Florida Today

The Legislative Branch

The Structure of the Legislature

• Florida and the other 49 states are structured to mirror the Federal Government.
• Florida’s legislative branch of government writes the laws;
• Florida’s judicial branch of government interprets the laws; and
• Florida’s executive branch of government carries out the laws.
• Florida is also comprised of 67 counties and 411 cities (as of 12/31/2008), each within its own system of governance.

Click on this link to see information on Florida's 67 counties:
http://www.fl-counties.com/aboutflco/flmap.shtml

Click on this link to see information on Florida's 411 cities: http://www.flcities.com/membership/my_city_facts.asp

Click on the picture below to take a tour of Florida's Capitol Complex












The Role of the Legislative Branch

• Florida, as many other states, has a bicameral legislature.
• Bicameral means that the legislature has two parts:
  1. The House of Representatives; and
  2. The Senate.
• Some states such as Nebraska have a unicameral, or single house legislature—Nebraska established its unicameral legislature in 1934.
• The role of the legislature is to enact laws.

Legislative Session

• The Florida legislature proposes approximately 500 bills per session.
• Legislators meet for two months in Tallahassee, from the beginning of March until the end of April, limited by the Florida Constitution to 60 days.
• Legislative salaries range from nothing (New Mexico) to $79,650 (Michigan) per year.
• In states where there is no official salary, legislators are often paid on a per diem basis (i.e. Alabama Legislators earn $10 per day).
• Florida Legislators earn $31,932 as of March 2008.

(Source: http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=14840)

The Florida House of Representatives
"Mr. Speaker, what bill did we just pass?"

(Actual quote from Florida House debate, taken from the House Journal)

• The Florida House of Representatives has 120 members who serve two-year terms of office. As a result of a statewide referendum in 1992, all house members are limited to four, two-year terms of office. This limitation is commonly referred to as a “term limit.”
• The leader of the House of Representatives is called the Speaker of the House. The current House Speaker is Rep. Larry Cretul.
• Click on the picture of the Florida House of Represenatives seal above to view a list of current Florida House members.
• There is more detailed district information available on each member of the Florida House. To see information on a particular House member's district, on the member’s page click on any of the links below the member’s picture to view district maps or statistical information.

The Florida Senate

• The Florida Senate has 40 members who serve four-year terms of office.
• As a result of a statewide referendum in 1992, all house members are limited to two, four-year terms of office. This limitation is commonly referred to as a “term limit.”
• The leader of the Senate is called the President of the Senate. The current Senate President is Senator Jeff Atwater.
• To view a list of current Florida Senators, click on the picture of the Senate Chambers to the right.
• To view the information on the Senate districts, click the following link: http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index.cfm?Mode=District%20Information&Submenu=2&Tab=legislators&CFID=145158751&CFTOKEN=54560340. Then choose a number from the list (district), and from this page you will see a picture of the Senator from that district, and a link to the demographic description of that district.

Legislative Committees

• The committee is the heart of the legislative process. The committee does what the Senate and the House of Representatives could not do as well by functioning as a whole.
• The committee can and should do the fact-finding groundwork.
• The formation of committees breaks down the membership into numerous small groups. Opportunity is thus afforded the Senate and the House for closer study of a bill than would be possible in debate on the floor.
• In this preliminary screening, the committee will hear from the legislator who introduced the bill. It will hear, too, from other legislators who either favor or oppose the bill.
• The committee may go outside the Legislature to learn the opinion of interested persons who may be well informed on the subject of the bill.
• The committee can subpoena for witnesses and for records. It can also use the research facilities of the Legislature to analyze the situation here and in other states.
• Citizens who wish to be heard are also allowed to speak at committee meetings. Technically, both the Senate and the House, sitting as a committee, could do all these things. But committees can and do perform the work more efficiently and thoroughly.
• The volume of business in today's Florida Legislature is considerable. It would be difficult to complete if the entire body attempted to study every bill upon its introduction.
  (Source: Florida Online Sunshine)

Committees may vote to take the following actions on a bill:

• Favorable;
• Favorable with amendments;
• Favorable with committee substitute;
• Unanimously favorable; or
• Unfavorable.
• If amendments are adopted, they still must be heard and adopted by the full legislative body.

There are basically three types of committees:

1. Standing
2. Select; and
3. Conference.
   

1. Standing Committees and Councils:

• The Senate and the House of Representatives establish standing committees for the management of their business.
• Authority of rules separately adopted by the Senate and by the House establishes them.
• The appointments of committee members, and the designation of the committee chairs and vice-chairs, are made in the Senate by its President and in the House by its Speaker.
• Proposed legislation is referred to a standing committee.
• The committee then has the responsibility of passing judgment on that legislation.
• Each committee may originate legislation within its field of expertise.
• The presiding officer refers bills to one or more committees for review.

2. Select Committees

• Select committees are those that have been appointed, or selected, to perform a specific task.
• The life of a select committee may last for a few minutes—for example, the time required for one house to notify another of its readiness to transact business on the opening day of the legislative session—or a select committee might last for years.
• The powers of each select committee are set forth in the action creating it. Some are given the authority to subpoena witnesses and open records. Some are empowered to employ counsel and clerical assistance. (Source: Florida Online Sunshine)

3. Conference Committees:

• For a bill to become an act, both houses must pass it in precisely the same words and figures. The second house frequently amends and returns the bill to the house of origin.
• In the case of significant bills, with substantial differences, the shortcut of a Conference Committee likely will be taken almost immediately. Conference committees are among the oldest of lawmaking procedures, dating back to early days of the British Parliament. In America, colonial legislatures used conference committees.
  In Congress, a conference committee was appointed on its second day, in 1789.
• A conference committee in reality is composed of separate committees from the Senate and the House of Representatives.
• As separate committees, they vote separately, not only on the final product, but also on any subsidiary questions put to a vote. A majority of each committee prevails.
• Conference committees are intended to reconcile differences. This suggests a give-and-take process because if a majority of the conferees from either house refuses to budge, the conference would be stalemated, and the bill could fail. However, this rarely happens.
• The Senate and House have the conference committee report presented on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. No amendments can be offered. Occasionally, a report will be rejected and the bill sent back to conference. Usually, however, conference reports are submitted in the waning hours of a session when the shortness of time might mean the bill would be lost or the Legislature called into an extended or special session. Thus, the committee has the pressure of time on its side.
• The Senate President and House Speaker agree upon the number of conferees. The General Appropriations Bill, by its magnitude, requires a larger conference committee. The conferees are known as managers. They generally are appointed from the committee that handled the bill but sometimes the President or Speaker will go outside the committee to select one or more conferees. Usually this occurs when the House/Senate has so amended the bill during floor consideration that the bill may no longer resemble the bill reported from the committee. Then, those who shaped the bill during floor consideration may more easily speak for the House/Senate in the conference committee. (Source: Florida Online Sunshine)

Joint Committees (can be standing, select or conference type):

• Are composed of both House and Senate members.
• Click on this link for a list of House committees: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Committees/committees.aspxaspx
• Click on the this link for a list of Senate committees: http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/index.cfm?Mode=Committee%20Pages&Submenu=1&Tab=committees&CFID=145158751&CFTOKEN=54560340
• Click on the following link to find information on how the committee process works: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Info_Center/index.cfm?Tab=info_center&submenu=-1

How a Bill Becomes Law

"Anyone can get a good bill passed. It takes real skill to get a bad one through."

(Actual quote from Florida House debate, taken from the House Journal as cited in Dye: Politics in Florida)

• Either house may originate any type of legislation, however the processes differ slightly between houses. A legislator sponsors a bill, which is referred to one or more committees related to the bill's subject.
• The committee studies the bill and decides if it should pass, fail, or be amended.
• If passed, the bill moves to other committees of reference or to the full house.
• The full house then votes on the bill. If it passes in one house, it is sent to the other house for review. A bill goes through the same process in the second house as it did in the first.
• A bill can go back and forth between houses until a consensus is reached. Of course, the measure could fail at any point in the process. (Source: Florida Online Sunshine—see how an idea becomes a law)

Steps from Start to Finish on How a Bill Becomes Law

This is an example of a Bill that starts in the House of Representatives.

1. Legislation suggested by concerned citizen, group or legislator.
2. Bill Introduced by Representative and referred to Bill Drafting Services.
3. Bill Drafting Service either writes bill or reviews for style and files with Clerk.
4. Bill Filed with Clerk, it is numbered, printed and goes to first "reading."
5. First Reading is by publication in journal and the House Speaker assigns to committee.
6. Committee Hearings begin and the Bill is reported with the following finding and goes to calendar: favorably; favorably with amendment, favorably with committee substitute. A Bill reported unfavorably is killed.
7. The Bill goes on the Calendar--Rules Committee selects bills for Chamber consideration
8. Chamber Second Reading--Bill read for amendment.
9. Chamber Third Reading--Bill debated--Roll call vote on passage. If it is passed the bill is delivered to the Senate Secretary.
10. In the Senate the Bill is read for first time and the Senate President assigns it to a committee.
11. Committee Hearings--Bill Reported with the following finding goes to second reading– favorably, favorably with amendment, favorably with committee substitute• Bill reported unfavorably is killed.
12. Second Reading--Bill read for amendment.
13. Third Reading--Bill debated--Roll call vote on passage. If it is passed the bill is returned to the House.
14. Returned to the House--without amendment the bill goes to Enrollment. With amendments the House votes on the bill with the amendments– if the House concurs the Bill goes to Enrollment. If the House refuses to concur the bill goes to Conference Committee.

Click on the following link to see a diagram of this process: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/FileStores/Web/HouseContent/Approved/Public%20Guide/Uploads/Documents/How%20an%20Idea%20Becomes%20a%20Law%202008-2010.pdf