Hold on to your hats. Keep track of your wallets. Legislative sessions are now fully underway in Idaho, Washington, Montana and Wyoming. And, much like the weather this time of year, the first few weeks of January produce a high drift of legislation.
Sure, some things are important. A state budget, for example, is a necessity. Still, there seems to be a greater urge each and every year to expand the lawmaking.
Consider the fact that lawmakers in Washington introduced 3,091 bills in their last legislative session. Montana lawmakers put forward 1,699 pieces of legislation. Idaho lawmakers were relatively frugal, with 718 pieces of legislation.
Is all this lawmaking really necessary? It might depend on your political point of view. But one easy way to get a sense of the necessity is whether the bills proposed actually become law.
In Idaho last year, that delta was roughly 50%. In other words, for every two bills introduced, one became law.
In Montana, 52% of bills were signed into law. In Washington, however, it was just a third.
State | Bills Introduced (last session) | Bills Signed Into Law | Percentage |
Idaho | 718 | 364 | 50.6% |
Montana | 1699 | 880 | 51.7% |
Washington | 3091 | 1051 | 34% |
Wyoming | 366 | 117 | 31.9% |
Utah | 934 | 550 | 58.8% |
California | 5558 | 2536 | 45.6% |
Colorado | 778 | 557 | 71.5% |
New Mexico | 777 | 104 | 13.3% |
Oregon | 291 | 133 | 45.7% |
Nevada | 1096 | 571 | 52.1% |
Arizona | 1798 | 290 | 16.1% |
Passing legislation certainly isn't a contest. And this column is in no way an encouragement to increase those percentages.
But it is worth pointing out that introducing legislation takes time and resources - resources that are provided by taxpayers (So perhaps a new state rock shouldn't be high on a lawmaker's list). More bill introductions also make tracking your elected official's work more difficult.
Some states, including Arizona, California, New Jersey, Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, North Dakota, Indiana, Louisiana and Montana have sought to restrict how many bills a legislator can introduce each session.
Montana's joint Rule 40-40 "allows members of the Montana Legislature to request an unlimited number of bill or resolution drafts before December 5. After that date, a member may request the Legislative Council to prepare no more than seven bills or resolutions. Unused requests by one member may be granted to another member. The limits do not apply to code commissioner bills or committee bills."
Do all states need a rule that limits a lawmaker's appetite for more and more legislation? Maybe. But we'd rather see a self-imposed diet.