Sec.7.  Committees meet in private rooms, during hours when the house is not in session; and any person wishing to be heard in favor of or against a proposed measure, may appear before the committee having it in charge.  Having duly considered the subject, the committee reports to the house the information it has obtained, with the opinion whether the measure ought or ought not to become a law.  Measures reported against by committees, seldom receive any further notice from the house.

Sec.8.  From what has been said, the utility of committees is readily seen.  Although no proposed measure can become a law unless acted on and approved by the two houses, its necessity may be inquired into, and the information necessary to enable the house to act understandingly upon the question, may be obtained, as well by a few members as by the whole house.  By the daily examination of so many subjects in committee, a large amount of business is soon prepared for the house to act upon, and much of its time is saved.

Sec.9.  If a committee reports favorably upon a subject, it usually brings in a bill with its report.  A bill is the form or draft of a law.  Not all bills, however, are reported by committees.  Any member of the house desiring the passage of a law, may give notice that he will, on some future day, ask leave of the house to introduce a bill for that purpose; and if, at the time specified, the house shall grant leave, he may introduce the bill.  But at least one day’s previous notice must be given of his intention to ask leave, before it can be granted.

Sec.10.  The different steps in the progress of a bill, or the different forms of action through which it has to pass, are numerous.  A minute description of them in a work designed chiefly for youth, will scarcely be expected.  A thorough knowledge of the proceedings of legislative assemblies, can be practically beneficial, in after life, to but few of those who shall study this elementary treatise.  Those who shall hereafter have occasion for this knowledge, will find works adapted to a more mature age, in which the subject is fully treated.

Sec.11.  A bill, before it is passed, must be read three times; but it may not be read twice on any one day without unanimous consent, that is, the consent of the whole house; or, as is believed to be the rule in some bodies, the consent of three-fourths, or two-thirds of the house.  In some legislatures, the rule allows the first and second readings to be on the same day.  A bill is not to be amended until it shall have been twice read.  Nor is it usual for it to be opposed until then; but it may be opposed and rejected at the first reading.

Sec.12.  After a bill has been twice read, and fully debated and amended, it is proposed to be read on a future day the third time.  If the question on ordering the bill to a third reading is not carried, the bill is lost, unless revived by a vote of the house to reconsider.  But if the question to read the third time is carried, the bill is accordingly read on a future day, and the question taken on its final passage.