Conference Committees

There are many steps that a bill must go through to reach final passage. In order to reach the governor’s desk, a bill must be voted out of the House and Senate in the exact same language. If the Senate changes a House bill, the House can either vote to concur (agree) to those changes, dispute (send the bill back to its House of Origin), or ask for a conference committee. It is during this step of the legislative process that the House and the Senate collaborate to pass legislation. The majority party will have the most members on the conference committees, and they also have the majority of votes on the Floor. Currently, Democrats have the majority in both chambers, giving them legislative control over which bills make it through the legislative process. Learn more about conferences committees in this 5 minute video which features interviews with Democratic Senator Noel Frame and Republican Senator Drew MacEwen.

Discussion Questions for the Classroom:
What choices does the Chamber of Origin have if the Opposite Chamber has made changes to legislation during the process?
Why is paying attention to the clock important?
Why do bills get assigned to a conference committee?
Who gets to be on the conference committees?
What are the downsides of a conference committee?
What allows legislators to have confidence in a conference committee report?

More Learning resources:

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