Legal Commentary

Something I Just Learned Today, Thanks to Commenter Alkali

By Eugene Volokh

Apparently, Massachusetts citizens can introduce bills, even without a legislator?s sponsorship. Such bills (generally labeled ?By request,? if indeed no legislator sponsors them), go nowhere. But they are filed as pending bills:

Massachusetts citizens are permitted and encouraged to take an active role in the lawmaking process of the state legislature. It is a good idea for a person who feels strongly about an issue to present his or her ideas to a Representative or Senator. That person may discover that those concerns have already been formulated into a bill which is awaiting legislative action. If not, the citizen is allowed to file legislation addressing the subject. Massachusetts is one of the few states to allow its citizens to do so. This access is called the ?right of free petition.?

Although it is not mandatory that a Representative or Senator sponsor a citizen?s bill, the rules of the House and Senate provide that a petition must be endorsed for presentation by a member before it can be considered by the General Court. Obtaining the support of individual legislators, then, is most advisable.

The bills that would declare it a due process violation to conduct hearings in courtrooms without properly displayed flags were indeed labeled ?by request,? it turns out. Makes me feel better! In any case, that?s something worth remembering the next time one hears of silly draft bills in the Massachusetts legislature. At least some of them stem solely from citizen silliness, with no legislator silliness mixed in.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on March 17, 2011 (boomark / email).