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Lawmakers propose that a 15-person commission spend months studying, among other things, the Legislature’s “representativeness” and “informedness”…

Richard Roesler
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In the Senate, legislators are mulling “creat(ing) a commission within the legislature to evaluate the legislature.”

I’m guessing that means studying whether Washington needs a full-time legislature, but judge for yourself. After some rhetorical throat-clearing, here’s how the bill starts out:

“WHEREAS, Questions arise as to whether the Washington state legislature is structurally, functionally, operationally, and procedurally satisfactory for resolving today’s complex and divisive issues…”

It goes on to say, in many more words than this, that lawmaking’s more complicated than it used to be, and demands more of lawmakers’ time.

And so, Senate Concurrent Resolution 8405 calls for a 15-person committee to spend most of the rest of the year evaluating things like legislative procedures, independence from interest groups/the governor/etc., “representativeness” (meaning diversity and pay), and “informedness” (meaning, it seems, do they have enough time to know what they’re voting on).

No hearing’s been scheduled yet.

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Eye On Olympia." Read all stories from this blog