- Bill
Process
- The text a member or the government submits to the Assembly to become a law. It only becomes a real law once passed and then assented to.
- Second reading
Process
- The first big step: the Assembly debates the general idea of the bill and votes on whether it accepts it, before studying the details clause by clause.
- Committee stage
Process
- The step where the bill is gone over clause by clause, most often in Committee of the Whole (the entire Assembly sitting as a committee), sometimes by a standing committee. Amendments can be proposed there.
- Third reading
Process
- The Assembly's final vote on the bill as a whole, once the committee stage is over.
- Royal Assent
Process
- The very last step: the Lieutenant-Governor gives official assent, and the bill formally becomes a law of British Columbia.
- Committee
Process
- A smaller group of MLAs who study a subject or a bill in depth, may hear from experts and citizens, then report back to the full Assembly.
- Brief (to a committee)
Process
- A document that an organization, a business or a citizen submits to an Assembly committee to say what they think of a bill or a subject under study: what they support, what should change, what worries them. Some are invited to present it in person to the MLAs.
- Brief or lobbying?
Process
- Both try to influence a decision, but not in the same way. A brief is a public position, within a committee's official process: you know who is speaking and on what subject. Lobbying happens in private: meetings, calls or emails with a minister, a minister's office or public servants. The law only requires that it be entered in the province's lobbyists' registry, which says who is lobbying, for whom and on what subject, never what was said.
- Recorded vote
Votes
- A vote where each MLA's name and choice (for or against) are written in the Assembly's Journals — as opposed to a voice vote, where only the result is noted. In British Columbia, most bills pass by voice vote.
- Journal of the Assembly
Votes
- The official, summarized record of each sitting: decisions, votes, documents tabled. It is there, and only there, that names are written down during a recorded division.
- Debates journal (Journal des débats)
Votes
- The complete, word-for-word transcript of everything said in the House — unlike the Journal of the Assembly, which only summarizes the decisions.
- House leader
People & roles
- The MLA responsible for organizing their group's proceedings at the Assembly — a bit like the conductor of the calendar and debates for their party.
- Whip
People & roles
- The MLA in charge of making sure members of their parliamentary group are present for votes and follow the party line.
- Minister Delegate / Minister Responsible for
People & roles
- A minister who isn't the main head of a department, but who officially holds responsibility for a specific file within or alongside it.
- Attendance (%)
Citizen tools
- The figure shown under each MLA: out of the recorded divisions of the House, the share in which this person appears as for or against — meaning they were present to vote, whichever way they voted. Divisions held in committee (Committee of the Whole, Committee of Supply, in Section A, B or C) are left out: only about a dozen members sit there, and counting them would make everyone look absent. The count starts when the legislature opens. The Assembly publishes no official attendance; this is an indicator of presence, not an official measure, and a missed vote can be an official mission, an illness or a scheduling conflict — the register does not give the reason.