Chapter One Federal Government - Minnesota State Legislature

State Legislature Chapter Four
8. Calendar: In the house, the Calendar for the Day is a list of bills the house rules and legislative
administration has designated for the full house to vote on. Members can vote to amend the bill,
and after amendments are dispensed with, the bill is given its third reading before the vote of the
full body is taken. The house also has a Fiscal Calendar, on which the chair of the house ways and
means committee or house taxes committee can call up for consideration any tax or finance bill
that has had a second reading. The bills are debated, amended, and passed in one day.
In the senate, bills approved by the “committee of the whole” are placed on the calendar. At this
point, the bill has its third reading, after which time the bill cannot be amended unless the entire
body agrees to it. Toward the end of the session, the senate committee on rules and administration
designates bills from the General Orders calendar to receive priority consideration. These Special
Orders bills are debated, amended, and passed in one day.
To pass, a bill needs the votes of a majority of the quorum in each body. If the house and senate
each pass the same version of the bill, it goes to the governor for a signature.
9. Conference committee: When the house and the senate both pass the same version of a bill, that
bill goes to the governor for approval or disapproval. If the house and senate do not agree, a conference
committee, including members of both houses, meets to reach an agreement. If both bodies
then pass the bill in compromise form, it goes to the governor.
10. The governor: When a bill arrives, the governor may:
• sign it and the bill becomes law;
• veto it (return it with a “veto message” stating objections) to the body where it originated;
• pocket veto the bill (after final adjournment of the legislature);
• exercise the right to line-veto portions of appropriations bills.
If the governor does not sign or veto a bill within three days after receiving it, while the legislature
is in session, the bill becomes a law.
35
Chapter
Four
State Legislature