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News
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Discharge motions bad public policy
[Sep-17-2006]
September 17, 2006
Phil Kabler
Sunday Gazette Mail
During interim meetings, Delegate John Pino, D-Fayette, politely reminded me that in a column in the spring, I said Id have more comments later about why motions to discharge bills from committee are bad public policy.
During the 2006 session, there were at least five discharge motions in the House all of which were defeated, naturally for everything from repealing the sales tax on groceries, to parental consent on abortions, to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages.
Considering that various splinter groups are airing political ads implying that those procedural votes actually were votes against those issues, Pino suggested it might be high time to offer that commentary.
Like a majority of House Democrats, Pino voted against the discharge motions, even though he supported most of the legislation, and was co-sponsor of at least two of the bills that would have been discharged.
Ultimately, though, legislators like Pino place respect for the legislative process ahead of ham-fisted efforts to derail that process particularly when those efforts are solely for the purpose of creating political fodder to use against campaign opponents.
Anyone who equates a vote against discharging a bill from committee with a vote against repealing the food tax, or against parental notification, or in favor of gay marriage is either lying or hopelessly uninformed about the legislative process.
Bottom line: The legislative process is designed to kill bills, not to pass them, which is the beauty of the system.
Legend has it that when a colleague groused about how difficult it was to get bills passed, then-Delegate Roger Tompkins, inarguably one of the greatest minds ever to serve in the Capitol, lectured him to consider the kind of junk that would become law if the process were easy.
Sure, repealing the sales tax on groceries would be politically popular, but the Legislature has a responsibility to do it in such a way that it doesnt blow a $300 million hole in the budget, and force cuts in necessary programs and services.
(There was a time not so long ago when legislators decided it would be more politically expedient for them to give pay raises to public employees and teachers, and fund various pet projects than it would be to adequately fund state pension and Workers Compensation funds and taxpayers today are paying for those sins of the past to the tune of tens of millions each year.)
It can be frustrating for legislators when their bills get bottled up in committee, and granted, oftentimes, its because the leadership doesnt want to deal with controversial issues.
However, for interest groups to claim that votes on discharge motions are anything other than procedural votes is plain wrong, particularly when those discharge motions were staged strictly with the intent of using those votes against incumbents this fall.
Contact:
Phil Kabler
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