It look less than an hour Wednesday night for senators to kill legislation which sought to limit Senate sessions and cut legislators' salaries in half.
The bill, co-sponsored by Senate President Vargrave Richards and Sen. Gregory Bennerson, failed to get a second on a motion to report it to the Senate Rules Committee for further debate. "Hearing no second, this bill dies a natural death in Government Operations," announced Bennerson, who chairs the committee.
Brief testimony was received from Brenda Erickson of the National Council of State Legislators, who discussed the effectiveness of part-time legislatures in other jurisdictions. But the outcome was almost a foregone conclusion with the majority of lawmakers present refusing to question the testifier on the measure's impact. As her testimony concluded, the committee ignored attempts by Sens. David Jones and Adelbert "Bert" Bryan to offer amendments to the proposal.
Before adjourning the meeting, both Bennerson and Richards restated their intent to continue efforts towards legislative reform. Richards predicted it will be 25 years or more before meaningful legislative reform is attained.
