May 2, 2019

Making Legislation Palatable, or NOT.

Twice in the past week bills introduced in the legislative session have been crafted to either convince opponents to vote for it, or prevent adherents from voting against it.


Case number one: the bill described as the toughest anti-abortion bill in America. It would make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion, except in cases where the mother's life is in danger.
It would not, however, punish the pregnant woman at all, despite her obvious involvement in the felony "crime". The sponsors know that would kill any chance of passage.



Case number two: for decades, legislators, mostly Democrats, have tried to add "sexual orientation" to the list of crimes in the current state hate crime law for which allows for harsher punishments. Then in this session comes a similar bill with a new wrinkle. It would add crimes against police officers to the hate crime list.

Clever. A kind of anti-poison pill rewriting of the always defeated legislation. 

Wonder who will offer amendments to strip police from the bill, to make sure it dies again. And are police departments and organizations in favor?


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