A hybrid bill is a public bill which affects the private interests of a particular person or organization. It is initiated by non-Parliamentary petitioners such as local authorities and is treated like a private bill for part of its passage through Parliament. This gives individuals and bodies an opportunity to oppose the bill or to seek its amendment before a Select Committee in either or in both Houses. The bill is then treated as a public bill.
Hybrid bills are also occasionally called "public and private bills".
The use of hybrid bills originated as part of the parliamentary procedure of the United KingdomParliament, but the procedure is also occasionally used by overseas parliaments and assemblies set up on similar lines to that of Westminster. In Canada, they are specifically disallowed by Beauchesne's Rules and Forms of the House of Commons of Canada, which states that "According to Canadian standing orders and practice, there are only two kinds of bills - public and private. The British hybrid bill is not recognized in Canadian practice."
Historically, hybrid bills have often been used by railway companies and transportation agencies to obtain Parliamentary support for major projects such as railway or road building that would affect a large number of private interests.
A private bill is the term used for legislation that originates from a particular member of a legislature or parliament or from a member of the public.
Private bills developed in the United Kingdom as a means of obtaining redress from a specific wrong or obtaining a benefit that was not otherwise available through statute or the common law.
Now federal agencies are able to deal with most of the issues that were previously dealt with under private bills as these agencies have been granted sufficient discretion by Congress to deal with exceptions to the general legislative scheme of various laws.
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