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Ballot measure is a bad idea

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Other Views

As really bad ideas go, the push to compel North Dakota legislators to read every bill that is introduced in a legislative session ranks right up there with the Edsel and new Coke. Masquerading as an in-state grassroots movement, it's really a campaign by a crusading out-of-state individual and his allies who are running the same show in every state.

Several North Dakotans who comprise the "Read the Bill" committee apparently have been duped. Or maybe they like the idea, and that in itself is reason to wonder if they've spent much time at the Legislature; and if they have, whether they've engaged in ideologically tainted selective perception.

North Dakotans should laugh the initiated law petition out of the state. First, it insults the integrity and work ethic of part-time citizen lawmakers. Second, it's unworkable during a legislative session limited to 80 days but not limited in the number of bills introduced.

Regarding work ethic: We defy one of the committee's misguided critics to keep up with the likes of Rep. Raeanne Kelsch, R-Mandan, or Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, during an average legislative day.

The hours are long, the pressures great, the responsibilities heavy. They study legislation that comes directly under their purview - for Kelsch, education bills: for Mathern. appropriations bills. It's the same drill for nearly every other lawmaker.

In a session limited to 80 days, more than 1,000 bills are routinely introduced. No single legislator can be expected - or should be compelled by law - to read every word of every one of them.

Something like half are house-cleaning bills that need a word changed here, a provision changed to clean up archaic, or extraneous lan-guage there. The measure would force them to read the entire bill - whether one page or 40 pages - just to make a phrase change.

One analyst calculates that if the measure became law, there would not be enough time in the session for lawmakers to read every bill, unless they never slept.

It's a foolish and unworkable'notion. It's unnecessary because North Dakota's system requires that every bill be heard in open committee. Every bill, no matter the committee recommendation, must be reported to the floor of one chamber or the other or both for further debate. No bill can be scuttled by a committee chairman or heard behind closed doors.

Lawmakers depend on the work of specialized committees to present arguments for and against bills.

The system works very well because lawmakers are conscientious and hard-working and because the Legislature is among the most open and accessible in the nation. It don't need fixin' 'cause it ain't broke.

The proposed measure is seriously flawed. The folks who have signed on to this stupidity haven't done their homework.

(This editorial first appeared in the Fargo Forum.)



Copyright 2010 Turtle Mountain Star, Rolla, North Dakota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 Turtle Mountain Star Rolla, North Dakota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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