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Chapter 10
not deal with our Constitution. For
example, we have national laws against
kidnapping and robbing banks.
The national legislative branch is made
up of two groups of people who represent
their states.Onegroup is called the
Senate
.
Each state can elect two people called
senators
. In that way, the states with
smaller populations have an equal voice
with the larger populated states. Senators
serve for six years. Then he or shemust be
reelected to office.
The other group of elected people that
make up the legislative branch is called
the
House of Representatives
. A
representative
serves two years; there-
fore, he or she must be reelected to office
after twoyears. Each state is allowed to elect
representatives based upon its population
size. States with larger populations elect
more people to this office than states with
smaller populations. There is a total of 435
people elected as representatives.
When both parts of this legislative group
meet together, they are known as our
Congress
. Congress consists of both the
Senate and the House of Representatives.
All bills are introduced in the Senate, except
those dealing with raising money. When a
bill is introduced, itmust be approved by a
simple majority of each group. A
simple
majority
is one more than one-half the
voting group. For example, a simple
majority canbe51 senators for abill and49
senators against it. Once a bill becomes a
law, it is given an
act
number, such as the
CleanAir Act.
Summary of how a bill becomes a law:
Youdecide!
A written idea: Mobile
phones are to be banned
from schools.
1.
2.
3.
The bill is given a
number and is sent to
groups for discussion.
Bill 50 enters the
Senate, the legislative
body in which it was
introduced, for
discussion.
Bill 50 goes to the Governor
for his approval. He signs
the bill into law, or he
vetoes it. The Governor
vetoes Bill 50.
6.
5.
4.
Bill 50 goes to the House of
Representatives for debate.
It passes by majority vote.
After discussion, Bill 50
is voted upon and
passed by the Senate.
Mobile Phone Bill 50 goes back to the legislators. Both the Senate and the House of
Representatives must pass the bill again. Only this time, two out of threemembers of each
groupmust pass the bill for it to become law. Take a vote in your class!
