Do Reading and Politicians Mix?

E.J. Montani is whining about how Arizona politicians sneak in their unpopular pet projects into bills that eventually get passed. (Federal politicians do similar things, I am sure, only in different ways…)

It's called a "strike-all" amendment, in which the title of a proposed law is retained but the actual language is replaced with something completely different. You might have read about it in Sunday's paper. It's really simple.

Every bill proposed by a lawmaker is given a title. It then goes through a series of hearings before various committees, in which people like us can make comments about it, in favor or against. Sometimes, after a pet project fails, a politician will take another bill, strike out all the language below the title and replace it with his or her failed bill.

Perhaps they need a “Read the Bills Act”, like the DownsizeDC Foundation is trying to promote.

Imagine a radical idea like that…Politicians actually reading the laws they pass? Who would propose a silly idea like that?

Only someone who cares about clean and open government, that’s who.