On CBS MoneyWatch: Best Colleges You've Never Heard Of
BNET Business Network:
BNET
TechRepublic
ZDNet
TalkBack 23 of 27:
Next »
« Previous
Don't hold your breaths
Most bills introduced into legislatures (perhaps especially State legislatures) are dead on arrival -- they're introduced by legislators who want to "stroke" a constituent. Usually the sponsor doesn't even work for the bill and his colleagues know it's just "constituent service" and pay it no mind.

In some States (Arizona for one) there's an additional "strike all amendment" process where a Bill goes through the usual series of hearings as a placeholder. Then, at the end of the session, someone does a "strike all" amendment that removes all of the original text and substitutes something else entirely. This lets the new legislation bypass the whole hearings process and get fast-tracked to a floor vote in a hurry and without the public getting any warning of what's happening. Needless to say, it's very popular with the legislative leadership.

In brief: my money is on neither of these being heard from again.
Posted by: Yagotta B. Kidding   Posted on: 02/07/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
Reply to Story Reply to Message

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

Let the lobbying begin  say_what | 02/07/07
This is great news for taxpayers. MS will be forced to support ODF and  DonnieBoy | 02/07/07
Youseem to be pretty strong on forcing people to do things  Confused by religion | 02/07/07
Better for a customer to force a vendor  Michael Kelly | 02/07/07
Uh, Milly?  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/07/07
No, I am for choice where choice is appropriate  Confused by religion | 02/07/07
Milly, I see nothing wrong with his original post ...  George Mitchell | 02/07/07
Don't worry about DB milly  John Zern | 02/07/07
So what's your beef?  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/08/07
Choose to work someplace  Boot_Agnostic | 02/08/07
"Forcing" people to use specific applications is the way its done ...  George Mitchell | 02/07/07
Hypocrisy anyone? Yes please.  seosamh_z | 02/07/07
For some, not all, it's a argument of preferred hatreds  Boot_Agnostic | 02/08/07
Actually  DemonX | 02/08/07
Just more hypocricy ...  George Mitchell | 02/08/07
So all those Corel and Lotus 123  Confused by religion | 02/07/07
Not true  DemonX | 02/08/07
Reality check  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/08/07
You are confusing applications with formats ...  George Mitchell | 02/08/07
Sounds like Sun will supply a plugin, and MS is working on a vertsion of  DonnieBoy | 02/08/07
On the contrary, by using an open standard, the states will be free to pick  DonnieBoy | 02/08/07
The biggest thing here is that governents and large corporations can use  DonnieBoy | 02/08/07
Don't hold your breaths  Yagotta B. Kidding | 02/07/07
Clarification  Richard Flude | 02/07/07
Message has been deleted.  mcoulange | 02/07/07
Hey don't forget those old Corel and Lotus docs  Boot_Agnostic | 02/08/07
I'm just glad their exercising their ability to choose  Boot_Agnostic | 02/09/07

What do you think?

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

advertisement
advertisement
  • Smart Tech Expert advice on innovations in healthcare and the green technologies that make it happen. Find out more
  • Smart Business Discussion and advice on management issues that revolve around making your world smarter and more useful. More Smart Advice
  • Smart People The best and worst moves in the management and strategy trenches. Learn More