The familiar choruses of ‘ayes’ and ‘nay’s that signal victory or defeat for a bill on the floor of the House and Senate are only the last step in a long legislative process. By the time a bill comes up for a final vote it’s bounced from committee to committee. It’s been poked and probed, dissected and rewritten. It’s no wonder that only a fraction of the bills introduced during the legislative session ever make it into law.
VPR’s Steve Zind looks at the obstacles faced by each piece of legislation as it works its way through the long process from idea to reality.