Measure To Require ND Lawmakers To Read Bills Approved For Petition Circulation
I posted about this measure previously here, and the organizer of the petition movement Jerrol LeBaron will be on my radio show tonight at 8:00pm on AM1100 WZFG to talk about it.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) A proposed ballot measure says North Dakota legislators must read bills and post them on the Internet before any final votes are taken.
Retired Bismarck businessman David Wolfer (WOL’-fur) is chairman of the initiative’s sponsoring committee. He says the idea will ensure legislators are more familiar with state laws they’re putting on the books.
The measure also says the Legislature must post bills on the Internet for at least four days before a floor vote is taken in the House or Senate.
Critics of this measure have said that it’s unnecessary. That ND’s legislation is already posted online, and much of it is simple enough that there’s little question that most of the legislators vote on it have read it. Critics have also suggested that the time requirement for posting the bills online would be too burdensome in the state’s short bi-annual legislative session and would force legislators to begin the practice of combining more bills together for passage. Something that would be a move toward less transparency.
I don’t buy these concerns. I’m generally in favor of anything that makes the legislative process more arduous. I think most of our problems these days spring from the government doing too much. Not the government doing too little. And with news of late of legislators embedding so-called “trigger” spending in larger bills the concerns that this measure would spark a move toward decidedly non-transparent omnibus-style bills seem unfounded.
The legislators are already doing that.
I’m for this. Because though the legislative process in North Dakota is already very transparent, there are few statutes guaranteeing that it will stay that way. Something the “trigger spending” I’ve already alluded to would illustrate.
Though, granted, this is coming from someone who has been less than satisfied with the job performance of our legislature over the last sever legislative sessions.
