How do lawmakers turn ideas into laws?

The route between the idea for a bill and enactment into law can be difficult and time consuming.

First, a legislator or member of the executive branch takes an idea to the Legislative Reference Bureau, where a lawyer translates it into legal language.

The bill is then introduced, or given its "first reading," in the Senate or Assembly, where it is sent to the appropriate committee.

By far, the biggest bill is the state budget – a giant, two-year package of more than $45 billion in spending and policy items.

Committee chairs schedule hearings on bills or scuttle them by not scheduling a hearing or a committee vote.

Based on comments at the hearing or individual concerns, committee members may rewrite parts of a bill or draft a new version before sending it back to its respective house for consideration. There, it is given a "second reading," where amendments can be added.

Each amendment must be disposed of in some way – adopted, tabled, withdrawn or rejected – before the next can be taken up. Legislators also may offer a substitute proposal. The speaker of the Assembly or the president of the Senate has the power to prohibit consideration of an amendment if it isn't germane to the bill.

Once amendments are completed, each bill must pass two votes. The first vote, called "engrossment," essentially takes the bill beyond the point at which it can be amended. The second vote – the bill's "third reading" – is a vote for final passage.

After a bill has passed one house, it is "messaged" to the other house, where the process begins anew. If amendments are added, it goes back to the first house for approval. If those are rejected or new amendments are added, the matter is returned to the second house.

If no consensus can be found, leaders of the two houses may appoint a conference committee to work out a compromise. Once the compromise goes back to the floor of the two houses, it cannot be amended and has to be considered in total.

After both houses have passed identical versions of a bill, it is "enrolled," or sent to the chief clerk of the originating house until the governor calls for it. The governor then has six days after requesting the bill (excluding Sundays) to sign it into law; veto all or part of it; or take no action, which has the same effect as signing it.

The governor has the power to alter proposals through partial vetoes if the bill spends money. The governor may strike numbers, words, sentences, paragraphs or veto the whole measure. In some cases, he can change the entire thrust of a bill by altering its language. That's why Wisconsin's governor is considered to have the nation's most powerful veto pen.

Overriding the governor's veto requires a two-thirds vote by both houses.

That's the way it's supposed to work. But in practice, money often plays a big influence.

Throughout the lengthy process, interest groups typically spend thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, on lobbying efforts designed to sway lawmakers. Groups and individuals who want proposed legislation approved also may give campaign donations to key lawmakers.

Those who give and receive the campaign donations insist the money does not affect legislation. Yet sometimes the money is given shortly before or after the donor's bill clears legislative hurdles. Donors also shower the governor with campaign contributions before he makes veto decisions.

Critics of Wisconsin's campaign financing system contend that campaign donations, at the very least, buy access to lawmakers so that they hear donors' concerns and arguments.

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