Civics 101 in 120 Seconds (ish) – What is an Amendment? (2min)
Civics 101 in 120 Seconds (ish) is your straightforward guide through the often confounding legislative process.
If your bill has made it through the Policy, Fiscal and Floor, congratulations! But don’t sit down, still work to be done…
Script:
What is the concurrence/dispute process?
If your bill has made it through the Policy, Fiscal and Floor, congratulations! But don’t sit down, still work to be done…
Now everything your bill just did, it has to go over to the other chamber and do it all over again
Each bill has to be voted on in the exact same language by both chambers in the same session.
So what do you do if you have differences? There’s a process called Dispute and Concurrence.
Suppose you have a bill in the Senate and they think it’s perfect, but the House has the audacity to slap some changes on it.
The Senate may “CONCUR”. It doesn’t mean they like it, but they can live with it. they vote on it and It’s on its way to the Gov.
Now imagine they don’t concur
They “DISPUTE” the changes.
It can ping pong back and forth – if they don’t agree, the bill is dead.
Or they can find a different change that they both agree on.
Last option is to convene a Conference Committee with 6 total members, 3 from each chamber – they create a Conference Report which cannot be amended and they create their own agreement that the House and Senate can vote yes or no on
Teach with TVW is a free online resource provided by TVW for Washington state social studies teachers to engage their students in state government and help to inspire active citizens.
Learn more at: https://www.teachwithtvw.org
