Committee reluctantly gives due pass to resolution urging lawmakers to study existing law before making new statutes
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
House Concurrent Resolution 3010, which would direct legislative management to study how bills are drafted and reduce duplicative proposals, received a reluctant due-pass recommendation from the State and Local Government Committee by a 4-2 vote after sponsors said much of the work is already under way.
The State and Local Government Committee gave a due pass recommendation to House Concurrent Resolution 3010, a proposal that would direct legislative management to study legislative responsibility for reviewing existing law before proposing new statutes.
Representative Kempenek presented the resolution and told the committee the idea emerged before recent council efforts and discussions about how to reduce "code clutter" and duplication of bills. Kempenek said the matter "probably is irrelevant anymore" because council initiatives and other efforts are already addressing the issues the resolution would have examined.
Several senators acknowledged the premise of the resolution but said it risked poor optics to defeat it. Senator Lee moved a due pass, which he described as a "reluctant passive due pass motion," and Senator Brownberger seconded. The clerk’s roll call produced a 4-2 result in favor of a due pass.
Committee discussion included points that collaboration on draft bills can reduce duplication and that institutional habits and political incentives—such as pride of authorship—drive some of the secrecy around bill drafting. The committee closed the hearing on the resolution and forwarded it with the due-pass recommendation for floor consideration.