Writing legislation is not hard, it just requires you understand the fact that words mean things. My office writes language for Federal legislation quite often... and reviews others writing too... and none of us are lawyers... but we do have experience in writing legislative language.
The big trick seems to be reading language in terms of how your opponents will read it, how the unwashed masses will read it and how wacko judges and their clerks will read it. That is why simple specific clear language is so essential.
Few people understand the impact of politics on the legislative process... as an example, I think the gun grabbers might well have gotten the "brady" bill renewed if they had been a bit flexable ... for example on magazine capacity... as a result they lost everyting... much like the opposition to the origianl bill might have salvaged the magazine part if they had comprimised... it is a complex system.
V/r
Chuck
Charles L. Cotton wrote:Jim, no offense taken.
Let me clear up a misunderstanding I obviously created. When I say attorneys should be writing the bills that ultimately become law, I don't mean that only attorneys should be elected to the House or Senate. Neither do I mean that attorneys should be the only elected representatives who should decide what laws should be passed. I simply mean I think the people who reduce the desired legislative intent to writing should be attorneys. The reason I pointed out that less than 50% of Texas House Members and Texas Senators are attorneys is to counter the common belief that lawyers control the legislature. If we did, you certainly would never have seen the so-called "tort reform" bill a/k/a Insurance Company Protection and Profit Act. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
Much of the convoluted language we wind up with in bills/statutes is not the result of attorneys desiring to use such language from scratch, but is the result of compromises between friends and foes on any given issue. As a very general statement, the more opposing interests have to compromise, the more difficult it is to craft a bill that will yield the desired result, and do so within the constraints of the Texas Constitution. Another problem with going to “plain language� is that we are usually changing existing statutes that are written in “legalese� making it impossible to use “plain language� without an entire rewrite of the statute. Complete rewrites are very difficult and time consuming and are only rarely attempted.
So, to disburse the lynch mob, I do not believe only attorneys should decide what the law should be, only that they are better equipped to reduce the idea to writing that will be enforceable.
Regards,
Chas.