How a bill becomes law

From an idea filed in the autumn to a law that takes effect, and the several places along the way where a bill can stop.

A bill has to clear the same course twice, once in each chamber, and can stop at any point on it. Most do.

Filed as an LSR. Before a bill exists it is a Legislative Service Request — a title and an idea, filed in the autumn. Attorneys at the Office of Legislative Services draft the text.
Introduced and referred. The bill gets a number and goes to a committee chosen by subject.
Public hearing. The sponsor introduces it, then members of the public speak for and against. You can sign in supporting or opposing whether or not you speak. See Testifying and attending.
Executive session. The committee votes on what to recommend. This is a separate meeting from the hearing, often days later, and usually covers several bills at once.
Floor vote. The full chamber votes, and is not bound by the committee's recommendation.
The other chamber. The whole process repeats. Moving from one chamber to the other is called crossover, and there is a deadline for it.
Resolving differences. If the second chamber changed the bill, the first must concur. If it will not, a committee of conference — members of both chambers — tries to write a version both will accept.
Enrolment. A final check of the text before it goes to the Governor.
The Governor. Sign it, veto it, or allow it to become law unsigned. See The Governor and the Executive Council.

Most bills stop somewhere

Of the 2,234 bills filed in the 2025–2026 term, 855 were killed — the motion is Inexpedient to Legislate — and 632 were signed into law. Another 214 were sent for interim study, 197 died on the table, and 126 died when the session ended without a final vote. Dying is the ordinary outcome, not a failure of the bill or its sponsor.

Most votes leave no record of who voted

Unless a member requests a roll call, a chamber votes by voice or by division. A voice vote records only which side sounded louder. A division records the count but not who voted which way. Only a roll call records each member by name.

Across the 4,230 bills on this site, 865 have at least one recorded roll call and 3,365 have none. For a great many bills there is simply no answer to "how did my representative vote" — not because it is hidden, but because it was never recorded.

A majority is not always enough

Overriding a veto takes two thirds of those voting. A constitutional amendment takes three fifths of the entire membership — 240 of 400 in the House — whether or not everyone shows up. Measures regularly win a clear majority and fail anyway.

The consent calendar

A bill goes on the consent calendar when the committee vote was unanimous or nearly so and no dissenting member objected to it being placed there. It then passes without floor debate, along with everything else on the calendar, in a single vote. Ten members may petition to pull a bill off and have it taken up separately.

In the record

Killed in committee: SB 71-FN, on cooperation with federal immigration authorities — three roll calls before it died.

Signed into law: HB 2, the budget trailer bill, with 44 recorded votes and a fiscal note running to four years.

Vetoed, and the override failed: HB 1442-FN — passed both chambers, vetoed, and the House fell short of two thirds on the override.

Vetoed, and overridden anyway: HB 2026, on the ten-year transportation plan.

Carried over into the second year: HB 751-FN.