Late-night comics such as David Letterman and Jay Leno are getting some free material from state lawmakers this year.
As many statehouses hit the halfway point in their sessions, legislators are being tempted with distractions from their hard-core regimen of taxes, school finance and even life-and-death matters such as capital punishment to dally on the sillier side of lawmaking.
With his proposal for a 2-cents-a-roll toilet paper tax, Democratic state Sen. Al Lawson of Tallahassee dragged Florida lawmakers into the gutter - literally. The measure aims to raise $30 million a year for a new sewer system.
"This is about state legislatures trying to look busy. Today the toilet paper; tomorrow the kitty litter," political satirist Mark Russell told Stateline.org.
State lawmakers are making his job easier, said Russell, known for his public television shows that mix standup comedy with piano ditties. "Will Rogers said it best: 'Every time they make a joke, it's a law! And every time they make a law, it's a joke!'" Russell said.
Legislators have considered bills in the past few weeks that range from regulating doggy day care in Iowa to letting school children eat cupcakes in Texas. These legislative peculiarities may qualify as America's most amusing bills, but a hint of seriousness sometimes lurks behind loopy legislative attempts.
- Iowa's doggy day care bill would have created a licensing category for businesses that supervise at least three dogs for 15 hours or fewer a day. (Iowa's Senate Agriculture Committee was not bow-wowed by the legislation and rejected it this month.)
- New Mexico lawmakers are pondering The Right to Eat Enchiladas Act, a measure aimed at protecting eateries from diners who sue them after they get fat eating the noted Mexican entree. Reporter Shea Andersen of The Albuquerque Tribune proclaimed the bill's sponsor, Sen. Steve Komadina, R-Corrales, the "reigning king of the oddball bill."
- Illinois is considering whether prostitutes should be able to sue their pimps. Another offbeat bill would ban force-feeding of birds. The legislation is aimed at regulating how the delicacy, foie gras, is made.
- The Texas House voted to carve out an exemption under the state's new strict dietary guidelines for public schools to allow students to bring in cupcakes, complete with candy sprinkles, to celebrate birthdays.
- After North Dakota reportedly issued a blind man a license to carry a concealed gun, Rep. Todd Porter, R-Mandan, introduced H.B. 1205 to get rid of requirements that permit holders take a written and shooting test. Porter cited the uselessness of the current regulation.
- Lawmakers in Oregon and Texas want people to stop shooting animals through the Internet. A Web site called Live-shot.com offers computer users the chance to pay to control video cameras and a rifle to shoot big game on a Texas ranch. The legislation would ban Internet hunting of exotic species and big-game.
Naturally any bill involving "underwear" gets a laugh. Florida state Sen. Gary Siplin (D) sponsored a bill this year to forbid anyone from exposing underwear in a way that "exposes or exhibits one's covered or uncovered sexual organs." He proposed a $50 fine and 10 days in jail for violators. Virginia's similar "droopy drawers bill" was voted down in February after state lawmakers got a national reputation for trifling with regulating teen fashion.
Even a serious $14.6 billion state transportation project has strayed into laugh-track territory lately. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) was good-humored in describing the leaking main tunnel of Boston's Big Dig tunnel project. "We got more than we bargained for," Romney told The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Mass. "We not only got a tunnel system, we got a car wash."
Contact Kathleen Murphy at kmurphy@stateline.org.
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