A bill outlines how much money a business owes for products or services it has provided to its clients. A well-written bill is essential to getting prompt payments, maintaining professional relationships with your clients, and keeping accurate financial records.
A good practice is to explain to your billing representatives how the company charges its customers, especially any fees or penalties. This helps build trust between the organization and its clients, reducing the risk of payment delays or disagreements over what is being charged.
Like invoices, bills are typically used in one-time sales situations where the customer is expected to pay immediately after receiving goods or services. Examples include brick-and-mortar stores, restaurants, or service providers such as hair salons or internet providers.
The process of passing a bill involves several stages in both houses of the legislature. The first step is known as ‘the stage of general discussion’ and the next is ‘committee stage’ where the bill is scrutinized through a committee report. After the ‘committee stage’, the bill moves to ‘consideration stage’ where it is discussed and debated in detail before being passed on a vote.
Bills may be amended through the ‘amendment stage’ where additional language is added to, or removed from, the law the bill would enact. Amendments are indicated through a series of symbols such as underlining, bracketing or striking-through. Using these tools will help you quickly analyze how an amendment changes the existing bill. The final step is to ‘enroll’ the bill, which is when it is retyped, without any errors or erasures, on a heavy-weight paper by the Chief Engrossing Clerk of the House of origin. Once the bill is ‘enrolled’ it has successfully passed both houses and is ready to be signed into law by the Governor.