{"id":393,"date":"2017-05-02T20:12:48","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T01:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jebware.com\/blog\/?p=393"},"modified":"2017-12-13T10:22:58","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T15:22:58","slug":"how-often-does-a-bill-become-a-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jebware.com\/blog\/?p=393","title":{"rendered":"How (often) Does a Bill Become a Law?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[tl;dr — about a quarter of the time]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Every year as state legislative sessions get started, there\u2019s a flurry of scary headlines of the form: \u201c[State] [Party] files bill to do [thing I find scary, bigoted, or irresponsible]\u201d. \u00a0It\u2019s tough to know from reading whether this is something you should get concerned about. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe you should, maybe this is the next big bill that will make your state a national embarrassment, spark economic boycotts, and cause your Governor to lose his re-election campaign<\/a>. \u00a0Or maybe this is a crackpot bill and it\u2019s not going anywhere<\/a>, so don\u2019t waste your time. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Good reporting can help to fill this in – is this a senior legislator, are they a known kook, etc. \u00a0But there\u2019s another, more general piece of this context that I wanted to help fill in. \u00a0My question is, overall: how often does a bill go from being filed (its first official step) to becoming law (its final official step)?<\/span><\/p>\n

First you need at least a rough understanding of how a legislature works. \u00a0You could watch the classic Schoolhouse Rock video:<\/span><\/p>\n