Leadership, Research & Ideas, Uncategorized, Views on News • November 20th, 2008

Part-time lawmaking

by Chris Lato

Well, here’s something I never thought I’d be saying: Dave Zweifel is on to something in pushing for Wisconsin to go back to a part-time Legislature.

I disagree some of his points, including the notion that we should judge the success of a legislative body by how much legislation they pass. This idea of ‘laws by the pound’ will, almost by necessity, lead to a lot of idiotic laws. And I’m sure making such a serious change in how the Legislature does its business is far easier said than done. Decades of bureaucratic buildup won’t be washed away overnight.

And no doubt some legislative acquaintances could give me an earful on why part-time lawmaking is a bad idea.

However, this is the kind of populist idea that can gain traction in a time of rising unemployment, multi-billion dollar deficits and an overall weakening economy.

If I was in the Legislature, I would be thinking of ways to justify my year-round existence to the public at large. Why couldn’t the calendar for legislative action be compressed? Justify the salaries, the per diems, the full staffs, the perks to promote their work in the office, all of it.

If this is a Legislature that will be serious about being fiscally responsible, there’s no better place to start than by examining what goes on under the dome. It’s a fair question as legislators prepare to make their taxing and spending decisions for the next two years.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Leadership, Research & Ideas, Uncategorized, Views on News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.