As the lazy days of summer wind down, I have the luxury of a fairly short to-do list to prepare for the return to regular (post-vacation) life come September 1. Fortunately, most of it involves routine back-to-school shopping for my daughter.

The Polish government is not so fortunate. When the Sejm and Senat re-convene, the government’s to-do list will not only need to cover recent developments, but also all those reforms that stalled due to a presidential veto or the threat of one. In most cases, this will mean that the whole legislative, bill-to-law process will have to start anew to implement those needed reforms.

Revisiting the old

During his term, the late President Kaczyński vetoed some seventeen bills that had been proposed by the ruling coalition, including several bills on changes to Poland’s health care system. It would be simplest if these bills could merely be placed on President Komorowski’s desk for consideration. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy. A Presidential veto, which is not overruled by the Sejm, closes the legislative process. For a bill to be resuscitated, it must go through the entire legislative process from the beginning.

There exists a small group of bills, however, that could be re-examined by President Komorowski. As an alternative to a veto, the Polish Constitution allows the President to send a bill to the Constitutional Tribunal with a request to examine its constitutionality. If the Constitutional Tribunal has not yet issued a decision on constitutionality, the President (even a newly elected one) may withdraw the request. Then te bill returns to the President for his signature.

Alternatively, everyone could wait until the Constitutional Tribunal makes a decision on these bills. If the Constitutional Tribunal decides that a bill is constitutional, the Polish Constitution requires that the President sign it into law. The problem with this is that it could take a while. The Constitutional Tribunal is not required to review a bill within any specified time period.

Presenting the new

For the vast majority of proposed reforms, we will need to wait several months, even if certain bills are fast-tracked, for the full legislative process. It begins with the introduction of a draft bill in the Sejm. To get it there, members of parliament, senators, the president, the Council of Ministers or 100,000 Polish citizens eligible to vote need to sponsor the bill.

After its introduction, the bill must go through an extensive process in the Sejm. It must have three readings by the entire Sejm and most likely a review by a parliamentary committee. At the third reading it will be voted on.

From here, the bill moves to the Senate, which has thirty days to approve, amend or reject it. If the bill is fast-tracked, this period is reduced to fourteen days. The Senate may amend the bill. If so, it goes back to the Sejm for a vote on whether or not to reject the proposed amendments.

Once the Senate and Sejm have agreed on a final draft, the bill is sent to the president for signing. The president has 21 days to sign the bill into law, veto it or send it to the Constitutional Tribunal. If the bill is fast-tracked, this period is reduced to seven days.

If signed, only publication remains. A bill becomes an official law upon its publication in the Journal of Laws.

Judith Gliniecki is a Partner with Wierzbowski Eversheds

judith.gliniecki@eversheds.pl