Multiple referral

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Multiple referral is the process through which a bill is referred to a second committee after the first is finished acting.

In the United States House of Representatives, proposed legislation can be sent to more than one Congressional committee due to a 1975 rules change. Reasons for referring legislation to more than one committee can include: a change in the most important issues; complexity of the legislation; or problems fitting the bill into the jurisdiction of only one committee.

United States House of Representatives lower house of the United States Congress

The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they compose the legislature of the United States.

Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body or the process of making it. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to as "legislation", while it remains under consideration to distinguish it from other business. Legislation can have many purposes: to regulate, to authorize, to outlaw, to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare or to restrict. It may be contrasted with a non-legislative act which is adopted by an executive or administrative body under the authority of a legislative act or for implementing a legislative act.

However, as a result of a January 1995 change of the House rules, legislation may not be sent to multiple committees simultaneously. Under those same rules, the Speaker of the House must designate one or more primary committees in a joint referral.

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives position

The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. The Speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House of Representatives, and is simultaneously the House's presiding officer, de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head. Speakers also perform various other administrative and procedural functions. Given these several roles and responsibilities, the Speaker usually does not personally preside over debates. That duty is instead delegated to members of the House from the majority party. Neither does the Speaker regularly participate in floor debates.

In a split referral, legislation is divided into sections, with each part sent to the appropriate committee.

In a sequential referral, legislation is first sent to one committee, then to the next.

In the Senate, multiple referral can occur when jointly motioned by the leaders of both parties (almost never), or when the Senate grants unanimous consent.

In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house, is a situation in which no member present objects to a proposal.

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References

(*) Sinclair, Barbara (1997). Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the U.S. Congress. CQ Press. ISBN   1-56802-276-X

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