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Overview of the federal legislative process
LITIGATION AND LEGISLATION UPDATE Litigation and legislation of particular interest to orthodontists will be reported under this section of the AMERICANJOURNALOF ORTttODONTICSAND DENTOFACIAL ORTtlOPEDICS. Manuscripts for publication and readers" comments may be submitted to Ms. Sally A. Bowers, American Association of Orthodontists, 401 N. Lindbergh Bh'd., St. Louis, MO 63141.
Overview of the federal legislative process Andrew T. Piekens, IV* St. Louis. Mo.
A m o n g the most basic and important facets of our federal government is the legislative process. While most persons understand that a bill must be voted on by the House and the Senate, and must be signed by the President, the actual process of initiating, promoting, and ratifying legislation remains quite nebulas. There is no need to address the importance of federal legislation to orthodontists, as all are aware of the impact the government has on their practices. Agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and laws, such as the National Practitioner Data Bank, directly affect you. In addition, health care reform legislation is pending, and within the next year some sort of reform package will likely be enacted. At each step of the legislative process, political pressure is placed on each elected legislative official. Either by promises made during campaigning, by politically active idealogical groups, or by business associations with significant interest in the passage or denial of a given piece of legislation, the ultimate effect of these pressures on which bill actually becomes law is great. This article details the legislative process and offers suggestions for how you can become involved. For the sake of brevity, it is assumed that the bill is introduced in the House of Representatives. tlowever, bills can originate from the House or the Senate. Sometimes bills on similar issues are fntroduced simultaneously. GENESIS OF LEGISLATION
An individual person or an association can initiate ideas for legislation by drafting bills on their own; however, they must locate a sponsor in one of the houses *Currently enrolled as a graduate student in Law and Business at Washington University in St. Louis.
90
of congress. A more common, and possibly more effective means of promoting legislation is to "tack on" related legislation to already existing bills. No guarantee of introduction to the Senate or the House is involved. However, if the legislator finds the proposal to be of value, he may decide to sponsor thebill and the "tacked on" additions. Often modifications must be made in the form or content of the proposals to meet the structural requirement for official documents. TURNING PROPOSALS INTO LAW
For bills originating in the House of Representatives, once the sponsoring representative submits a signed copy of the bill, it is referred to the appropriate committee for consideration. It is through the intense bipartisan committee analyzation and eventual recommendation that each bill will either meet its end, or move on to the final stages of actual debate in Congress. Unless a majority of the majority party On the committee vote to have the bill considered by the full committee, the bill is referred to an appropriate subcommittee. Your involvement on both the committee and the subcommittee level is vital. As is true throughout the entire process, contact representatives who are involved in the committees. Representatives are in office because of you and your peers. Inform them of your specific needs, or they cannot fulfill their task. PUBLIC HEARINGS
Public hearings are usually held if the subject matter of the bill in question is particularly important or controversial. The empowered subcommittee is required to publicly announce the time, place, and location of such hearings, and usually will personally notify parties of known particular interest. Representation of your interest is important during a public hearing. The issues discussed and information exposed during the hearing
Voturne 103 Number I
impact on both the subcommittee and the eventual committee recommendations. Be certain that either organizational or individual proponents of your ideas are directly involved. At the opening of the hearings, the bill may be read in full. The members of the subcommittee are seated at a head table with the chairman of the subcommittee presiding. Usually, members of Congress are given preference. Those persons wishing to testify, including representatives of interested groups, are generally required to file written accounts of their testimony before the hearings. Members of the subcommittee holding the hearings are allowed a limited time to question each witness. Once testimony and questioning have been completed, a transcript is made and distributed. Then the subcommittee considers the bill in what is known as the "mark up" section. The bill is analyzed in depth, including all information gained through the hearings. The subcommittee votes to report the bill favorably or unfavorably to the full committee, or to recommend that it be tabled. .~ THE COMMITTEE MEETINGS
Once a recommendation has been made by the subcommittee, the bill and other compiled documentation are discussed. The members of the committee may also discuss proposed amendments to the bill. These proposals are not final and are subject to ratification by the House. After discussion, the committee votes on how to report the bill to the House; favorably, unfavorably, or to table. Bills reported unfavorably are much less likely to pass the vote in the House. Because a bill must be voted on during the session in which it has been introduced, a recommendation to table the bill effectively kills it in most cases. FAVORABLY REPORTED BILLS
If a bill is reported favorably to the House by a committee, one of the members of that committee must write a committee report. This report describes the intended purpose of the bill, and the reasoning on which the favorable report was based. Courts often determine the purpose of each new law by reading the committee report. Thus this report is of major significance. The report must also indicate any changes in existing law. The proposed amendments must also be set out in the report. At this time, the bill is also assigned a calendar number. It is placed either on the Union, tlouse, or Consent calendars. The order in which it is placed on the calendar is the order it is to be heard. If the bill is controversial and deals with .issues of revenue, it is
Litigation and legislation ttpdate
91
placed on the Union calendar. If it is controversial bui is of public character, not dealing with revenue, it is placed on the House calendar. Bills of special importance can be heard ahead of their assigned date by other me.thods: special resolutions, motions to suspend rules, or privileged matters. If a matter is of a noncontroversial nature and has been placed on either the House or Unio.n calendars, it may be placed on the Consent calendar if there is no appreciable objection. A committee of six official objectors serves as a safeguard against the passage of measures that may in fact have been controversial. If significant conflicts are discovered, the bill can be placed back on either the Union or the House calendars. CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Once the date for consideration of a bill arrives, if it is necessary, the House reorganizes itself for open debate. When all the time granted for debate has passed, the chairman terminates the debate. The second reading of the bill then commences. This reading is section by section. Amendments may be proposed at this time. At the conclusion of the consideration of the bill for amendment, the House rises and reports the bill with the adopted amendments. Once debate has been cut off, the Speaker of the House asks if the bill should be engrossed, i.e., copied in final draft, and then read in title only for a third time. If favorably answered, any pending amendments are voted on. Then the entire bill is put before the House for a final vote. SENATE CONSIDERATION
Once a bill has passed, the enrolling clerk of the Ilouse prepares an engrossed copy of the bill in its final form. The bill is then sent to the Senate for approval. In the Senate the rules of procedure are different from those of the House, however, the process for consideration by committee and then by the body of the Senate itself is effectively the same. In the Senate, the bill is subject to amendment just as it was in the tlouse. Thus it becomes necessary for the engrossed copy of the bill as it emerges from the Senate to once again be considered by the House. AGREEMENT OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE
The tlouse must then consider any amendments by the Senate to any bill that first came through the House. If amendments by the Senate are unanimously agreed to in the House, the bill is ready for presidential review. If the amendments are substantial, a joint conference with the Senate may be required. Discussion in the
92
Litigation and legislation update
conference is limited to any matters of which the tlouse and the Senate originally disagreed. Four recommendations (How Our Laws Are Made, page 41) are available to the members of the conference in these reports: 1. The Senate recede from all or certain of its amendments; 2. The House recede from its disagreement to all or certain of the Senate amendments and agree thereto; 3. The ttouse recede from its disagreements to all or certain of the Senate amendments and agree thereto with amendment; and 4. The House recede from all or certain of its amendments to the Senate amendments. To recede from an amendment simply means to withdraw support for that amendment. This is a system of compromises. If no such compromise can be reached, the members of the conference report this back to their house of Congress. This system of compromise continues until the bill is agreed on in identical form by both the House and the Senate. PREPARATION AND PRESENTATION OF BILL TO PRESIDENT
Once the bill has been agreed on by the Congress, a copy of the final bill is ready for review by the President. Preparation of the bill is the duty of the clerk in the house of the bill's origination. The preparation of this final copy is painstakingly achieved. All effects of amendments, which can be quite numerous, must be delineated. The bill is then reviewed and signed by the proper authority of each house of Congress. It is then returned to the Committee on House Administration for presentation to the President. On presentation, the President has i0 days during which to act. If he wishes to approve the bill, he may either write approved and the date, or simply sign it.
Am. J. Orthod. Dentofac. Orthop.
January 1993
If, however, the President wishes to veto the bill, he may indicate this intent or simply not act within the 10 days, provided that the adjournment of Congress precedes the expiration of that 10-day period. This is known as a "pocket veto". I f a bill is vetoed, the measure can still become law, provided two-thirds or more of each ltouse votes to supersede the veto and pass the bill against the President's objections. When a bill by whatever means becomes law, it must immediately be published. The new law may become effective at any time indicated within the bill. CONSTITUENT INVOLVEMENT
Get involved in the legislative process at the grassroots level. Develop legislative contact with your representatives and senators. Contribute to their campaigns and attend social gatherings. Keep them accessible for you to convey your professional needs. If the representatives do not know of your concerns, they cannot fulfill their duty of representing your interests. Comment on pending bills at all stages. Contacts may be most effective immediately preceding key votes by the subcommittee and the individual house of congress reviewing the bill. Thus, it is important to keep updated on PrOPosed legislation. While the journey of a bill from initial drafting to signing by the President is great, the potential benefit to the orthodontic specialty from constituent involvement is even greater. The description of the legislative evolution of a bill into a law was in great part taken from How Our Laws Are Made, revised and updated by Edward F. Willett, Jr., Esq., June 5, 1980. Those interested in a more in-depth view of the process can contact their U.S. Senators or Representatives for a copy.
Overview of the federal legislative process Andrew T. Piekens, IV* St. Louis. Mo.
A m o n g the most basic and important facets of our federal government is the legislative process. While most persons understand that a bill must be voted on by the House and the Senate, and must be signed by the President, the actual process of initiating, promoting, and ratifying legislation remains quite nebulas. There is no need to address the importance of federal legislation to orthodontists, as all are aware of the impact the government has on their practices. Agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and laws, such as the National Practitioner Data Bank, directly affect you. In addition, health care reform legislation is pending, and within the next year some sort of reform package will likely be enacted. At each step of the legislative process, political pressure is placed on each elected legislative official. Either by promises made during campaigning, by politically active idealogical groups, or by business associations with significant interest in the passage or denial of a given piece of legislation, the ultimate effect of these pressures on which bill actually becomes law is great. This article details the legislative process and offers suggestions for how you can become involved. For the sake of brevity, it is assumed that the bill is introduced in the House of Representatives. tlowever, bills can originate from the House or the Senate. Sometimes bills on similar issues are fntroduced simultaneously. GENESIS OF LEGISLATION
An individual person or an association can initiate ideas for legislation by drafting bills on their own; however, they must locate a sponsor in one of the houses *Currently enrolled as a graduate student in Law and Business at Washington University in St. Louis.
90
of congress. A more common, and possibly more effective means of promoting legislation is to "tack on" related legislation to already existing bills. No guarantee of introduction to the Senate or the House is involved. However, if the legislator finds the proposal to be of value, he may decide to sponsor thebill and the "tacked on" additions. Often modifications must be made in the form or content of the proposals to meet the structural requirement for official documents. TURNING PROPOSALS INTO LAW
For bills originating in the House of Representatives, once the sponsoring representative submits a signed copy of the bill, it is referred to the appropriate committee for consideration. It is through the intense bipartisan committee analyzation and eventual recommendation that each bill will either meet its end, or move on to the final stages of actual debate in Congress. Unless a majority of the majority party On the committee vote to have the bill considered by the full committee, the bill is referred to an appropriate subcommittee. Your involvement on both the committee and the subcommittee level is vital. As is true throughout the entire process, contact representatives who are involved in the committees. Representatives are in office because of you and your peers. Inform them of your specific needs, or they cannot fulfill their task. PUBLIC HEARINGS
Public hearings are usually held if the subject matter of the bill in question is particularly important or controversial. The empowered subcommittee is required to publicly announce the time, place, and location of such hearings, and usually will personally notify parties of known particular interest. Representation of your interest is important during a public hearing. The issues discussed and information exposed during the hearing
Voturne 103 Number I
impact on both the subcommittee and the eventual committee recommendations. Be certain that either organizational or individual proponents of your ideas are directly involved. At the opening of the hearings, the bill may be read in full. The members of the subcommittee are seated at a head table with the chairman of the subcommittee presiding. Usually, members of Congress are given preference. Those persons wishing to testify, including representatives of interested groups, are generally required to file written accounts of their testimony before the hearings. Members of the subcommittee holding the hearings are allowed a limited time to question each witness. Once testimony and questioning have been completed, a transcript is made and distributed. Then the subcommittee considers the bill in what is known as the "mark up" section. The bill is analyzed in depth, including all information gained through the hearings. The subcommittee votes to report the bill favorably or unfavorably to the full committee, or to recommend that it be tabled. .~ THE COMMITTEE MEETINGS
Once a recommendation has been made by the subcommittee, the bill and other compiled documentation are discussed. The members of the committee may also discuss proposed amendments to the bill. These proposals are not final and are subject to ratification by the House. After discussion, the committee votes on how to report the bill to the House; favorably, unfavorably, or to table. Bills reported unfavorably are much less likely to pass the vote in the House. Because a bill must be voted on during the session in which it has been introduced, a recommendation to table the bill effectively kills it in most cases. FAVORABLY REPORTED BILLS
If a bill is reported favorably to the House by a committee, one of the members of that committee must write a committee report. This report describes the intended purpose of the bill, and the reasoning on which the favorable report was based. Courts often determine the purpose of each new law by reading the committee report. Thus this report is of major significance. The report must also indicate any changes in existing law. The proposed amendments must also be set out in the report. At this time, the bill is also assigned a calendar number. It is placed either on the Union, tlouse, or Consent calendars. The order in which it is placed on the calendar is the order it is to be heard. If the bill is controversial and deals with .issues of revenue, it is
Litigation and legislation ttpdate
91
placed on the Union calendar. If it is controversial bui is of public character, not dealing with revenue, it is placed on the House calendar. Bills of special importance can be heard ahead of their assigned date by other me.thods: special resolutions, motions to suspend rules, or privileged matters. If a matter is of a noncontroversial nature and has been placed on either the House or Unio.n calendars, it may be placed on the Consent calendar if there is no appreciable objection. A committee of six official objectors serves as a safeguard against the passage of measures that may in fact have been controversial. If significant conflicts are discovered, the bill can be placed back on either the Union or the House calendars. CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Once the date for consideration of a bill arrives, if it is necessary, the House reorganizes itself for open debate. When all the time granted for debate has passed, the chairman terminates the debate. The second reading of the bill then commences. This reading is section by section. Amendments may be proposed at this time. At the conclusion of the consideration of the bill for amendment, the House rises and reports the bill with the adopted amendments. Once debate has been cut off, the Speaker of the House asks if the bill should be engrossed, i.e., copied in final draft, and then read in title only for a third time. If favorably answered, any pending amendments are voted on. Then the entire bill is put before the House for a final vote. SENATE CONSIDERATION
Once a bill has passed, the enrolling clerk of the Ilouse prepares an engrossed copy of the bill in its final form. The bill is then sent to the Senate for approval. In the Senate the rules of procedure are different from those of the House, however, the process for consideration by committee and then by the body of the Senate itself is effectively the same. In the Senate, the bill is subject to amendment just as it was in the tlouse. Thus it becomes necessary for the engrossed copy of the bill as it emerges from the Senate to once again be considered by the House. AGREEMENT OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE
The tlouse must then consider any amendments by the Senate to any bill that first came through the House. If amendments by the Senate are unanimously agreed to in the House, the bill is ready for presidential review. If the amendments are substantial, a joint conference with the Senate may be required. Discussion in the
92
Litigation and legislation update
conference is limited to any matters of which the tlouse and the Senate originally disagreed. Four recommendations (How Our Laws Are Made, page 41) are available to the members of the conference in these reports: 1. The Senate recede from all or certain of its amendments; 2. The House recede from its disagreement to all or certain of the Senate amendments and agree thereto; 3. The ttouse recede from its disagreements to all or certain of the Senate amendments and agree thereto with amendment; and 4. The House recede from all or certain of its amendments to the Senate amendments. To recede from an amendment simply means to withdraw support for that amendment. This is a system of compromises. If no such compromise can be reached, the members of the conference report this back to their house of Congress. This system of compromise continues until the bill is agreed on in identical form by both the House and the Senate. PREPARATION AND PRESENTATION OF BILL TO PRESIDENT
Once the bill has been agreed on by the Congress, a copy of the final bill is ready for review by the President. Preparation of the bill is the duty of the clerk in the house of the bill's origination. The preparation of this final copy is painstakingly achieved. All effects of amendments, which can be quite numerous, must be delineated. The bill is then reviewed and signed by the proper authority of each house of Congress. It is then returned to the Committee on House Administration for presentation to the President. On presentation, the President has i0 days during which to act. If he wishes to approve the bill, he may either write approved and the date, or simply sign it.
Am. J. Orthod. Dentofac. Orthop.
January 1993
If, however, the President wishes to veto the bill, he may indicate this intent or simply not act within the 10 days, provided that the adjournment of Congress precedes the expiration of that 10-day period. This is known as a "pocket veto". I f a bill is vetoed, the measure can still become law, provided two-thirds or more of each ltouse votes to supersede the veto and pass the bill against the President's objections. When a bill by whatever means becomes law, it must immediately be published. The new law may become effective at any time indicated within the bill. CONSTITUENT INVOLVEMENT
Get involved in the legislative process at the grassroots level. Develop legislative contact with your representatives and senators. Contribute to their campaigns and attend social gatherings. Keep them accessible for you to convey your professional needs. If the representatives do not know of your concerns, they cannot fulfill their duty of representing your interests. Comment on pending bills at all stages. Contacts may be most effective immediately preceding key votes by the subcommittee and the individual house of congress reviewing the bill. Thus, it is important to keep updated on PrOPosed legislation. While the journey of a bill from initial drafting to signing by the President is great, the potential benefit to the orthodontic specialty from constituent involvement is even greater. The description of the legislative evolution of a bill into a law was in great part taken from How Our Laws Are Made, revised and updated by Edward F. Willett, Jr., Esq., June 5, 1980. Those interested in a more in-depth view of the process can contact their U.S. Senators or Representatives for a copy.