How a Bill Becomes a Law in the Idaho Legislature

Although voting in every election is an important action to uphold democracy and preserve the voice of the people, doing your civic duty goes beyond casting your ballot. Civic engagement means electing people to represent your interests, holding them accountable if they don’t, and expressing your support or opposition to proposed laws and policies. The latter is most easily done during Idaho’s legislative session, which typically runs from January through March each year.

Each state legislature has a slightly different process for proposing and enacting laws. To effectively engage with the lawmaking process during legislative session, all Idahoans should be familiar with how a bill becomes a law in the state.

Here is an overview of the lawmaking process in Idaho, broken into six main steps.

A bill can start in either Idaho’s House of Representatives or the Senate*, but it must go through both chambers to become law.

Initially, proposed legislation is called a “Routing Slip,” or “RS” for short; an RS officially becomes a bill after a successful “print” or introductory legislative meeting. During a “print” meeting, a lawmaker briefly introduces the RS, and asks the committee to approve printing the proposal. If approved, the RS is printed and assigned a bill number.

*except for revenue measures, which always originate in the House of Representatives.

Once it is printed and assigned a bill number, it is reviewed by committee members and may receive a public hearing (sometimes referred to as a “committee hearing”). In Idaho, committee chairs have the power to determine if and when to hold a public hearing on the bill, as well as other details like whether folks can give testimony remotely, and the length of time each person has to testify. In some cases, the committee chair may decide not to hold a public hearing on the legislation at all, which will temporarily (or sometimes, permanently) keep the bill from moving forward.

During the public hearing, the bill sponsor(s) and, potentially additional experts, present information about the bill and make a recommendation for what action to take on the bill.

Public hearings are open to anyone interested in attending, and community members can provide testimony. If you are not comfortable giving verbal testimony on a bill, you can still provide written testimony, which can be submitted online.

Learn more about testifying before a legislative committee.

When public testimony concludes, committee members debate among themselves and then vote to determine if the bill moves forward. The committee can vote to assign one of the following recommendations:

• "Do pass" recommendation: In general, the committee supports the bill and recommends the full chamber vote to pass it.
• Without recommendation: A neutral recommendation that sends the bill to the full chamber (“floor”) for a vote but without endorsement.
• To be placed on General Orders for Amendment: A vote that signals the bill should advance, but needs changes (amendments) before moving forward.
• Withdrawn with the privilege of introducing another bill (Senate only): A new bill will be introduced to replace the current bill.
• Referred to another standing committee: The bill is referred to another standing committee in the same chamber for review.
• "Do not pass" recommendation: The committee can vote to advance the bill to the full floor, but can do so with a “do not pass” recommendation, typically to signal a lack of support for the legislation.
• "Held" in committee: A bill may also be “held” in committee, which means it doesn’t move on to the full chamber. Committee chairs may hold a bill for a specific amount of time, or at their own discretion, meaning the bill could receive a full hearing in the future.
• Motion fails: If the bill goes up for a full committee vote but does not have enough support to move forward, the chair will announce the motion to advance the bill has failed.

If a bill passes committee and no additional actions are needed on the bill, it is automatically placed on the “second reading” in its chamber of origin (House or Senate), where it is “read,” typically using only the bill title and number.

The bill is then automatically placed on the third reading calendar for the next legislative day, triggering full consideration by the House or Senate. The full chamber’s consideration of a bill is sometimes called a “floor” debate, and it takes place in the committee’s respective chamber.

For example, if a bill is introduced in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, receives a hearing, and is approved by that Senate Committee, the bill will receive a full debate on the Senate floor. Each step is a critical opportunity for lawmakers to discuss the bill’s content and potential impact.

After a floor debate, members will vote on the bill. If a majority (more than 50%) votes in favor of the bill, it proceeds to the next step.

Once a bill is approved in its chamber of origin, it is transferred to the alternate legislative chamber. In the example above, for instance, a bill that starts in the Senate, is approved by committee, and passes floor votes will head to the House.

The bill then begins the same legislative process (see steps two and three), starting with another public hearing.

At this stage of the process, a bill has significant traction, and this is the final opportunity to voice your support or opposition on the record by testifying.

The bill is once again debated “on the floor,” meaning all members of the second chamber (either House or Senate) debate and vote on whether to pass the legislation. If the bill earns a majority vote to pass from the second chamber and no changes are needed, it is sent to the governor’s desk.

After receiving a bill passed by the House and Senate, the governor can:

• Sign it into law: If the governor does not take any action within five days of receiving the bill (excluding Sundays), it becomes law automatically. If the legislature is adjourned, it automatically becomes law if the governor doesn’t take action within 10 days.
• Veto the bill: After a veto by the governor, the only way the bill could still become law is if both the House and Senate vote to override the veto with a two-thirds majority. That’s 66% of senators (23 of 35) and 66% of representatives (46 of 70).

This final step is your last chance to influence the outcome of a bill. You can reach out to the governor directly and ask him to sign or veto.