How a bill becomes law in BC

A bill becomes law in British Columbia by passing three readings in the Legislative Assembly, going through a committee stage and a report stage, and then receiving royal assent from the Lieutenant Governor. Standing Order 81 requires the three readings to happen on different days, so that members and the public have time to read what is being proposed.

The Legislative Assembly sets out five stages inside the Chamber. First reading and second reading come first. Committee stage and report stage follow, and third reading closes the work in the Chamber. Royal assent follows, and only at that point does a bill become an Act of the province.

What happens at first and second reading?

First reading is the introduction. The sponsoring member presents the bill and explains its purpose, and the Assembly votes only on whether to accept it for future debate. The Legislative Assembly notes that members do not argue the merits at this point.

Second reading is the debate on principle. Members argue the general goals of the bill without going through individual sections. The Assembly notes that second reading may run several days when a bill is complex or contested, and that a vote in favour is generally taken as approval of the principle of the bill.

A member may vote to send a bill forward at second reading while still disagreeing with parts of it, because amendments are possible at the next stage.

What is committee stage?

Committee stage is where the bill is taken apart. Every MLA may take part in the Committee of the Whole, and each section is debated on its own. Members may put detailed questions to the bill’s sponsor about the meaning and purpose of a section, and may move amendments to it.

Report stage follows. The bill is reported back to the Assembly as complete without amendment or complete with amendment. If it was amended, the Legislative Assembly reprints and distributes the amended bill before third reading so that members can read the changes. In British Columbia the practice is not to debate report stage.

Third reading is the final decisive stage in the Chamber. Parliamentary Practice in British Columbia records that debate at third reading is rare in this province.

How are votes recorded?

Most votes are voice votes. The Speaker puts the question, listens to the yeas and nays and states an opinion on which side has it. No individual positions are recorded. Parliamentary Practice in British Columbia notes that the Speaker judges this on probability rather than on which voices are loudest.

Any member may ask for the record to show that a motion carried or was defeated “on division.” That phrase marks the vote as not unanimous without any names being taken down.

A formal division is the recorded vote. Under Standing Order 16 the division bells ring and the question is stated again after not less than five and not more than ten minutes. No member may enter or leave the Chamber once it is restated, and every member present must vote. The yeas and nays are then entered in the Votes and Proceedings. Section 43 of the provincial Constitution Act settles questions by a majority of the members present other than the Speaker, and section 44 gives the Speaker a casting vote on a tie.

When does a law come into force?

Royal assent turns a bill into an Act. The Lieutenant Governor comes to the Chamber and signifies assent, and the Clerk announces that assent has been granted. Money bills reach this point by a separate path, because final and supplementary supply bills enact an appropriation already resolved in the Committee of Supply.

Coming into force is a different question from assent. Section 3 of the Interpretation Act provides that the date of commencement of an Act, where no other date is given in the Act, is the date of assent.

Many Acts do give another date. The Legislative Assembly explains that a commencement section can set a later date for the Act or for particular sections, which gives people affected by the change time to prepare. A bill that has not received royal assent when the Assembly is prorogued or dissolved dies and has to be introduced again.