Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 12, 1 December 1989 — Taking a bill through the committee process (continued) [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Taking a bill through the committee process (continued)

Wakinekona

By Paul Alexander Washington, D.C. CounseI for OHA

By Paul Alexander OHA Counsel in Washington, D.C. The deuelopment of a bitt in the U.S. Congress was discussed in last month's eolumn. This month we piek up on the bitt as it starts through the eommittee process. The key plaee for most work on bills is the eommittee system. Committees generally have the technicalexpertise in the area the bill concems. Committees hold the detailed legislative hearings on bills and solicit formal views from all parties with a potential interest in the bill, including the critical views of federal agencies. The primary point for negotiation on a bill is when it is in committee.

A controversial bill may take years to get through the committee process. In that case a new bill has to be introduced in eaeh Congress. Many hearings and mueh negotiation may take plaee before a bill is ready to be considered by the Senate and the House of Representatives. The committee process for considering a bill is called the mark up. The mark up is a formal session of the committee where the bill is discussed and amendments to the bill are voted. An amendment in the nature of a substitute is one that strips all the original language from the bill and substitutes a whde new bill. If a committee decides to act favorably on a bill, it votes to "report the bill with a recommendation" to the House or Senate to pass the bill.

The bill is then filed, along with a formal committee report that explains the bill, any amendments, the bill's purpose and the costs. The report also contains the views of the pertinent federal agencies. Committee members who voted against the bill, or a section of it, may file a separate statement explaining their views whieh is put into the formal committee report. The report becomes the key document the courts consider when questions arise about what a certain section of the enacted law may mean. Onee a bill clears the committee to whieh it has been assigned the bill must still be considered favorably by the House and the Senate before it is sent to the president for approval or veto.