Government in the United States, National, State and Local. Garner James Wilford
to ten dollars per day, in Kentucky, Montana, and Nebraska, the most usual sum being four or five dollars per day. In several states, however, the per diem compensation ceases, or is reduced to a nominal amount, after the legislature has been in session 60 days or 90 days. Mileage ranging in amount from ten cents per mile to twenty-five cents is usually allowed, and in a number of states there is a small allowance for postage, stationery, and newspapers. In some states the pay of the legislators is fixed by the constitution, and hence the matter is beyond control of the legislature. Indeed, in only a few states is the matter of legislative pay left entirely to the discretion of the legislature without restriction.
In a number of them the constitution either forbids members to accept free passes on the railroads, or makes it the duty of the legislature to pass laws prohibiting the acceptance of such passes.
Organization of the Legislature.– Each house is usually free to organize itself as it may see fit, though where the office of lieutenant governor exists, the constitution designates that official as the presiding officer of the senate.
The Speaker.– The presiding officer of the lower house is styled the speaker, and in all the states he is chosen by the house from its own membership. He calls the house to order, presides over its deliberations, enforces the rules governing debate, puts motions and states questions, makes rulings on points of order, recognizes members who desire to address the house, appoints the committees, signs the acts and resolutions passed by the house, and maintains order and decorum. He usually belongs to the political party which is in the majority in the house, and in making up the committees and recognizing members for the purpose of debate he usually favors those of his own party.
The Clerk.– Each house has a clerk or secretary who keeps the journal of the proceedings, has custody of all bills and resolutions before the house, keeps the calendar of bills, calls the roll, reads bills, and performs other duties of a like character. He is often assisted by other clerks such as a reading clerk, an engrossing clerk, sometimes an enrolling clerk, etc.
Sergeant-at-arms.– To execute the orders of the house in preserving good order and enforcing the rules, there is an officer called a sergeant-at-arms. He usually has custody of the hall in which the meetings are held, makes arrests when the house orders an outsider to be taken into custody for contempt, compels absent members to attend when ordered by the house to do so, and sometimes keeps the accounts of the pay and mileage of members.
Other Officers and Employees.– Usually, also, there is a chaplain who opens the session with prayer, though he is not always a paid employee; a postmaster; and a number of miscellaneous employees such as doorkeepers, janitors, copying clerks, stenographers, pages, etc.11
Committees.– For convenience in legislation the members of each house are grouped into committees, the more important of which are those on agriculture, corporations, finance or appropriations, ways and means, judiciary, railroads, labor, education, manufactures, engrossment and enrollment, and insurance. In the Western states there are usually committees on immigration, mining, dairies, forestry, fish and game, drainage, swamp lands, irrigation, levees and river improvements, etc. The number and size of the committees vary in different states. In some of the states there are as many as fifty or sixty committees, and occasionally as many as forty members are placed on a single committee. In addition to the standing committees of each house there are frequently select committees appointed for special purposes, and there are usually a number of joint committees made up of members of both houses. In the New England states most of the committee work is done by joint committees, there being usually only four or five standing committees in each house.
How Bills are Passed.– Each house is empowered to frame its own rules of procedure, but in order to insure publicity and careful consideration of bills the state constitutions have placed restrictions upon the legislature in the consideration and passage of bills. Thus in all the states each house is required to keep a journal of its daily proceedings; in most states it is provided that no law shall be passed except by bill, that no bill shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in the title of the bill, that no money shall be appropriated except by law, that every bill shall be read at least three times before being passed, that no existing law shall be amended by mere reference to its title but the amended portion must be set out in full, and that the yeas and nays shall be recorded upon demand of a certain number of members. Some states require that every bill shall be referred to a committee, that every bill shall be printed and placed on the desk of each member, that no bill shall be introduced after the legislature has been in session a certain number of days, and that bills of a local or private character shall be introduced only after public notice has been given in the locality affected and to be valid must be passed by a two-thirds majority of each house; and so on.
In general these constitutional restrictions represent an attempt to eliminate the evils of undue haste, lack of consideration, extravagance, and objectionable local and private bills, and to compel the legislature to do its work openly, carefully, and in the interest of the public good.
Order of Procedure.– A common order of the procedure in passing bills is the following: 1. Introduction and first reading. 2. Reference to a committee. 3. Report of the committee. 4. Second reading. 5. Third reading. 6. Vote on passage. 7. Enrollment. 8. Approval by the Governor. This order of procedure, however, is often departed from under a suspension of the rules or by unanimous consent.
Usually any member can introduce a bill on any subject and at any time12 except where the constitution forbids the introduction of bills after a certain date, and some legislatures have even found a means of evading this restriction. In most states a bill can be introduced by filing it with the clerk. It is then usually read the first time, though only by title, and referred to the appropriate committee for consideration and report. The committee may "pigeonhole" it and never report, or it may make a report so late in the session that consideration of the bill is impossible. If the bill seems worthy of being reported, the committee reports it to the house with a recommendation that it be passed either with or without amendments, or that it be rejected. If reported favorably it is placed on the calendar for consideration in its turn. At this stage it is open for general discussion and for amendment by the house. If the bill meets the approval of the house, it is finally ordered to be engrossed and read a third time. It is then put in shape by the committee on engrossment, after which it is read a third time and finally passed. It then goes to the other house, where the procedure is substantially the same. If passed by the second house, it is ready for the signature of the governor. If amended by the second house, it comes back to the first house for concurrence in the amendments. If the first house refuses its concurrence, a conference committee is usually appointed by the two houses to consider and recommend a compromise. The bill is not ready to send to the governor until it has been passed by both houses in exactly the same form.
Lobbying and Bribery.– In all our states a large proportion of the legislation enacted affects directly or indirectly the interests of particular persons, classes, or localities. As a result, interested parties bring great pressure to bear upon the members to pass certain bills or to reject certain others.
Methods of the Lobbyist.– Usually when the legislature meets, the paid representatives of interested individuals, corporations, or local governments appear on the scene to urge legislation in their interests or to defeat bills introduced that are unfavorable to them. These persons are known as "lobbyists," and the means they employ to secure or prevent legislation are often improper and sometimes venal. Sometimes money is used to bribe members to vote for or against pending measures, and there are few states indeed where charges of this kind have not been made. In one state recently, money was contributed in large quantities by persons interested in preventing certain legislation, and the sum thus contributed was known as the "jack pot" fund, out of which members were handsomely paid for their votes. In a special message to the legislature of New York state, Governor Hughes declared that certain disclosures had "caused honest citizens to tingle with shame and indignation and made irresistible the demand that every proper means should be employed to purge and purify the legislature." The situation described by the governor as existing in New York, unfortunately exists
The California house of representatives, consisting of eighty members, had in 1907 a total of 335 employees, with salaries ranging from $3 to $8 per day. The senate, composed of forty members, had 228 employees. Since then an amendment to the constitution of that state has been adopted, limiting to $500 per day the amount that may be expended by the legislature for clerical assistance. In some other states the number of employees of the legislature seems excessive, and restrictions similar to that now found in the constitution of California might not be out of place. Thus in 1903 there were 226 employees of the legislature of Illinois, 315 in Missouri, 299 in New York, and 225 in Oregon. The expense account of legislative employees in Illinois for the session of 1913 amounted to more than $95,000; the amount in New York was over $250,000; and in Wisconsin over $76,000. One of the arguments now being urged in some states in favor of a single-chamber legislature is that it would make possible a material reduction in the number of legislative employees and a corresponding diminution of expenses.
In Wisconsin and some other states, "legislative reference bureaus" furnish members with information regarding subjects of proposed legislation, and aid them in the drafting of bills.