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How an Idea Becomes a Law in Minnesota

What happens after a bill has been considered by all committees?

If a bill passes all of its assigned committees, then it is referred by the committee to the House or Senate floor for a vote by the full body. When it reaches the floor, it is given its “second reading” (see above), and the bill is placed on one of the House or Senate Calendars depending on the will of the last committee.

Types of House and Senate Calendars

In the House, the bill is usually placed on the “general register.” The House General register serves as a list of bills that have been referred to the House floor for a vote, which the Rules Committee may consider to place on the Calendar for the Day. Once the Rules Committee decides to place a bill on the Calendar for the Day, then the bill can be voted on and debated by the full House of Representatives. Each day the House meets in Session, the bills on the general register must be distributed to the legislature. The Calendar of the Day is often not published until the House goes into session, so there is often little advance notice when a bill will go to the House floor for a vote.

Senator Scott Dibble (DFL — Minneapolis) addresses the
media at a press conference announcing an agreement to pass
the Mercury Reduction Act of 2006. The Sierra Club was a
principal player in the passage of this landmark legislation.
Photo by David J. Oakes, Minnesota Senate Media Services.

In the Senate, a bill is usually placed on “general orders.” The Senate’s general orders are similar to the House’s general register, and bills placed on general orders must lie over for at least a full day until the bill can be debated by the entire Senate as a “committee of the whole.” The order in which bills are taken off general orders and debated by the whole senate is determined by the Senate Majority Leader with the assistance of the Senate Rules Committee. In the Senate, the “committee of the whole” serves as the final committee a bill must pass through. The committee of the whole will debate and potentially amend the bill, and then place it on the Senate Calendar.

Occasionally, particularly near the end of the legislative session, there is a need for the Senate to expedite consideration of a bill and not wait the full day that is required when a bill is placed on general orders. As a result, the Senate has a calendar known as “special orders.” Senate rules allow the chair of the Senate Rules Committee (typically the Senate Majority Leader) to place a bill that has received its second reading on special orders. When a bill is placed on special orders, it is immediately presented to the full Senate for debate, amendment, and a vote, rather than having to be debated by the committee of the whole.

An exception to a bill being placed on the general register, general orders, or special orders occurs when a bill is placed on the consent calendar. Bills are listed on the consent calendar if they are unlikely to be opposed or amended. Bills that are placed on this calendar evade further delay by going directly to the floor rather than waiting on General orders or House General Register, and they are typically passed as a package unanimously and without objection.

Third Reading and Final Passage

In the House, once a bill is placed on the Calendar of the Day, the bill is debated and potentially amended by all of the members of the House on the House floor. Once debate is complete, the Speaker of the House will give the bill its third and final reading. The Speaker will literally announce “third reading,” after which debate on the bill is no longer allowed in the House. After the bill receives its third reading, the entire body will debate and eventually vote on the final version of the bill.

In the Senate, debate on the bill occurs in the committee of the whole (see above). Once the committee of the whole has finished debating the bill, it is placed on the Senate Calendar. At this point, the bill can no longer be amended. The President of the Senate gives the bill its third reading, and the entire body will debate and eventually vote on the final version of the bill.

Final passage requires at least a majority vote in both houses. In the House, a majority is 68 votes. In the Senate, a majority is 34 votes. The roll-call method of voting is always used for final passage. After passage in the first house, the bill goes through the same process in the second house.