote. Based on the committee make-up (Dem or Rep.), could mean its 'death'. It can be 'stalled' in the committee and never see the 'light of day' on the floor. 

This is where you must make your wishes known - loud and clear. You need to flood the appropriate committee chairman and members with your phone calls, letters and e-mails demanding that this is put on the docket and passed along to the 'floor' for debate and a vote. What gives these 'few' individuals the 'right and power' to prevent our democratic process? Please carefully read step 3. 

Unfortunately, the Committee's and especially their Chairman have 'the power'. This is why it is critical to have Term Limits or at least some limit on the chairmanship of these various committees' and their membership. 

Career politicians, with their personal and political biased agendas, in these important roles CAN BE the down-fall of our democratic process and we have seen this happen time and time again with the REPEAL of the NYS SAFE Act - as one example. I hope this overview sheds some insight into how Albany works. 

How a bill becomes a law 

The job of the Senate is to work with the Assembly and the Governor to enact, amend or repeal statutes which make up the body of laws by which we are governed. This involves drafting, discussing and approving bills and resolutions. The text shows the process in a simplified progression from "Idea" to "Law." At any step in the process, citizens can make their views known to NY State Senators through this platform. 

Step 1: Someone has a new policy idea The legislative process begins with a new policy idea. 

Senators often come up with those ideas. However they come from many other places such as a senator's constituents, an organization calling for a new law, or a State official. Regard-less of the source, this idea serves as the starting point for any new bill or law. 

Step 2: Idea is drafted into a Bill

 Once an idea for a new law has been settled on, it must be drafted as a bill before it can be considered by the Senate.  A bill is a set of instructions for changing the language of the laws of New York. Bill drafting requires a specialized legal training, and it is usually carried out by the staff of New York State's Legislative Bill Drafting Commission. Sometimes, an interest group may have its own attorneys draft a bill, and lawyers working in state agencies and the executive branch often submit their ideas for legislation in bill form. 

Step 3: Bill undergoes committee process 

Introduction 

The first step in the committee process is to introduce a bill into a committee. Bills are generally only introduced only by legislators or by standing committees of the Senate and Assembly. The only exception is the Executive Budget, which is submitted directly by the Governor. On introduction in the Senate, a bill goes to the Introduction and Revision Office, given a number, and sent to the appropriate standing committee. Committee Action.

Members of Standing Committees evaluate bills and decide whether to "report" them (send them) to the Senate floor for a final decision by the full membership. A committee agenda is issued each week listing the bills and issues each Senate committee will handle the following week. 

Committees often hold public hearings on bills to gather the widest possible range of opinion. Citizens can share their opinion on a proposed bill with their Senate representative for relay to the committee members. 

The committee system acts as a funnel through which the large number of bills introduced each session must pass before they can be considered. The system also acts as a sieve to sift out undesirable or unworkable ideas. 

After consideration, the committee may report the bill to the full Senate for consideration, it may amend the bill, or it may reject it. 

Step 4: Senate and Assembly Pass Bill 

After explanation, discussion or debate, a vote is taken. If a majority of the Senators approves, the bill is sent to the Assembly. It is referred to a committee for discussion, and if approved there, it goes to the full membership for a vote. 

If the bill is approved in the Assembly without amendment, it goes on to the Governor. However, if it is changed, it is returned to the Senate for concurrence in the amendments. 

(The reverse procedure is followed if the Assembly first passes a bill identical to a Senate measure or if the Senate amends an Assembly bill.) 

Step 5: Bill is signed by Governor 

While the Legislature is in session, the Governor has 10 days (not counting Sundays) to sign or veto bills passed by both houses. Signed bills become law; vetoed bills do not. However, the Governor's failure to sign or veto a bill within the 10 -day period means that it becomes law automatically. Vetoed bills are returned to the house that first passed them, together with a statement of the reason for their disapproval. A vetoed bill can become law if two-thirds of the members of each house vote to override the Governor's veto. 

If a bill is sent to the Governor when the Legislature is out of session, the rules are a bit different. At such times, the Governor has 30 days in which to make a decision, and failure to act ("pocket veto") has the same effect as a veto. 

https://www.nysenate.gov/ how-bill-becomes-law