[Speed Gibson,
Monday May 21, 2007 at 7:04am]
Too Much Legislation
The reactions are many to the McCain-Kennedy-Bush immigration bill, said to be approaching 1,000 pages. Rush Limbaugh, who gave Hugh Hewitt quite the attaboy on Friday, is against it. Hewitt is busy parsing all that language. Meanwhile, Bill O'Reilly says you have to start somewhere, as I think our own Captain Ed seems to be saying.
Let's take two bills, ostensibly both with the same overall objective. One is 100 pages, another is 1,000 pages. Which is better, sight unseen? I can't imagine a scenario where the larger bill is superior. Let's take a K-12 Education spending bill for example.
A 1 page bill would say, here Governor, is $10 Billion for the next two years. Spend it as you think best, meaning have the bureaucrats in the Education Department divvy it up instead of the the Legislative equivalent.
A 10 page bill would break this down some, with some basic formulas, perhaps, like so much per student, maybe so much per acre served. Open Enrollment and Special Education get some general attention, too. There are winners and losers, but everyone is clear on what the bill allows.
A 100 page bill starts meddling. It finds a way around the basic formulas to reward failing districts like Minneapolis with even more money. It is studded with little gifts here and there, district by district.
A 1,000 page bill is almost impossible to fully implement, employing dozens in St. Paul and who knows how many in the districts complying with it, assuming it's even apparent what the intent is or was. There are numerous "guidelines" for the curriculum, staff selection, reporting, playground equipment, and lunch menus.
Give me the 10 page bill. It may have some faults, but understanding what is to be done is not likely one of them.
Now take the Immigration Bill. Almost by definition, it must contain 900 pages of loopholes, as I think Hewitt is finding. As such, it's useless. Start over.
Let's take two bills, ostensibly both with the same overall objective. One is 100 pages, another is 1,000 pages. Which is better, sight unseen? I can't imagine a scenario where the larger bill is superior. Let's take a K-12 Education spending bill for example.
A 1 page bill would say, here Governor, is $10 Billion for the next two years. Spend it as you think best, meaning have the bureaucrats in the Education Department divvy it up instead of the the Legislative equivalent.
A 10 page bill would break this down some, with some basic formulas, perhaps, like so much per student, maybe so much per acre served. Open Enrollment and Special Education get some general attention, too. There are winners and losers, but everyone is clear on what the bill allows.
A 100 page bill starts meddling. It finds a way around the basic formulas to reward failing districts like Minneapolis with even more money. It is studded with little gifts here and there, district by district.
A 1,000 page bill is almost impossible to fully implement, employing dozens in St. Paul and who knows how many in the districts complying with it, assuming it's even apparent what the intent is or was. There are numerous "guidelines" for the curriculum, staff selection, reporting, playground equipment, and lunch menus.
Give me the 10 page bill. It may have some faults, but understanding what is to be done is not likely one of them.
Now take the Immigration Bill. Almost by definition, it must contain 900 pages of loopholes, as I think Hewitt is finding. As such, it's useless. Start over.