Mrs. Renz's 4th Grade Class

Students came up with ideas for possible bills which our classroom legislature could turn into a bill. Our classroom House of Representatives voted to assign no homework for the rest of the year. Our classroom Senate wrote up a bill and voted for no homework and to add two additional minutes of recess onto our afternoon recess. As you might guess, the Senate bill won the vote of both houses. The Senators and the Representatives heard arguments for and against the bill. The President of the Senate conducted the official vote. It passed the Senate with a vote in favor of 10-0. The bill then moved on to the House where the Speaker of the House polled the House members. Again, the bill passed with a vote of 17 yes, 1 no, 2 absent.

The bill was then set on Governor Renz's desk. She considered it carefully, then explained that she had to veto the bill because she thought students should not be denied the right to gain an education by not being able to complete homework, and could not agree for the need for an extra two minutes of recess.

The Legislators then got back into action. They knew that if 2/3 of the members voted for the bill that they could override the Governor's veto. The President of the Senate again polled the Senators and voted in favor of the bill. The House of Representatives also passed the bill with over a 2/3 majority. So, SB-51804 passed with an override of the Governor's veto and became a classroom law anyway. The new classroom law became effective May 24, 2004.

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