Feb 26, 2007
State lawmakers writing more bills than ever before
Kerra Bolton - Asheville Citizen-Times

More laws are being written now in the General Assembly than ever before, according to staffers who help lawmakers draft bills. 
 
Requests to the Legislative Drafting Division are up 45 percent this year. The division received 1,749 substantive bill requests last week, which marked the first month of session. This compares to 1,203 requests made at the same point during the 2005 long session.  
 
Last week, the legislative staff received 350 requests in a week compared to 204 requests made at a comparable point in the 2005 session. 
“There are more ideas and there is a perception that the process is more open,” said Bill Drafting Director Gerry Cohen. “Members are also getting their ideas in earlier.”  
 
Legislative rules allow just about anything to be considered during the long session, which typically runs six to eight months.  
 
Some bills address public policy issues like eliminating the counties’ share of Medicaid costs to funding local agencies like the Western North Carolina Communities, which supports agribusiness in the region. 
 
Other factors affecting the increase in bills being written include having more study commissions in 2006 than in 2004 and the limits on how many blank bills can be introduced.  
 
Study commissions are small groups of lawmakers who are charged with looking at a particular issue and then make recommendations about legislation that should be introduced during the long session to address the issue.  
 
A special panel on domestic violence, for example, recommended making it a felony for someone to murder someone on the grounds of a domestic violence shelter in the aftermath last fall of the Bonnie Woodring murder.  
 
Restrictions on blank bills came in response to criticism of a practice in which lawmakers introduced a bill that literally said nothing. When the need arose to file a bill after the deadline had expired, lawmakers would simply change the title of the bill to the subject they wanted to introduce. This could be done minutes before a bill was voted on.  
 
Critics said the practice didn’t give citizens enough time to weigh in on the matter.  
 
“Blank bills are a way to circumvent the process,” said Louisa Warren, director of the NC Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform, a state government watchdog group. “Maybe it’s a controversial bill or maybe it’s something they (lawmakers) don’t want people to know about. They can use it as a tool to push legislation through without it being subject to a committee debate or floor vote.” 
 
The House has banned the practice completely while the Senate limited its members to introducing just two blank bills per person.