Legislative glossary
Discharge petition
Definition
A motion signed by a majority of the chamber that pulls a bill out of a committee where the chair is sitting on it. Rare and dramatic. Using one is a public rebuke.
Why it matters
A discharge petition is the chamber overruling a committee: a majority of all members signs to drag a bill out of committee and onto the floor against the chair's will. Rare and inherently dramatic. Every signature is a public defiance of leadership. It usually fails, but its mere threat can force a chair to schedule the hearing they were never going to hold.
In the game
When a hold strangles your bill in The Bill to Law Game, the discharge petition is the break-glass option: spend heavy Political Capital and burn the chair's goodwill for a shot at the floor.
Related terms
Comes up alongside