Legislative Process or Law Making: Bill by A. O. Eze

BILL:

    A bill is a proposed law which is under or waiting for consideration by the legislature or parliament before it can become a law. A bill cannot become a law unless it is passed by the legislature or parliament and assented by the president.

Types of Bill

    According to Ugwuanyi (2008:6) there are three types of bill namely public bill, private members bill and money bill.

1. Public Bill: Like its name implies, it is a bill that will affect everybody (that is the whole public) if passed into law. It contains an issue of public interest. Examples of public bill are that of security, currency, diplomacy etc.

2. Private Members Bill: This type of bill is usually introduced by the members of the parliament which may be for the interest of the parliamentarians or that of his or her constituency.

3. Money Bill: This is a crucial type of bill that deals on how government generates, appropriates and spends money in the country. It should be necessary to note that only government has the legitimate power to introduce money bill in the parliament.
The Stages through which a Bill Passes before it can become a Law or Stages of Legislative Process.

    According to Onuoha (2009:29), “legislative process does not start with the first reading of a bill. It starts as soon as an advocate or any other concerned individual or group identifies a social problem.” Therefore, it means that problems which may be social, political or economic must be identified before the legislative process can start to remedy them.

    Nevertheless, there are six vital stages via which a bill must be passed before it can become a law. These stages are:

1. First Reading: This is an introductory stage. In this stage, a member of the house or a minister as the case may be who is initiating the bill will forward the proposed law (bill) to the Clerk of the house. The Clerk will read the title of the bill and notify every member that a bill is now before them. The bill will be recorded in the House Journals or diary as to show that it has been read for the first time (Onuoha, 2009). Note: under this stage no debate is entertained or allowed.

2. Second Reading: This is the most critical stage of legislative process. At this stage, the sponsor or the proposer of the bill will explain to the House the aims and objectives of the proposed law. It will be followed by extensive debate by the supporters and opposers of the bill. The debate will anchor on the essence; merits and demerits of the bill. However, after the debate, the bill will be subjected to voting by the speaker or president of the senate or anybody that is in charge. The members may vote in favour or against the bill. If it is the latter, the bill will die a natural death automatically but if it is the former, the bill will proceed to the committee stage.

3. Committee Stage: In the House or Parliament, there are three types of committee viz; committee of the whole House, standing and adhoc committee. A bill has to go through committee stage due to its technicalities or importance. There is a saying that “too many cooks spoil the broth.” It is at the committee stage that the bill will be x-rayed and diagnosed painstakingly and in thorough details. The bill is read clause by clause and also assessed and analyzed with eagle eyes. The committee will later report back to the whole House. 
         
4. Report Stage: After the third stage, the committee will present its findings and recommendations to the House. The recommendations may be for or against the proposed law. If there is any part of the bill that needs to be amended, the House will amend the part before it goes to the third reading.

5. Third Reading: This is the next to the final stage of legislative process. At this stage the bill will be read to the whole House for final consideration; after it, the speaker or presiding member will order a copy of the bill to be presented to the president for his assent.

6. Assent: This is the last and very important stage; a bill which passes before it becomes law or Act of the Parliament. In other words, it is called a ceremonial stage in legislative process. If the president or the governor assents or signs the bill, it will automatically become law or an Act of parliament; that is, why it more of ceremonial than legislative. But in a situation where the president or governor withholds his assent or vetoed the bill, the bill will also automatically become a law without his signature or assent if the House (members of the Parliament) mobilizes two third majority of its members to endorse the bill to become a law after the expiration of the date given to the president to assent it.

     Moreover, if it is in a country that is operating bicameral legislature like Nigeria, the bill will go to the Second House after third reading. It will go through the same legislative processes it has gone in the first House. Due to this repetition, bicameral legislative system has been described as being too rigorous, bureaucratic and excess waste of time and scarce resources. This has also made analysts to advocate for the abolition of the House of Senate (Upper Chamber).