Pass a Bill

Many people have tried their best to offer simple explanations for how bills become laws.

One of the most famous is the I’m Just a Bill video from the tv show, Schoolhouse Rock. First aired in 1975, the cartoon traces Bill’s journey through the U.S. Congress. While the cartoon itself may seem a bit dated, the process is still accurate, and is basically the same path our bills take through the Minnesota Legislature (though ours end up at the Governor’s desk, instead of the President’s).

The Minnesota Legislature has developed a more detailed overview of our legislative process that tracks a bill from its first introduction, all the way to its signing into law (or its failure to become a law).

Implementing Laws

So now we have a law. What next?

Public managers (local, county, state employees, etc) fill in all of the details and put them in action.