The slow motion sausage factory: understanding the legislative process
So you want to know more about the legislative process? Glad you asked! Because if you want to have an impact on something you need to understand it first.
This will be the first in a series of entries geared to give you a better understanding of how the process works at all levels, then we'll talk about how to have an impact on it.
The slow motion sausage factory
All levels of government in our country have procedures that enable a bill (a proposed law) to become law. By knowing how this process works, you’ll be better equipped to influence legislation or to engage in any basic lobbying activities.
At pretty much every level, the legislative process is designed to be slow and to (hopefully) prevent the passage of bad legislation. And still we have so many examples of just that! But imagine how much worse it would be if it were easy to pass a bill. So next time you get upset about things moving slow, keep that in mind.
Proposed legislation can spring from good intentions, or have wonderful sounding names like the “Good Government Act”, (who would be against that!), but so many times these good intentions or nicely named bills can have bad details that only a “slow” process can expose. Or worse, they just serve as camouflage for bills that do the opposite.
(Rule of thumb: any bills with "comprehensive" in the title are usually hiding something)
A key point to remember is that, due to the many steps involved in the process, it is far easier to play defense than offense. Meaning that it is easier to defend the status quo and oppose new legislation than it is to get something passed. In order for a bill to become law, it must “win” at virtually every step in the process, whereas those trying to “kill” the legislation often only have to win once.
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