Our state legislators are considering extending the length of the legislative session. I have spent a bit of time at the capital the last few years, and am aware of how much time legislators have to spend to do their jobs right, so I agree this is a good thing to consider.
A main concern is the number of bills presented each session and the fact that legislators simply do not have the time to properly review and study each proposed bill. Last year more than 750 bills were presented, about 300 of which were killed in committee; but that still left about 450 to study, many more than could be carefully studied during the 45-day (32 work days) session.
With the way many legislators complain about the federal government imposing on state rights, I wonder that there was no mention about somehow eliminating bills from being considered by our Legislature that clearly impose on the rights and responsibilities of other constitutionally established governmental entities in the state.
It would be interesting to see how much time could be saved if “over-reaching and micro-managing” bills were not allowed to be considered by the state Legislature.
Fred Ash
Sandy