April 9, 2008

 

Sometimes Democracy Looks Like Sausage

I have read in newspapers an on blogs that the 2007-2008 Legislature was a “do nothing” Legislature. While I certainly did have many bills that were priorities for my constituents that unfortunately did not get signed into law, I understand why this happened and acknowledge that the Legislature is a democratic body representing the will of the people. Part of democracy is that you cannot always get what you want exactly when you want it – but persistence often pays off. So many of the bills that did not pass will come back and we will again have an opportunity to set aside politics for the people of Wisconsin.

Every session is full of successes and failures and with that the knowledge that the system of democracy does indeed work. Below are the numbers from the last few sessions. You will find that they often reflect the make up of the two houses of the Legislature. When one party controls both houses more bills get passed and when it is a split house fewer. Democracy, unlike football, is not a sport measured by numbers. The people of Wisconsin have the power to hold us all accountable for our work as they should.

 

According to the Wheeler Report:

2007 REGULAR LEGISLATIVE SESSION BY THE NUMBERS

With his action today on AB-717, fire safety performance standards for cigarettes, Gov. Doyle has completed action on bills sent to him as part of the 2007 regular session of the Legislature. There were 225 laws enacted, including the budget bill and one full veto (AB-676, disclosure of juvenile court records), three bills with partial vetoes (SB-40, the budget bill; SB-39, lapsing certain funds; and, AB-207, regulation of cable TV and video service providers). One bill has been enacted as a result of the January 2007 special session (government accountability board). There were 1544 bills introduced in the regular session (573 bills introduced in the Senate; 971 in the Assembly).

In the 2005 session, there were 489 laws enacted as part of the regular session and two from special sessions. There were 47 bills vetoed. There were 1967 bills introduced in the 2005 session. In the 2003 session, there were 326 laws enacted from the 1567 bills introduced. There were 54 bills vetoed in Doyle’s first term. In 2001, there were 106 new laws resulting from 1436 bills; while the 1999 session produced 196 new laws from 1498 bills introduced.