BILL SIGNING PROCESS

Bill-signing process not all that simple


Ninth grade civics books usually include a chapter about how a
bill becomes law, offering an explanation something like this: "A
bill must pass both houses of the Legislature, then be signed by
the governor before it becomes law." 

That's usually it. But in reality a whole lot more happens
between the time the House and Senate approve a bill, and the
governor signs it.

That's the time when the governor's office, and his various
departments and agencies, kick into gear. The civics books always
dwell on the checks and balances in the legislative process.

But the executive branch has a few checks and balances of its
own. 

Once both houses of the Legislature approve a bill, the revisor's
office lets the governor's State Planning Agency know the measure
is on its way.

The agency then begins to analyze the bill anew. Since the early
1980s, the agency has been the governor's "agent" in the
bill-signing process.

"We have an overall view of state government," says Cass
McLaughlin, legislative coordinator. "We don't have that narrow
focus that most agencies have."

McLaughlin and co-workers Suzanne Plass and John Jernberg analyze
all angles of the bill, including statewide impact, the
constitutional questions it may present, its fiscal impact, and
the duties it may place on state agencies. 

They seek opinions from all the agencies or departments the bill
could possibly affect, ranging from the Attorney General's Office
to the Department of Finance to the individual agencies that
would carry out the bill's directives. 

Once this information is collected, the state planning
commissioner assembles a packet and coordinates the analysis to
develop a recommendation for or against the bill -- or, simply,
whether the governor should sign it.

In addition, the packet also includes the vote in each house and
whether the bill generated any controversy along the way. This
information can prove helpful if the governor has mixed feelings
about the bill.

"The governor has a deep respect for the legislative process,"
McLaughlin says. "It would be very unusual for him to veto a bill
that passed unanimously in the Legislature."

Every bill -- no matter how brief -- goes through this rigorous
process. 

"It's a good system of checks and balances," McLauglin says. "It
helps to let all agencies know what's going to happen if the
governor signs a particular bill."

Once the governor acts on a bill, his office notifies the
Secretary of State's Office, which is the official keeper of
state documents. The office gets two copies of the bill -- the
original enrolled bill and the engrossed copy.

The enrolled bill lists the signatures of the speaker of the
House, president of the Senate, House clerk, Senate secretary,
the revisor, the governor, and the secretary of state.

The engrossed copy contains a legislative history of the bill,
which outlines the history of the bill as it traveled through
committee and floor hearings through which it passed, but does
not include the signatures.

"All official documents are filed with the Secretary of State's
Office," says Renee Coffey of the Secretary of State's elections
division, which oversees the bill signing process. 

The enrolled bill is bound in a leather book of chapter laws. "If
anything ever happens to a law book or if there's some question
about the intent, we can look at the original bill," Coffey says.

While the original bill is included in books that line the
office, the engrossed copies are tucked away in file cabinets in
the basement, then sent to the Minnesota Historical Society.

The possibility of losing a bill is remote, and that's probably a
good thing considering the trouble it would cause.

"The whole process starts all over again," McLaughlin says. 

But they haven't lost a bill yet. At least not since "Jolly Joe"
Rolette holed up in a St. Paul hotel room with the only copy of a
bill that would have moved the Capitol from St. Paul to St. Peter
back in 1857.



Originally published in 1990 in the Session Weekly, a weekly
newsmagazine published by the Minnesota House Public Information
Office.

***Last Update 8/5/94 (jtt) Last Review 8/5/94 (jtt) ***