Questions tagged [legislative-process]
Questions about the processes to create laws in different jurisdictions.
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Why don't British kings and queens veto laws? [duplicate]
I've learned from Wikipedia that the British king or queen has the right to veto laws, but they don't use the right. Why is that? Is it because of tradition, respect for democracy, some regulations or ...
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How does voting in the US Senate work?
There were a number of confirmation hearings in the Senate where Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote. That part is clear to me from the Constitution.
Impeachment is ...
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How do politicians scrutinize bills that are thousands of pages long?
The recently passed stimulus bill is said to be 5,593 pages long, and allocates $900 billion in funds. It's no surprise that there was no chance to read or amend the bill.
The logistics of revising a ...
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Does it matter what is said on the US Congress floor?
It seems like bills are only put up for vote when the votes for and against are known beforehand. So, does it matter what they debate about during the actual sessions of Congress? Is it purely for ...
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Can the US Senate bypass the Majority Leader's agenda?
If the US Senate Majority Leader doesn't want to bring a bill to the floor for a vote, are there other mechanisms that would allow the bill to be voted on anyway? If so, what are they?
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How soon does the PM have to present a passed bill for royal assent?
How long can the UK government delay presenting an otherwise passed bill to the Queen for royal assent (could they perhaps delay it indefinitely to prevent it becoming law?).
Parliamentary pages I've ...
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Do any legislative branches besides the US have a tradition of voluntarily requiring more than 50% of the votes to pass a law?
In the US Senate there's a peculiar tradition where 60 out of 100 votes are required to overcome filibuster, even though constituonally speaking 51 votes (or 50 votes plus the vice president's tie ...
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If a bill was referred to a Committee, and died there, is there a way to tell what happened?
In this answer, I linked to a bill that was listed as dead in a Committee.
Another user asked what happened to the bill, why did it die and who supported/opposed it (votes or otherwise):
Where can I ...
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What's (roughly) the smallest percentage of the US population that through its Senators has successfully blocked a piece of legislation?
According to some US constitutional pundits, in theory,
senators representing about 11 percent of the population can filibuster a bill or those representing about 16 percent of the population can ...
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Is it legal for an elected official to sign a contract binding him to vote in a particular way, if no value is exchanged?
For instance, a candidate for a legislature promises to vote yes or no, on a specific piece of legislation, or perhaps agrees to introduce a bill that is written at the time the contract is signed. ...
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What would stop a representative democracy becoming a dictatorship?
In a representative democracy, those elected pass laws for the country. If a political party had a majority in the relevant legislature(s), could that party use its majority to write a law that ...
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Why are congressional votes not secret?
In general, a person in the United States has the right to vote. As far as I can tell, this vote is private—no one else knows who you voted for. Why are the votes in congress public? Wouldn't it help ...
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What would happen if Senators boycotted the Impeachment Vote
I know it would take a 2/3rds majority vote in the Senate to convict Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. But what if a substantial number of Senators boycotted the trial, and declined to ...
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Does a tie in the Senate require the vice president to always be present in the Senate?
Would the vice president be required to always be in the senate chamber in order to break ties? If not, how often must she be there -- or does she need to be there at all to vote her tie-breaker vote?
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Why is an unrelated House-passed measure used to start the immigration debate in the Senate?
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently moved to vote to open the immigration debate in the Senate. As quoted from this article by CNN, he chose an unrelated bill to be used for the debate.
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When is a 60% majority required in US Congress?
I wonder when a 60% majority is required in the US Senate. As I write this I see in the news that Obamacare can be "repealed and replaced" with only a 50% majority because it is in a "reconciliation ...
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Has a law or amendment been passed without a vote in Parliament because there were no tellers before?
If the breaking news is correct,
MPs started voting on Stephen Kinnock’s amendment 6. But then, a few minutes into voting, Lindsay Hoyle, announced that the division had been called off because the ...
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What will be the process and timescale for this proposal on retention of EU citizenship by UK nationals to be considered?
I just spotted this interesting article about an amendment proposed by the Luxembourger MEP Charles Goerens to the EU Committee on Constitutional Affairs to allow individual Brits an opt-in to keep EU ...
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Can an MP who didn't vote for the 2nd reading of a bill propose amendments to it?
It's been said in a (now-deleted) comment here that
You are not allowed to propose an amendment to a bill unless you voted for the second reading. This means there is a strong incentive to vote for ...
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Why does H.R.335 not mention the nominee's name?
To my understanding, H.R.335 which became Public Law No: 117-1. was a bill before the United States House of Representatives which would provide an exception to 10 U.S. Code § 113 (a) in order to ...
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Does the United States have a built-in mechanism to resolve loss of supply? And if not, why not?
In countries that have inherited the Westminster system, loss of supply typically results in government being required to either reform as the majority that blocked supply; or dissolve parliament so ...
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Who limits what sensitive/secret information is shared with the US House Armed Services Committee? Can they get whatever they want for "oversight"?
Background; elected officials considered "vetted" by election and receive no formal background check before receiving sensitive/secret information
Politico's January 5, 2023 Speaker debacle ...
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Where does decision by a simple majority of a congressional quorum derive from?
What specific part of the US constitution or the Senate/House rules states that votes (on legislation or nominations) are decided by a simple majority of lawmakers present? (Disregarding rules about ...
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Is there any political party in a EU country that has a leadership that virtually bypasses secret voting by asking its MPs not to vote?
Romanian opposition failed once again to overthrow the Government in 2019. This came as no surprise. However, the main party in power requested its members not to vote at all.
The trick is that the ...
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What happens to signed bills? And what happens if they're destroyed?
When a bill or pardon or whatever is signed, let's say in the USA, then what exactly happens to the signed document? And what happens if it's misplaced or destroyed?
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In Muslim-minority countries, is it unusual for Muslim MPs or lawmakers to vote in favour of gay marriage or related legislation?
In Did all of Germany's Muslim MPs voted in favor of same-sex marriage? on Skeptics.SE, someone was surprised by a claim that Germany's Muslim MPs voted in favour of gay marriage.
I wasn't that ...
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What danger(s) does Chuck Schumer see in using reconciliation to increase debt limit?
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that if Congress does not raise the debt limit by mid-October, 2021, the U.S. could default, which could have macroeconomic implications.
The Senate minority ...
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How can a minister stop a bill's progress?
I came across this tweet by BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins:
FWIW wise hand says govt can’t ‘pull’ a bill. They can leave it in a sort of suspended parliamentary animation, they say, by ...
JJJ♦
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Was illegal immigration non-enforcement ever challenged under "equal protection" theory? Did it affect illegal immigration related legislation?
Illegal immigration is either a misdemeanor or a felony in USA (depends on specifics of what an individual did).
Under ordinary circumstances, if a resident would commit a felony or even a misdemeanor ...
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What happens after a bill is reported by committee?
After a bill is introduced and then referred to a committee, I understand the committee will address it during a hearing.
If it is then "reported by committee" and "ordered to be reported without ...
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What constitutes a vote for or against a motion in Congress?
In the UK, Members of Parliament vote on things by shouting either ‘aye’ or ‘no’, and when the winner is not clear it will go to division. I understand the US takes a lot of cues from Parliamentary ...
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What would happen if commons and lords votes on bills were made anonymous? [closed]
In the UK and other countries it is the job of the party whip to ensure that MPs vote on bills in line with party policy. This effectively means the majority party leadership decide which bills become ...
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Are there countries where members of the legislative body are allowed to vote remotely?
Is there a legislative body where elected representatives may cast their vote remotely, through some sort of a computer system? Citizens can already vote remotely in Estonian elections, so it doesn't ...
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Does each different kind of Congressional act require a different level of rigor?
Background
In the legislative branch, there are several kinds of acts congress can initiate:
A Bill, which is a proposed law that originates in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. ...
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