bringing the printed copy more nearly into its final form. Of course bills of exceptional interest may be printed on introduction by special order of the house.5 The Pennsylvania House has adopted a working compromise by which bills on introduction are printed on pink paper. This copy does not go on the desks of members to congest their files, but may be secured if desired at the office of the sergeantat-arms. As bills are reported (very few are reported unfavorably, rather are they allowed to die in committee) they are printed on white paper and placed in members' files. In this connection it may be noted that Connecticut has taken a step towards differentiation between special and general laws by requiring that the former be printed at the expense of the petitioner who must in addition pay a fixed fee. The New Jersey Assembly and the two Houses of Rhode Island also provide by their rules that the cost of printing special bills must be borne by the applicant."

6

READINGS

Parliamentary common law prescribes that each bill shall receive three readings before it shall be brought up for final passage. These stages in the progress of a measure antedate the use of the printing press, when copies were written out in long hand and read for the information of the members. But the necessity for reading at length no longer exists and readings are today of no significance other than to mark successive steps in the advancement of a measure, each one being a device to secure adequate delay. Provisions regarding the reading of bills occur in thirty-six state constitutions, thirty-four requiring three readings, twenty-five specifying that they be on three different days, and three that not more than two readings shall be on the same day. Thirteen states permit the requirement of readings on separate days to be relaxed somewhat by a vote larger than a simple majority, although in five the vote upon the question of urgency must be by ayes and noes, and in two it must be entered on the journals. The mandate which compels 5 In Maine one-third more are introduced than are printed; in Michigan and Minnesota about 50 per cent of those introduced are printed.

8

6 General Laws of Conn. (1902), ¶¶ 32, 10.

"New Jersey Assembly Rule 49; Rhode Island Senate Rule 34, Assembly Rule 38.

8 Index-Digest, State Constitutions, pp. 840-842. In Georgia bills must be read on three separate days unless in case of actual invasion or insurrection.

three readings on different days is salutary as contributing to discourage hasty passage, and, when absolute, tends to lighten the pressure during the last three days by preventing the introduction of measures at this time. Where the requirement is not absolute it may be of little effect through the habit of granting unanimous consent to its suspension.

Ordinarily first reading is merged with the announcement of introduction, but if the constitution prescribes absolutely that there must be three readings at length, first reading usually does not come until after favorable report by a committee. Thus in Pennsylvania and Illinois the reading by title on introduction does not count as a constitutional reading, and an additional step equivalent to an additional reading is made necessary. West Virginia escapes this extra stage through a provision which allows the suspension of the constitutional prescription of three readings in full by an aye and no vote entered upon the journal. Rather than read the bill in full on first reading the house regularly records an aye and no vote on a motion to suspend. This is a useless formality and would consume an inordinate amount of time were the roll actually called.

As pointed out in the chapter above, the custom of giving two readings before reference, still obtaining in some legislatures, is a mere survival and is indefensible now that no debate is held until after report back by a committee. Today it is generally considered bad form to begin an attack upon a bill before the debate stage following committee report. If two readings are had before refer ́ence, debate occurs normally at the report stage when the question is either on accepting the report of the committee, or, this being perfunctory, upon ordering the bill to a third reading. Thus is added virtually a fourth reading without increasing in the least the opportunity for deliberation. Massachusetts and Maine also. add a fourth stage but one that serves a somewhat different purpose. At third reading the question is put on passing the bill to engrossment after which it is sent to the other house for concurrence. There having "passed to be engrossed" it is returned to the house of its origin where it is "passed to be enacted" and sent again to the other house likewise to be "passed to be enacted" or rejected. Final passage is thereby separated distinctly from the preceding stages, a procedure forbidden by the Constitution of New York,

9

which compels the final vote to be taken immediately following third reading. The virtue of the Massachusetts plan is that no temptation exists to slip in amendments at the last moment since both houses have approved the measure in its final form at the "passed to be engrossed" stage. Obviously the Massachusetts practice eliminates the evil which caused New York to merge third reading and final passage, viz., the postponement of final passage, after reading a bill a third time, to a preconcerted hour when it could be forced through by log rolling. The sense of the house is expressed when the bill is ordered to engrossment, and final passage is merely an opportunity for the expression of a more mature judgment after the other house has acted.10 In other states the vote on passage usually follows immediately upon third reading although they are separate orders of business and although occasionally final action may be postponed, perhaps to secure the attendance of more friends of the measure.

The constitutions of five states provide for reading of measures at length after passage and before signing by the presiding officer.11 The purpose is to guard against alteration at the last moment of the official copy of the act, either through fraud or error. Although experience has shown that constant vigilance alone assures a correctly enrolled act, the utter futility of any provision regarding reading in full is self-evident, since only a pretense is made at fulfilling the constitutional mandate. Even before the reading clerk is well started, impatient members interrupt by cries of "Aye, aye."

The framers of our state constitutions seem generally to have considered the reading of bills at length to the assembled house as an effective aid to good legislation. Today twenty-six constitu

9 Amendments are forbidden after engrossment, and the copy upon which the final vote is taken becomes the official copy of the act. Senate Rule 49, House Rule 53. An examination of the journals will show that a bill approved by both houses at the "passed to be engrossed" stage suffers little danger at the "passed to be enacted" stage.

10 It is true that no calendar is kept in Massachusetts of bills on final passage but the speaker will give notice to any member of the time at which a certain one is to come up. Frothingham, "A Brief History of the Constitution and Government of Massachusetts," p. 117.

11 Kentucky, New Mexico, Alabama, Oklahoma and Louisiana. In Alabama and Oklahoma two-thirds may dispense with it, and it is not required in Louisiana unless five request it. Index-Digest, State Constitutions, p. 842.

tions specifically require that bills be read in full at least once before final passage, although two, Ohio and Virginia, permit the mandate to be suspended in cases of urgency. Fifteen of the above require three readings at length. Of the latter, eleven constitutions permit one or two full readings to be dispensed with, but in four the provision is inflexible. Such prescriptions betray in the minds of their authors a wholly unscientific knowledge of human psychology. It is difficult to believe that even a most sympathetic imagination could have visualized a legislature sitting through a single afternoon, earnestly attentive while bill after bill was read in their hearing. The time which would thus be consumed alone renders compliance with the constitution impossible. Many bills are long and technical and their reading aloud could serve no useful purpose. A recent chartering bill in West Virginia covered 247 pages, and an honest reading would have been a sheer waste of precious time. Usually the clerk reads the title and perhaps a few words of the text, consuming but a fraction of a moment although the journal will show a reading in full.12

The house, however, will usually recognize a demand that the bill be read in full as the constitution requires, a concession which lends itself easily to obstructive tactics, since it is easy for a minority wishing to delay action to demand their constitutional right. Although no constitutional mandate to read bills in full exists in New York, the Senate of that state was accustomed to grant such demand until the session of 1915 developed an extraordinarily obstinate minority. As a consequence the point of order was sustained that the right to call for reading at length could be exercised only in the committee of the whole upon the second reading of the bill.13 The way henceforth is opened to defeat such dilatory methods at the beginning, although the minority loudly protested that their constitutional guarantee was being violated.14

12 See article "Improvement of Legislative Methods and Procedure" by Chester Lloyd Jones in Proceedings of the American Political Science Association, 1913– 1914, p. 191, for the experience of several states with the constitutional provision under consideration. More complete returns collected by the Nebraska Legislative Reference Bureau bear out the conclusion that the requirement is not only futile but harmful.

13 Senate Journal, 1915, p. 936; and New York Times April 2, 1915.

14 Mr. S. B. Scott in his forthcoming book on Pennsylvania state government gives a highly entertaining instance in which the power to demand reading in

DEBATE

It is common knowledge that our state legislatures are no longer deliberative bodies and that there is little real debate on the floor. Debate, such as it is, generally occurs when the bill comes up the first time after favorable report by committee. This is on second reading, unless it is the custom to give two readings before reference, in which case opportunity for debate upon the merits of the measure arises on the question of adopting the report or ordering the bill to third reading. The practice of some legislatures provides for no real debate until third reading, and consequently all discussion must immediately precede final action.15 The custom of a majority of the legislatures, however, is to pursue a less summary course by separating debate and final action. The debate stage being the normal time for introducing amendments, members have an opportunity to express a more mature judgment when the revised measure comes up later for final passage. Second reading therefore is usually the crucial period in a bill's history and unless it is of special political significance, third reading, which gives an excellent opportunity to debate the merits of the amended measure, is as much a matter of routine as the first. In keeping with Massachusetts' unique procedure, only a few bills are discussed at second reading, debate being held at third reading upon the question of engrossment. As noted above, final passage is postponed until the other house has concurred in the order to engross.

Most legislatures permit bills to be taken up by sections at the debate stage. As each section is considered amendments may be proposed, and it is well that here the house should move deliberately. If reading by sections is postponed until third reading, full was invoked as a dilatory measure. Third reading of a bill covering fiftytwo closely printed pages of three columns each in the record was demanded. The clerks became exhausted and members were summoned to take their places while kindly persons insisted that the reading be louder and more distinct, in order that they might follow it on their files. Finally a reading squad was organized to read several portions of the bill simultaneously and the majority felt that they had fulfilled the letter of the law. In all about four hours were consumed.

15 Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Kansas, Ohio and the Dakotas report that debate is commonly delayed until third reading. In Kansas, however, many measures are discussed in committee of the whole, which is the second reading stage. Measures which escape the committee of the whole are not debated until third reading.