A New Jersey assemblyman has introduced a bill to stop his colleagues from wasting time and money by introducing "silly" bills.
Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, from Morris, is fed up with the thousands of bills that are introduced, many of which address trivial matters like requiring license plates on bikes, only to have a handful make it on the governor's desk. Less than two percent of the 392 bills proposed this year actually passed in both chambers and less than one percent of those were signed by Governor Chris Christie, NJ Advance Media reported.
So Bucco decided last week to propose a bill to end the bill-making nonsense. If passed, his legislation would limit all state senators to sponsoring 25 bills during each session, which lasts two years. Assemblymen like Bucco would be limited to 15 bills.
"I just think the process essentially encourages legislators to introduce as many bills as they can, hoping that one is going to stick," Bucco told NJ Advance Media. "And there's also no prohibition from introducing bills that are really kind of silly."
One 2011 bill was to require that all bicycles come with license plates. Another bill was to change the Official State Butterfly to the black swallowtail. That one Bucco co-sponsored himself, but said it's not part of the "silly" category.
Bucco's proposal requires each bill be evaluated to determine how much it will cost to process and also comes with a guarantee that every bill receives a hearing.
"I think it will eliminate a lot of nonsense bills that are introduced, and I think in the end it will end up saving taxpayers money and move the state in the right direction," said Bucco, who was the only one who sponsored legislation to make a song named "Sweet, Sweet New Jersey" the state song.
But not all lawmakers agree with Bucco's silly bill-banning bill.
"I just feel that as a legislator my responsibility is to legislate," said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri-Huttle, from Bergen. "And if you start to limit, how do you pick and choose?"
Bucco would need a constitutional amendment in order to include the guaranteed-hearing clause to his proposal. New Jersey voters are expected to vote on the amendment in November 2015.
