By: Jennifer Imler
In order to effectively lobby for House Bill 512 (HB 512), or to influence any other bill that you support, it is imperative to understand the process a bill goes through to become a law and to know what opportunities you have to influence the bill and the process. For the sake of simplicity, I will describe the process that HB 512 went through, and thus will be tracking a bill originating in the Virginia House of Delegates.
Filing and Introduction
Before the beginning of the legislative session, delegates can file as many pieces of legislation as they desire, but after session begins, each delegate can file only up to five additional proposals. A few months ago, a constituent suffering from Lyme disease approached Delegate Rust with a bill proposal that would protect doctors from disciplinary action solely for treating Lyme disease patients with antibiotics for more than four weeks.
Within the medical community, a set of non-mandatory guidelines that call for treating Lyme disease with less than four weeks of antibiotics are promoted. However, doctors throughout the country face disciplinary action solely for prescribing antibiotics for more than four weeks to Lyme disease patients. While many of these doctors are later cleared of the charges, the costs incurred to fight against the charges, as well as the humiliation, adds up quickly. This has spread fear and controversy throughout the medical community, turning Lyme disease into a stigmatized disease that many doctors are uncomfortable treating.
After the proposal was brought to light, Delegate Rust, his constituent, and National Capital Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Association worked closely together to develop HB 512 and to introduce it. HB 512 does not mandate a standard of care, nor does it prevent disciplinary action or investigations. Essentially HB 512 promotes trust in a doctor’s decision that is based on clinical knowledge and the patient’s symptoms without fear of reprisal.
Subcommittee
Once the bill is introduced and has a patron (usually the Delegate that drafted the bill), the House Speaker assigns the bill to the appropriate committee. HB 512 was assigned to the Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee, where the committee chairman then assigned the bill to a subcommittee for review. The subcommittee, comprised of a smaller portion of the full committee, reviews the bill and can amend the bill before either voting to move the bill forward for a full committee hearing, tabling it (which means it does not advance to the full committee, but that it does not die); or killing the bill. In the case of HB 512, the subcommittee tabled the bill until the 2011 session.
Committee and House Floor
If the subcommittee motions for the bill to move forward, then the full committee will meet, amend the bill if necessary, and vote on whether to report, table, or kill the bill. If the vote is to report the bill, it will be heard by the full House, where another opportunity for amending the bill occurs. At this point, the bill must be supported by a full majority of the Delegates or else it dies.
Crossover
Bills that pass through the House, are then sent to the Senate on a day known as Crossover, where the process more or less repeats itself in the Senate. If the bill passes in the Senate, but has been amended since it left the House, the bill returns to the House for approval. If the bill passes and is not amended, it goes to the Governor for approval.
The Governor
The Governor can sign the bill, thus making it law; amend it; or veto the bill. If the Governor chooses to amend the legislation, then the bill returns to the General Assembly, which can either accept or reject the Governor’s changes. A vetoed bill will return to the General Assembly if the bill passed by more than a two-thirds margin in each chamber and the General Assembly may then override the Governor’s veto.
A Bill is Now Law
That is how a bill in Virginia becomes a law. As stated previously, it is imperative to understand this process in order to effectively advocate for a cause or a bill. Although I used Virginia’s process as an example, most states have a similar process. If you are unsure of the process in your state, please check your state legislature’s website.
Be sure to check back soon for a for a recap on my personal experience in lobbying with NatCapLyme and other proponents of HB 512, as well as for a recap on the subcommittee meeting and what the outcome really means!
If you would like more information on the legislative process in Virginia, please visit either Virginia’s State Legislature website or Democracy for Virginia.
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