Preliminary Procedures

The procedures for introducing legislation and seeing it through committees

are similar in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Legislative proposals originate in a number of different ways. Members of

the Senate, of course, develop ideas for legislation. Technical assistance in
research and drafting legislative language is available at the Senate Legislative
Technical Affairs Bureau. Special interest groups—business, religious, labor,
urban and rural poor, consumers, trade association, and the like—are other
fertile sources of legislation. Constituents, either as individuals or groups, also
may propose legislation. Frequently, a member of the Senate will introduce such
a bill by request, whether or not he supports its purposes.

It must be noted also that much of the needed legislation of the country today
considered by Congress originates from the executive branch. Each year after
the President of the Philippines outlines his legislative program in his
State-of-the-Nation Address, executive departments and agencies transmit to the
House and the Senate drafts of proposed legislations to carry out the President’s
program.

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Introduction of Bills

No matter where a legislative proposal originates, it can be introduced only by

a member of Congress. In the Senate, a member may introduce any of several
types of bills and resolutions by filing it with the Office of the Secretary.

There is no limit to the number of bills a member may introduce. House and
Senate bills may have joint sponsorship and carry several members' names.

Major legislation is often introduced in both houses in the form of companion

(identical) bills, the purpose of which is to speed up the legislative process by
encouraging both chambers to consider the measure simultaneously. Sponsors of
companion bills may also hope to dramatize the importance or urgency of the issue
and show broad support for the legislation.

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Types of Legislation

The type of measures that Congress may consider and act upon (in addition to
treaties in the Senate) include bills and three kinds of resolutions. They are:
1. Bills

These are general measures, which if passed

upon, may become laws. A bill is prefixed with
S., followed by a number assigned the measure
based on the order in which it is introduced.
The vast majority of legislative proposals–
– recommendations dealing with the economy,
increasing penalties for certain crimes,
regulation on commerce and trade, etc., are
drafted in the form of bills. They also include
budgetary appropriation of the government and
many others. When passed by both chambers in
identical form and signed by the President or
repassed by Congress over a presidential veto,
they become laws.

2. Joint Resolutions

A joint resolution, like a bill, requires the

approval of both houses and the signature of the
President. It has the force and effect of a law
if approved. There is no real difference between
a bill and a joint resolution. The latter
generally is used when dealing with a single
item or issue, such as a continuing or emergency
appropriations bill. Joint resolutions are also
used for proposing amendments to the
Constitution.

3. Concurrent Resolutions

A concurrent resolution is usually

designated in the Senate as S. Ct. Res. It is
used for matters affecting the operations of
both houses and must be passed in the same form
by both of them. However, they are not referred
to the President for his signature, and they do
not have the force of law. Concurrent
resolutions are used to fix the time of
adjournment of a Congress and to express the
“sense of Congress” on an issue.
 4. Simple Resolutions

It is usually designated with P. S. Res. A

simple resolution deals with matters entirely
within the prerogative of one house of Congress,
such as adopting or receiving its own rules. A
simple resolution is not considered by the other
chamber and is not sent to the President for his
signature. Like a concurrent resolution, it has
no effect and force of a law. Simple resolutions
are used occasionally to express the opinion of
a single house on a current issue. Oftentimes,
it is also used to call for a congressional
action on an issue affecting national interest.

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Bill Referrals

Once a measure has been introduced and given a number, it is read and
referred to an appropriate committee. It must be noted that during the reading of
the bill, only the title and the author is read on the floor. The Senate President is
responsible for referring bills introduced to appropriate committees.

The jurisdictions of the Standing Committees are spelled out in Rule X, Section
13 of the Rules of the Senate. For example, if a bill involves matters relating to
agriculture, food production and agri-business, it must be referred to the
Committee on Agriculture and Food.

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In Committee

The standing committees of the Senate, operating as “little legislatures,”

determine the fate of most proposals. There are committee hearings scheduled to
discuss the bills referred. Committee members and staff frequently are experts in
the subjects under their jurisdiction, and it is at the committee stage that a bill
comes under the sharpest scrutiny. If a measure is to be substantially revised, the
revision usually occurs at the committee level.

A committee may dispose of a bill in one of several ways: it may approve, or

reject, the legislation with or without amendments; rewrite the bill entirely; reject
it, which essentially kills the bill; report it favorably or without recommendation,
which allows the chamber to consider the bill at all. It must be noted that under
Section 29, Rule XI of the Rules of the Senate, if the reports submitted are
unfavorable, they shall be transmitted to the archives of the Senate, unless five
Senators shall, in the following session, move for their inclusion in the Calendar for
Ordinary Business, in which case the President shall so order.

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Committee Reports

A committee report describes the purpose and scope of the bill, explains any
committee amendments, indicates proposed changes in existing law and such
other materials that are relevant. Moreover, reports are numbered in the order in
which they are filed and printed.

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Calendaring for Floor Debates: Consideration of, and Debates on Bills

Under Section 45 of Rule XVI of the Rules of the Senate, the Senate shall have
three calendars, to wit:

A “Calendar for Ordinary Business," in which shall be included the

bills reported out by the committees in the order in which they were
received by the Office of the Secretary; the bills whose consideration
has been agreed upon by the Senate without setting the dates on
which to effect it; and also the bills whose consideration has been
postponed indefinitely;

A “Calendar for Special Orders,” in which the bills and resolutions

shall be arranged successively and chronologically, according to the
order in which they were assigned for consideration; and

A “Calendar for Third Reading,” in which shall be included all bills

and joint resolutions approved on second reading.

Thus, a bill which has a committee report can be referred to the “Calendar for
Ordinary Business.” It may again be moved to its “Special Order of Business” for
priority action.

On the other hand, the consideration and debate of bills and resolutions are
spelled out in Rule XXV, Section 71 of the Rules of the Senate. It provides as
follows:

Sec. 71. The Senate shall adopt the following procedure in the
consideration of bills and joint resolutions:
 (a) Second reading of the bill.

(b) Sponsorship by the committee chairman, or

by any member designated by the committee.

(c) If a debate ensues, turns for and against

the bill shall be taken alternately: Provided,
however, That any committee member who fails to
enter his objection or to make of record his
dissenting vote after it shall have been
included in the Order of Business and read to
the Senate in accordance with the second
paragraph of Section 24 hereof, shall not be
allowed to speak against the bill during the
period of general debate although he may propose
and speak or vote on amendments thereto.

(d) The sponsor of the bill or author of the

motion shall have the right to close the debate.

(e) With the debate closed, the consideration

of amendments, if any, shall be in order.

(f) After the period of amendments, the voting

of the bill on Second Reading.

(g) Bills shall be submitted to final vote by

yeas and nays after printed copies thereof in
final form have been distributed to the Members
at least three (3) days prior to their passage,
except when the President of the Philippines
certifies to the necessity of their immediate
enactment to meet a public calamity or emergency,
in which case the voting on Third Reading may
take place immediately after second reading.

After the bill is approved on Third Reading, it will be submitted to the House of
Representatives for consideration. A bill passed by the Senate and transmitted to
the House usually goes to a committee, unless a House bill on the same subject has
already been reported out by the appropriate committee and placed on the
calendar.
 Under normal procedures, therefore, a bill passed by one chamber and
transmitted to the other is referred to the appropriate committee, from which it
must follow the same route to passage as a bill originating from that chamber.

Amendments may be offered at both the committee and floor action stages,
and the bill as it emerges from the second chamber may differ significantly from
the version passed by the first. A frequently used procedure when this occurs is for
the chamber that acts last to bring up the other chamber’s bill and substitute its
own version, then retaining only the latter’s bill number. That numbered bill,
containing the Senate and House version, is then sent to a conference committee
to resolve all differences.

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Conference Committee Action

Calling a Conference

Either chamber can request a conference once both have considered the same
legislation. Generally, the chamber that approved the legislation first will disagree
to the amendments made by the second body and will make a request that a
conference be convened. Sometimes, however, the second body will ask for a
conference immediately after it has passed the legislation, assuming that the other
chamber will not accept its amendments.

Selection of Conferees

Under the Rules of the Senate (Rule XII, Section 34), the Senate President shall
designate the members of the Senate panel in the conference committee with the
approval of the Senate. The Senate delegation to a conference can range in size
from three to a larger number, depending on the length and complexity of the
legislation involved.

Authority of Conferees

The authority given to the Senate conferees theoretically is limited to matters

in disagreement between the two chambers. They are not authorized to delete
provisions or language agreed to by both the House and the Senate as to draft
entirely new provisions.

In practice, however, the conferees have wide latitude, except where the
matters in disagreement are very specific. Moreover, conferees attempt to
reconcile their differences, but generally they try to grant concession only insofar
as they remain confident that the chamber they represent will accept the
compromise.

The Conference Report

 When the conferees have reached agreement on a bill, the conference
committee staff writes a conference report indicating changes made in the bill and
explaining each side’s actions.

Once a conference committee completes its works, it can now be submitted to

the floor for its approval. Debate on conference reports is highly privileged and can
interrupt most other business.

Approval of the conference report by both houses, along with any amendments
on disagreement, constitutes final approval of the bill.

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Final Legislative Action

After both houses have given final approval to a bill, a final copy of the bill,
known as the “enrolled bill,” shall be printed, and certified as correct by the
Secretary of the Senate and the Secretary General of the House of Representatives.
After which, it will be signed by the Speaker of the House and the Senate President.

A bill may become a law, even without the President’s signature, if the
President does not sign a bill within 30 days from receipt in his office. A bill may
also become a law without the President’s signature if Congress overrides a
presidential veto by two-thirds vote.