PASSAGE OF BILLS

Constitutional requirements for the passage of bills are:

(a) Bills must have three readings in each house before final passage, and a full calendar day must elapse between the second and third reading unless a three-fourths vote of the house involved declares a bill to be an emergency measure.

(b) A majority of the members must be present and approve, with each member's vote recorded in the Journal of the Senate of the Minutes of the General Assembly.

(c) Each bill may concern one topic only; i.e.,there cannot be extraneous amendments tacked on in the course of passage, as is often done in Congress. The topic must be expressed in the title of the bill. A bill amending or revising an existing law must not refer to that law by number or title alone, but must contain the wording of the whole law or section being amended so that the changes are clear.

(d) General laws cannot include provisions of a private, special, or local nature. Public notice must be given of the intention to pass any private, special or local law.

(e) Revenue bills must originate in the General Assembly.