How a bill becomes a law

Introduction

I am a senior nurse in a government hospital downtown. Recently, we have been getting patients from a slum nearby suffering from Malaria, and they claim that though it’s the rainy season, there is a factory nearby which has a large garbage pit that is poorly managed. They have a lot of difficulties protecting their young ones, especially at night but still, the situation presents a greater challenge because already a few children have died. I have done research in other local health facilities within the area both private and public and discovered that they are also dealing with similar patients from the same residence. I am aware that there was a legislative bill that meant to have all factories within or bordering slums with residents relocated but it got rejected at the committee stage.

My Idea

As a concerned health care provider, it troubled me that these people got so affected by the condition presented by the factory that they lived in a slum. Residing in the slums already means that these civilians are not in the best state, meaning, such a condition presented to them only adds more to their problems. These are people who are unable to pay the medical fees charged. I discussed the issue with some of my colleagues and seniors at work, and they were in support of something that needs to be done to remedy the situation. Probably, if the county government would consider setting a policy such as all factories should not have a garbage pit within or neighboring a residential area, and they should all get managed according to certain standards, then, maybe there can be some homes for these people. My counterparts agreed that the idea was solid enough to introduce to the State Nursing Association and ask for their support.

Putting my plan into action

The State-nursing Association chairman, Mr. Michael, got interested in my idea. After giving him all the facts, he suggested we go to the slums and pick up over 1500 names and signatures to present the matter to a legislator in the State Capitol (Michigan.gov, 2016). We visited Mr. John who is a senior in the State Capitol and an active member in supporting the medical field. He perused our facts and discussed them with other officials, and they decided to sponsor the bill. Together with his colleagues, Mr. John introduced the bill to members of the committee where they discussed the bill and saw its significance of it. They suggested that the bill would not fully be successful because there may be difficulty in asking factories to relocate where they put their waste products solely. However, it is possible that the government can initiate standards on how these pits can get better managed to neutralize the threat they pose to civilians. They have the power to change the bill into something more considerable (Michigan.gov, 2016). More than half of the committee members voted yes to the law, so it got sent to the Senate. Here we are anxious to know whether the Senate will pass the bill because it is possible for them to reject it and even shut it from ever being introduced to parliament again. Luckily, more than two-thirds of the members of the Senate accepted the bill, and it got sent to the president for him to sign and turn into law legally. After three weeks of patiently waiting and hoping because the president also has the power to turn down the bill, the bill got passed (Scholastic, 2016). Finally, some home for residents of the slum!