The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1905-06-09
BILLS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE
Two Measures Yet To Be Acted
Upon by the Law.
makers.
Repeal OF Constitutional Provision
Limiting Introduction OF Bills
Has Not Had Tendency
TO Shorten Session.

lansing, Mich, June 6.-At mid
hight tomorrow the Michigan legisla-
lure will suspend work and final adj
Iournment will take place on the 18th
Instant. This is the program agreed
upon last week by the two houses and
embodied in concurrent resolution
which was adopted by both branches.
Midnight, by the way, will be when
ever the end of the work Is reached.
If, .perchance, it takes several hours
after ~ o'clock to enable the houses
TO clear the decks, the official clocks
will not point to 'the witching hour"
until the decks are cleared Doubtless,
however, u o'clock will see all work
that It Is proposed to dispose of COM
pleted.
Two Important Measures.
Probably the most important pieces
Of legislation yet to be acted upon
aside from some struggling appropria-
public interest, are those which pro-
vide for the reorganization of the state
tax commission on the basis of small
er membership, and the Galbraith
bill, which empowers the tax commits
sion to make an equalization between
the assessed valuation of the railroad
property and that of the general prop
erty of the state. Both of the meas
ures have been passed by the house.
AS stated last week the question as
regards the tax commission reorganiza-
ton bill is simply whether the present
commissioners shall be continued in Of
fee until September, 1906, as provided
in the measure passed by the house,
or be retired at once This is the
problem which the senate has yet to
solve The claim mentioned last week
that those who favor immediate re-
tirement have a majority In the SEN
ate is still insisted upon, and 1t is
further claimed that If such an amend
ment is made to the bill, the house will
concur in the change. It Is broadly in
timated that the administration favors
this change and is opposed to the Gal
braith bill.
Has Not Shortened Session.
It Is now quite generally conceded
that the repeal Of the constitutional
provision limiting the introduction of
bills to the first day Of the legisla-
tive session and permitting bills to be
offered up to the last day in the after
noon, has not had tendency to
shorten the session as was fondly
hoped by those who advocated the
change. Indeed, it is doubtful IL the
result has not been to prolong the ses-
sion, the tendency having been to de-
lay action on bills until late In the
session because the members were
prone to lay low and see If something
else along the same line might not
turn up. Certain 1t is that practically
all Of the most important measures
were this session left to be disposed
Of well along in the spring.
Another feature developed tended to
complicate the situation at the end OF
the session. The matter of printing
the bills after they were passed in or
der that they may be prepared for pre-
sentation to the governor for his ap-
prevail is an important one. It is the
necessity for giving time for this prep
aration Of bills that explains the fact
that ten days intervene between the
time the work Of legislation is sus-
pended this year and the date fixed for
final adjournment. AT one time the
officials Of the Legislature feared it
would be impossible to finally adjourn
on the 18th instant for the reason that
during the last days Of the session sew
eral mammoth bills, one Of which
made more than 500 printed pages,
were introduced and passed. Under
the old plan, all of the bills would have
been on the calendar by the expiration
Of the flftieth day of the session and
would have been disposed OF early, so
as not to clog the printing Office.
In the Natuye or an Experiment.
1t is possible'that the unsatisfactory
working of the new system during the
present session may be due to the fact
that the practice Hereunder was large
iy In the nature of an experiment and
that better practices will hereafter
prevail now that it has been seen how
this years program has worked out.
The people Of the state, however.
need not expect to see any material de-
crease in the length Of the sessions of
the legislature until they take steps
to eliminate local legislation from the
problem. Leaders of these letters
may possibly. recall that this Is some
what Of a favorlte topic with me. 1t
certainly is. The people complain.
and justly, too, of the length of the
legislative sessions, and are prone to
blame the Legislators for deliberately