From Idea to Bill to Law
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If similar work is being done by another legislator, it may be the
case that committee staff or Legislative Council staff will, in gen-
eral terms, advise the legislator that similar legislation is under
consideration, but the other legislator is never identified without
his permission. In most cases legislators are perfectly willing to
work with other legislators to draft the best possible laws, but
there is nothing that says that a “bombshell” bill cannot be re-
searched, written and introduced without the knowledge of most
of the legislature. There is also nothing to prevent two legisla-
tors from introducing essentially similar bills.
In “Leg (pronounced ‘ledge’) Council” the actual legal language
is constructed and entered into the main legislative computer. It
is often necessary to check back with staff members or the spon-
sor several times to be sure the language does what the sponsor
intended. This may require several drafts of the proposed legis-
lation.
Leg Council performs a number of crucial tasks often not appre-
ciated by the legislators or the general public. For example, if a
particular change is proposed for one statute, Leg Council is ex-
pected to know how that proposed change might affect any of
the thousands of other statutes on the books. Leg Council is also
expected to know how language is used in other statutes, so the
chances of unclear meanings or double meanings are reduced.
Most importantly, legal staff in Leg Council may suggest changes
intended to help the proposal pass Constitutional muster. For ex-
ample, the Constitution (Article IV, Part 2, Section 13) requires
that, “Every act shall embrace but one subject and matters prop-
erly connected therewith...” If proposed legislation obviously cov-
ers two or more subjects, Leg Council will advise the sponsor
that the bill must be trimmed, split into two or more bills, or face
a potentially successful challenge on Constitutional grounds.
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