Private member's bill in the context of "Crossbencher"

The right of (legislative) initiative is the constitutionally defined power to propose a new law (bill) in a legislature.

The right of initiative is usually given to both the government (executive) and individual legislators.

A government bill is a bill which is proposed, introduced or supported by a government in their country's legislature. It is most significant in the Westminster system where most bills are introduced by the government. This is in contrast to private member's bills which are introduced by members of the legislature who are not part of the executive or cabinet.

Usually, constitutional systems that forbid members of the government from simultaneously being members of the legislature, such as South Korea and the Netherlands, give the government the right to initiate bills in its own right to allow it to introduce government bills. However, in the United States, the right to introduce bills is only given to members of Congress, who cannot simultaneously serve in the executive branch, and the government can only introduce bills "by proxy", via its congressional backers.

The House of Lords Reform Act 2014 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act was a private member's bill. It received royal assent on 14 May 2014. The Act allows members of the House of Lords to retire or resign – actions previously constitutionally impossible for life peers. It also makes provision to exclude members who commit serious criminal offences resulting in a jail sentence of at least one year, and members who fail to attend the House for a whole session, provided that the session is longer than 6 months. The Act does not have retrospective effect.

As of November 2025, 203 peers have resigned or retired, and a further 16 peers were removed under the Act's provisions regarding non-attendance. The first peer to resign was Julian Grenfell, 3rd Baron Grenfell, on 1 October 2014.

Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. A private bill is a proposal for a law affecting only a single person, group, or area, such as a bill granting a named person citizenship or, previously, granting named persons a legislative divorce.

Private law can afford relief from another law, grant a unique benefit or powers not available under the general law, or relieve someone from legal responsibility for some allegedly wrongful act. There are many examples of such private law in democratic countries, although its use has changed over time. A private bill is not to be confused with a private member's bill, which is a bill introduced by a "private member" of the legislature rather than by the ministry.