In its simplest form, a companion bill, or companion measure, is a bill – introduced in either the House or Senate – which has identical or similar language to another bill introduced in the other chamber.
The reason for this is that House and Senate lawmakers who share similar views on legislation may introduce a companion bill in their respective chambers to promote simultaneous consideration of the measure.
I am going to make lots of noise this year about companion bills for Florida. Last year, the Church Carry bill in the house sailed through all the sub committees and committees with actual bipartisan support, but died because there was not a companion bill in the Senate which could have given it the extra inch of help to move forward and land in governor’s office. And obviously it works the other way around: If the Senate has a bill you like but no companion in the House, it is pretty much dead. I know there are some sort of workaround, but I believe it is seldom used in the Legislature.
So, if there is a good bill without a companion, I want you all to focus on pestering your Senator or Representative to file his/her version or even an identical one. As usual I will provide the links to the bills with the text included and you are welcome to use them and abuse them.