The Clinic – Episode 2: How an idea becomes a bill

https://soundcloud.com/user-259535370/the-clinic-episode-2-how-an-idea-becomes-a-bill/s-jlVNu

When we last left off with our two Clinic students, Keri and Michelle, we had just learned about the Legislative and Public Policy Clinic at McGeorge. We had also just gotten to know our two students and the bill that they are working on.

In the second episode of The Clinic we will be diving a little deeper into the details of their bill, but primarily, we focus on the process before the process. In other words, if you think of the overarching idea of this series as exploring through first-hand experience how a bill becomes a law then you can think of today’s episode as how an idea becomes a bill. Our two students talk at length about the research that they conducted to continually refine their idea as it moved from idea to policy proposal.

Once we get to the policy proposal we get to the more interesting part of the conversation where we pull back the curtain and go into the process of how someone who is not a legislator can have legislation introduced. It is a process that citizens and special interests alike can utilize to get their policy ideas turned into bills.

We hope you enjoy our second conversation with Keri and Michelle as we continue to explore the legislative process in California with them. We will return next week to discuss the steps that come between having a bill introduced and preparing for the committee process in the California Legislature.