Understanding Alabama’s Legislative Process
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Ideas for legislation come from many sources: constituents, professional associations, businesses and governmental
agencies. All bills must first be cleared through the Legislative Reference Service (LRS) to ensure bills are properly formated.
Any bill that does not pass during the previous session must be filed again in order to be considered in the current session.
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
Sessions are limited to 30 legislative days over 105 calendar days. Legislative days are those where the House and
Senate are “in session,” conducting business in their respective chambers; typically, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Most committees meet on Wednesdays. Although the dates change annually, the session runs about 15 weeks
starting in January or February through May.
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Follow bills online through the Alabama Legislative Information System Online (ALISON): http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/
How it all happens
Bill is filed & assigned to committee
When a bill is filed, it is assigned
a number and referred to a
standing committee. It is not
uncommon for identical bills to
be filed in both the House and
Senate. These are called
“companion bills.” Bills are
published and accessible to the
public via ALISON.
Committee Action
**Public hearing request**
Must be submitted to
Committee Chair prior to the
bill being set for committee
action
Most bills don’t even get this far. The committee
agenda is set by the Chair and published on ALISON.
The public may speak on any bill that has a public
hearing. Committee members will vote to: approve the
bill “as is,” amend the language or send the bill to
subcommittee for further discussion. Bills approved by
a majority (51%) vote, whether amended or not, are
considered to have been given a “favorable report” and
placed on the regular calendar (eligible for debate at
any time). With few exceptions, bills failing to get
majority approval are dead.
The Rules Committee & The Special Order Calendar
Each chamber has a Rules Committee whose sole job is setting the agenda by selecting bills to be placed on the Special
Order Calendar (SOC) for that day. This priority selection makes this committee (and its members) very powerful. The
full body must vote to approve the SOC by a majority (51%) vote of the members present. If that vote fails, or if the
Rules Committee does not offer a SOC, the chamber will consider bills, in order, from the regular calendar.
Floor Debate, Amendments (if any) & Vote
During floor debate, any legislator may introduce an amendment to change the language or offer a substitute
version. A separate vote is taken on each. It takes a majority (51%) vote of those present to pass a bill. NOTE: If
the budgets have not yet been approved, a procedural vote called the Budget Isolation Resolution (BIR) must
take place before considering any non-budget related bill. A 2/3 (66%) vote is required to adopt the BIR.
After passing the 1st chamber the bill must
the process in the 2nd.
Did the 2nd chamber make any changes to the bill?
Yes:
A conference committee, with 3 members from each chamber, will
be assigned to work out a compromise. Sometimes minimal
changes are made; sometimes the bill is substituted entirely.
Both chambers must approve
identical versions of the bill
by a majority (51%) vote.
To the Governor!
No:
The Governor may sign the bill, veto it or return it to the legislature with specific amendments requested. The legislature
can override the Governor’s veto with a simple majority (51%) vote. AL is one of the few states where a bill can become
law without the Governor’s signature! However, any bill sent to the Governor during the last 5 days of the session must
be approved within 10 days after the session ends. Otherwise, it will not become law. This is called a “pocket veto.”
Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, Inc.
www.alabamaappleseed.org
o) 334.263.0086