I am partisan, yes, I don’t deny that. And transparency is good on paper. But can deny that it can also be used against a good bill? I voted on this by asking myself a few things: first, have I ever in my life read a bill put out by any legislature prior to voting on it? The answer is no, because I’m not a lawyer and laws are written with an impenetrable legalese I can’t understand.
Sure you say, but other people can read it and analyze it for you. Yes, I would reply, they do that already. At no time have I ever needed a law such as this for newspapers and opinion pieces to argue its merits.
As for transparency, if I like what my representatives are doing, why would I bother to look and read every law that comes through? Is it really going to matter, come next election day, that I read through the dozens or so laws that this session of the state assembly passed for me to make my decision? Or do most people not have the time or the expertise for that? I’m just being honest, I have not and will not bother to read any of these bills before they are voted on.
The only thing that would impact me in any way is the hidden side effects of this law. It would have been used by the minority GOP to attack and delay proposed laws by the Democratic majority. That’s a worse outcome than some supposed transparency benefits. I can easily imagine a complex law being posted and the GOP pouncing on it, telling people how bad it is, and to read it for yourself knowing most people won’t understand it fully, and then having them call or email the legislator’s offices to bombard them with angry letters. This can happen without this law being passed, and does happen. I don’t see what benefit the law will produce