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How a bill becomes law
Four plenum votes, with substantial committee work between them. The first reading is only the beginning.
A bill comes from one of three sources: the government, a Knesset member (a private member’s bill), or a Knesset committee.
All steps in text
- A bill comes from one of three sources: the government, a Knesset member (a private member’s bill), or a Knesset committee.
- A private member’s bill first goes through a preliminary reading: the plenum votes on whether to discuss it at all. Government and committee bills skip this stage.
- A committee prepares the bill for a first reading, and the plenum votes on its principle.
- The bill returns to committee for clause-by-clause scrutiny, where most changes occur.
- At the second reading, the plenum votes on each clause and on reservations, and at the third reading on the law as a whole. From that point it is a law.
- The signed law is published in Reshumot and takes effect on its specified date, sometimes long after the vote.