Each timely filed bill receives a hearing in its Chamber of origin, and then it is usually sent to a subcommittee for detailed analysis. Most bills never progress from this initial stage of review or receive a vote by the assigned committee; therefore, it dies.
However, when a bill gets a favorable vote in a Committee, it returns to the House or Senate floor for debate, amendment, and two additional votes by the entire membership.
If a bill passes the House or Senate, it is transferred to the opposite chamber to start the process over.
Sometimes, each chamber will pass the same bill in a different form. Those bills are sent to a conference committee and negotiated. In this situation, bills often run out of time and die for lack of concurrence. Only a select number of bills survive this process annually and pass each chamber when they are presented to the Governor for signature into law.
During this cumbersome bi-cameral process, bills often change in substance, purpose, sponsorship, and title; therefore, they are difficult to monitor during the session.
Bills are often combined to reduce duplicity, highlight a member or save time.