Latest explainers
One new explainer every Thursday: a step in a bill’s journey, in plain words.
Nov 5, 2026 · 12 min read
How to speak at a public hearing in three minutes
What to say, in what order, when you only get three minutes. Builds on “How to find out when a hearing is”.
Nov 4, 2026 · 14 min read
What a committee does with a bill, step by step
From the day a bill is sent to a committee to the day its report is written: the steps in plain order. Builds on “What first, second and third reading mean”.
Nov 3, 2026 · 10 min read
What a vote in committee is, and what it is not
A committee vote is a recommendation, not a law. What the committee is actually deciding and who decides next.
Nov 2, 2026 · 11 min read
What first, second and third reading mean
Three readings, three different jobs. What is decided at each, and why most of the work happens between them.
Nov 1, 2026 · 12 min read
Why a money bill moves faster
The short route a money bill takes through committee, and the questions it is still worth asking. Builds on “How a levy bill differs from other bills”.
Oct 24, 2026 · 8 min read
How to find out when a hearing is
Notices, calendars and the people to ask: where a hearing is announced, and how much warning you usually get.
Oct 17, 2026 · 10 min read
Who sits on a committee, and who picks them
How members come to sit on a committee, what a chair does and what a clerk does.
Oct 10, 2026 · 9 min read
When a bill passes and still is not law
The steps after the last vote: the clean copy, the signature and the gap between “passed” and “in force”.
Oct 3, 2026 · 13 min read
Reading a bill: the long title, the clauses, the schedules
The parts of a bill and what each one is for, with an invented bill laid out on a page.
Sep 26, 2026 · 12 min read
How a levy bill differs from other bills
Why a bill that raises or spends money follows its own, shorter path, and what that means for when you can speak.
Sep 19, 2026 · 10 min read
What happens to what people say at a hearing
The notes, the report and the long wait: where your three minutes go once you have sat down. Builds on “Amendments: who proposes them and who decides”.
Sep 12, 2026 · 11 min read
Amendments: who proposes them and who decides
How a change to a bill is suggested, argued over and either kept or dropped, told with an invented clause.
The Committee Notebook
A short letter every Thursday: where the bills I follow are, what changed and what is coming up.