Pass The Labor Rate Bill

The Legislative Process For the Labor Rate Bill

    As the effort to get our bill to be fully considered by the State Legislature, one question continues to be asked: "What are the procedures for getting the Labor Rate Bill passed?" Before getting into the answers to that question, we want you to know a little something about this process, in general.
Each session (a Legislative Session is two years), nearly six thousand bills are filed in Massachusetts. Of those six thousand bills, only a few hundred are passed into law. When bills fail to be passed, most are just forgotten forever while others get re-filed for several sessions. It is not uncommon for a bill to be filed three, four, five or more times over a period of many years. In fact, the average length of time it takes for a bill to pass in Massachusetts is SEVEN AND ONE-HALF-YEARS! For instance, many collision industry-related bills have been filed repeatedly, in several different versions, with very few ever being reported out of committee.

    To increase the opportunity to get the Labor Rate Bill enacted into law, we have filed the same language in two bills, Senate Bill 122 and House Bill 1043. It is the same language that was initiated in the Senate in 2008. The legislative process is a long one, but don't be discouraged, Several of the following steps can be taken in a matter of days. What follows is a brief "snapshot" of the steps a typical House Bill takes on its way to getting passed:

• Bill is filed, numbered, and assigned to the appropriate committee

• A public hearing is held by the committee to gather information, for and against the bill

• Committee meets in Executive Session to review testimony and discuss the merits of the bill

• At the executive session, the committee makes its recommendation on the bill

• The recommendation can be either "ought to pass," "ought not to pass," and "as changed"

• If the bill is reported favorably out of committee, the first reading is automatic

• Then it will be referred to the House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling without debate

• Since our bill affects state finances, it would then be referred to House Committee on Ways and Means

• After this second reading, the bill is open to debate on amendments and motions

• Following debate, a vote of the House membership is taken

• If the vote is favorable, it is referred to the Committee on Bills in the Third Reading

• If our bill gets to this committee, that means it will have received preliminary approval in the House

• The bill's technical points, legality, constitutionality, and contradiction of existing law are reviewed

• The committee issues a report and returns the bill to the House for its Third Reading

• Legislators can still debate and amend the bill

• Following third reading, the House votes on "passing the bill to be engrossed"

• Our bill would then go to the Senate where it must also pass through three readings and engrossment

• If it passes in the Senate, it goes to the Legislative Engrossing Division and typed on special parchment

• If the Senate passes an amended version of the bill, it is returned to the House for agreement

• If the House rejects the amended version, a conference committee may be formed

• The conference committee (three members from each branch) would reach a compromise

• The compromised bill is sent to both branches for approval

• The House, followed by the Senate would vote "to enact" the bill

• This vote to enact is the final step for the bill in the State Legislature

• The governor then gets the bill and can take one of four courses of action (or inaction):

1. Sign the bill into law
2. Allow it to become law without signing it (holds the bill for ten days while legislature is in session
3. Veto the bill, or
4. Holds it for ten days after legislature concludes its session, and the bill dies (called a "pocket veto")
• The Labor Rate Bill will become law if signed by the governor or passed by two-thirds of the House and the Senate over the governor's veto
Source: http://www.mass.gov/legis/lawmkng.htm