The fourth of our five points of Christian citizenship is Legislate. Last time we considered briefly what it means to legislate, i.e., to draft and pass a law, but how does it happen? How does one become a legislator and how does a policy become law? To answer this question fully would take much more space than we have in this publication but the outlines of the process are fairly straightforward. Let us first consider how to become directly involved in the process of legislating, i.e., considering and passing laws. Then we will consider how an idea becomes a law.

Becoming A Lawmaker

There are a few ways to be directly involved in the lawmaking process. The most direct and obvious way to be involved is to run for office and to serve a term or two in a legislative body (e.g., city council, county board, or a state legislative body). This usually means getting involved in party politics. In my home state of Nebraska there is only one state legislative body (the unicameral) and it is nominally non-partisan. Most states, however, have a bicameral (two chamber) legislature, a house and a senate. Let us imagine what it would take to run and win an election for the state house.

One would first have to decide how one wants to relate to one of the political parties. As I write, the lines between the two major parties have blurred on issues like abortion but there remain significant differences in other respects. One must read the platforms and other relevant documents of the parties and talk to representatives of the parties and make a decision as which of them most closely aligns with one’s convictions.

The next steps are more difficult. Ordinarily one must get involved with a party at the committee level, develop relationships, trust, and an understanding of how the process works. This is a good way to see how politics works on the ground, to see how campaigns are funded and run. It might even be useful to work on someone else’s campaign as a volunteer or even as a paid staff member.

Let us imagine that, after a few years, one is ready to raise funds and to run for the state house. A candidate must have a position on issues of interest to the district in which one is running. To run a successful campaign, one must persuade two constituencies: donors and voters. Without donors it is virtually impossible to communicate one’s goals and platform to the voters. This takes time, energy, and dedication. It involves a great number of meetings with potential constituents, time on social media, in advertising, and even going door to door.

Making Law

Next, let us imagine that one has learned the business of politics, raised funds, campaigned successfully, earned the trust of the voters, and has been elected to office. Now, one must learn how the process actually works. Perhaps the most important thing to know about the legislative process is that it is essentially committee work. A state legislature is really a large committee composed of representatives from different parts of the state, with different interests, beliefs, and agendas. Much of the work of the legislature, however, is done in smaller committees.

Getting a law through the process means persuading people to agree that your proposed law is necessary, wise, constitutional, and feasible. This happens over time and in steps. Laws are drafted in the offices of legislators but they are also brought to legislators by interested parties, e.g., lobbyists for private interests or just interested groups and citizens. Members of an organization may even go from office to office meeting with legislators to persuade them to support a piece of legislation.

Consider this proposed law: Where I live about half of the homeless population in America also lives. This is for a few reasons which need not detain us here but it is a considerable problem. Recently, however, a decision by the Ninth Circuit court was overturned by the Supreme Court making it possible for cities, counties, and states to do something about the homeless, most of whom are addicted to narcotics and/or mentally ill. The proposed law would require the state to build a sufficient number of in-patient facilities to detox the homeless population and enable them to get clean and sober. The law would require the state to levy a statewide sales tax on cannabis and liquor purchases to fund these facilities. Once built, the law would require all homeless people either to enter treatment and remain clean, and to enter a halfway house or find other private housing or, if this is unacceptable, to leave the state. Homeless camps would be banned and cleaned up forthwith.

As a legislator, one would lobby other legislators and other influential members of the state, e.g., mayors, members of city councils and county boards, as well as policy makers within the state government to gain support for this law.

Once the language of the draft has been reviewed by lawyers for any potential conflicts with state or federal law, the next step is to secure enough support on the floor of the legislature to get the proposed law sent to a committee for consideration.

This is crunch time for any potential law. If it dies in committee, it usually remains dead until the next legislative session. Thus, any proposed law must be carefully crafted. Reports have to be written and a case for the law must be made. This means holding hearings and bringing in experts to testify to the committee about the need for the law and to respond to criticisms of the law. Your office must produce a strong enough case to persuade a majority of the committee to vote the law out of committee on the floor of the legislature for consideration by the entire body.

Once the law is before the body, now you must persuade a majority of the house, most of whom were not in the committee meeting, who have not heard the testimony from experts nor have they read the arguments. It is possible that most of the members have not even read your proposed legislation. On the floor, you are the advocate for the law. You must know your business and your case. To be frank, there is a high likelihood that your bill will fail the first time it is proposed. It might be sent back to committee or it might die on the floor until the next session. It would probably take years to get such a bill made law since it would be revolution in social services and the floor would be red with the blood of all the oxen gored.

Then there is an ugly part of legislating: compromise and deal making. This is the part of the process that most hate but which is necessary. What if a member of the legislature asks for a revision of the law in trade of her support? What if a legislator offers to vote for your bill if you will support his? This is the sort of horse trading that is part and parcel of the American political process. No bill gets from a legislator’s desk to the law books without revision and without horse trading.

A representative government is not a dictatorship. The executive branch is supposed to execute the laws and governors, mayors, and city managers often have wide discretion but they are supposed to be servants of the law and not lawmakers. The legislative branch may be the most withered of the three branches of government but its function is vital for the health of the commonwealth and America needs wise, godly, skilled, patient legislators more than it needs couch-burning theocratic revolutionaries.

In this part of the essay I have only been able to give the barest sketch of some of the features of what it means to legislate and to describe how the process works but I hope that it gives you, dear reader, a sense of how the process works. If you are not yourself called to legislate then you can always pray for those who do. Despite the rhetoric on both sides of the aisle there are still decent people serving in state houses (and other legislative bodies) trying to do the best they can for their communities and states. Certainly the process is corrupted by private interests, bribery, and self-dealing but despite all that the process goes on. The state houses are full of the people we put there either by voting or by failing to vote well and wisely. One way or another we get the government we deserve.

If the Lord is stirring your heart to serve your community in this way, I hope this part of the essay has been encouraging. Legislating is not brain surgery. It takes care for detail, an ability to understand those with whom one disagrees, an ability to communicate, an ability to build relationships and trust, and a willingness to work hard on behalf of people one will probably never meet.

Next time: what happens when everything goes south?

©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved.

You can find this whole series here.

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Post authored by:

• R. Scott Clark

  

  R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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