Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1921-01-26
LEGISLATIVE
NEWS LETTER
Bills For Acts Began Rolling in Rap
idly When Legislature Recon-
yened Last Week
HOUSE AND SENATE
COMMITTEES NAMED
Prospects Are That Usual Number of
Bills For Acts Will Be Pro-
duced At This Session
Especial Correspondence

/
Des Moines, la. Jan. "a, 1921
Legislation in the Both General As.
isembly of Iowa is now we'll unde,
way, and up to this time nearly 70
bills for acts, and resolutions fo,
other purposes, have been introduced
in the Senate and almost as many
lin the House of Representatives. One
would hardly think that with a Gen,
eral Assembly every two wears so
much needed legislation could be
found at each session to keep the O.
100000 people of this state regulated
and controlled as they should be.
But each session produces over a
thousand bills in both houses, and
sometimes five or six hundred of
them become laws. 1t must be stated
however, that very large number
.of bills proposed are duplicated in
each house, as this has been found
to be a good way to get by with
some measures where one house or
the other might not view them favor
ably, or the committees might not be
friendly 30 the propositions covered.
On meeting again last Tuesday, af-
ter the four days recess, the mem
bers started in like a whirlwind to
get their measures going before the
anticipated time for shutting off in
PRODUCTION of new bills. Then the
Senate took hold of the proposed
Code revision resolution and amend
ed it so that bills may be introduced
up to the end of the s,>@rd days
session after the March adjournment
and there the General Assembly
rests on about the same basis as of
old, with a full three months regular
session in prospect. After the March
recess and the opportunity it affords
for consultation with constituents at
home, members may be expected to
return for the second half of the
session loaded up with new bills for
acts, and these may all be presented
by the end of the second days ses-
sion on their return.
Committees Appointed Tuesday
The one event in which members
of both houses are most interested
at the beginning of the session is the
of committees by the
president of the Senate and the
speaker of the House. Ambitions for
public service are greatly promoted
in these committee appointments,
and especially in the matter of COM
mittee chairmanships. 1t takes an ex-
pert of almost supernatural discern
ment to name all these committees
and have every member satisfied and
pleased with what he gets. Speaker
McFarlane in the House comes as
near to having this faculty as any
body, and his sixty-three committees
are made up from careful study of
each, and reconstruction of the com
till every member has
nine committees on which to serve.
And yet disappointments are main
fest as long as ambitions and self-in-
terest predominate in human nature.
Lieutenant-G Governor Hammill is
highly commended generally for his
arrangement Of committees in the
Senate. He has less committeeships
to give out than they have in the
House, but his recognition of the old
er members who have displayed
marked ability in some lines of
legislation is calculated for the best
results. And yet some of these older
members would have drawn different
cards if they could.
Some New Bills Started.
L