What I learned from my first visit to Legislative Hall
Jul 1st, 2009 by Timothy Pancoast
I just got back from visiting a legislative session for the first time. I spent most of my time in the House and I learned a few things.
First, on the last day of the session rules get in the way and they need to be suspended before each bill or resolution is introduced. I am sure I’ll figure out exactly what those rules are as I attend more sessions.
Second, on the last day of a session Representatives forget things.
1. They forget how to tell time. I am still trying to wrap my head around that 10 minutes that lasted from 12:50 to 3:10 am.
2. They forget to debate. Given the situation I am kinda glad that they forgot how to do that because I would still be there if they didn’t. However, in the big picture it is bad for legislation.
3. Most of them forget how to say no. There were a whole lot of unanimous votes. Many of the Representatives didn’t say no a single time while I was there. Others were trying to remember how to say no, but in the interest of time they didn’t try too hard. Every bill and resolution passed while I was there. (Maybe I should start going to all the Phillies games because apparently I’m good luck.) The largest no vote I witnessed was for HB 197 for a pilot program to install vehicle speed monitoring systems which earned 12 no votes. (As if the red light cameras weren’t enough, now we can get speeding tickets from the invisible cop in the sky too.)
Did I forget anything?
Anyways it was an educational experience to see laws being passed in our state. Maybe I’ll talk about some of the specifics in later posts.
By the way, if any of you didn’t know that I was a political rookie, you do now. Thanks for being patient with me anyways.
