The Harrison times., 1917-04-14
THE 1917 LEGISLATURE.
One Hundred and Forty-four General
and Three Hundred Thirty-seVen
Local Acts Become Laws.

complete list of the acts of the gen
eral assembly with the number OF
each bill, the author, and the dGta of
approval, also showing the bills left
on the calendar, and those defeated
and vetoed. II is the most complete
record of any legislative session ever
printed and will be found very yalu
able to all who are interested ir the
work of the legislature.
The net result Of the session was The
enactment and approval Of 4S1 arts
of which 166 originated in the senate
and 315 originated in the house.
There were SIS bills introduced in
the house, of which q did nos reach
the Senate. There were 1877 lett on
second reading and one on first lead
ing, 81 were left pending on the Sen
ate calendar, "a were defeated in the
House, Is met like fate in the Sen
ate, and 5 House bills were vetoed
after they bad passed both houses.
There were 39S bills introduced i'll
the Senate, of which 121 did not reach
the House, % were defeated in the
House, were defeated IN the Senate,
64 died on second reading in the
House, and 50 were left on the calen-
dar in the Senate, while were vetoed.
Only As per cent of the bills intro
duced became laws. Many o. those
left on the calendar howevef were
identical copies of bills that had been
either passed or defeated in the other
house, and many bills were o. course
withdrawn and substituted As Tuie,
bills left on the calendar were untav-
orably reported by some. committee,
and were not pressed by the author
because he realized that it would be
impossible to secure their passage.
The records show that 7S PER cent
of the acts passed, in number, and a
greater per cent in volIguc, are local,
special or private acts, in which the
whole state is not interested There
are 144 acts that may be classified as
general, and 337 that are classified
as local or special. A large number OF
the local acts are for the organization
of improvement districts for roads or
drainage, for the building of school
houses or other public improvements.
These acts make more general ap-
peal and are constructive in their ma
ture, Those who oppose such mass
of local legislation, however, contend
that provision for those districts might
be made otherwise, by means of a
general law.
One type of general law that be-
comes, in practice, almost local in its
nature, is the bill from which many
counties are exempted. Arguments
were advanced on the floor that no
counties should be exempted from gen
eral bills, but the only ones of import
ance that were kept intact were the
general game law, the tick eradication
law, and a few others. The mothers
pension law, the registration Of county
warrants law, and numerous others
were cut to pieces by exemptions
One of the favorite lodges for Sc
curing local legislation by means of
general acts is to make the act apply
only to certain communities or condi-
tions For instance:
To make general act apply to Lit
tie Rock only, it would be made to
read that this act shall apply only to
cities having a population in excess
Of $4,000" Little Rock Is the only
city Of that size in the state
An act to reach Pulaski county alone
is made applicable only to counties
with a population Of $4,000 or more -
Pine Bluff and Hot Springs are
reached by acts (which shall apply to
cities Of the first class having a popu,
lation of between 10000 and $4,000"
Another favorite pastime Of legis.
lators, when general bill is intro.
duced that does not meet with favor,
is to amend by making the bill apply
only to the county wherein the author
resides. A few years ago this was
carried to the extent Of confining it
to the particular township in which the
representative lived, although the bill
was general in its terms.
That radical changes will be made
in the system of legislation by the
Constitutional Convention Is an as.
sured fact, and the greatest reform
will undoubtedly be directed toward
an elimination of the mass OF local
legislation. There Is law on the sub.
ject now that would cut down the
volume, but its enforcement does not
appear practicable