Insider Information & Loop Holes

Here's some more insider information for all you governmental ignoramouses like myself - in my past governmental ingoramal bliss.

First, it is a 60 day session and there are like 2,000 bills that get introduced during that period - not counting the memorials and such - and for a bill to get passed it must get through whatever committees it's assigned to and then through the Senate, where they'll have a 1-3 hour debate over it, then through the House committees, then through more debate on the House floor - and then it must be signed by the governor! So, I would say about 300-400 bills actually make it - if that! You might ask, then why do so many bills get introduced? - To keep the people happy, that's why. Even if there's no chance a bill will make it through the long journey, at least a senator can say they tried.

Next, did you know that the senate majority floor leader can roll the clock - in other words it doesn't matter what time it is, he can say, "Madam President, seeing that it is now 11:59 am I move that we adjurn until 12:01 pm." Then it instantly turns into 12:01 pm and they can move on to the next day's agenda. You can get through days in just a few hours! It's magic!

Also, there is a deadline about half way through the session after which you can't introduce any new bills. That's when committee leaders and such introduce "dummy bills" - or as I like to call them "blank check bills". These bills are labelled as "Public peace, health, safety & welfare", which can be changed into anything they want. So you see, even though the deadline has passed to introduce new legislation, a senator can simply change these "dummy bills" into whatever they want whenever they want. Loop hole! Cha-ching!

I'm sure I'll learn about more secret strategies as I continue working here at the capitol of governmental knowledge and doings. And you can check in as I relay that information to you.