Go slow when changing basic laws

A bill from Sen. Jerry O'Neil that would entitle citizens in city

planning jurisdictions to vote in city elections would have a paradoxical

boomerang effect.

While O'Neil, R-Columbia Falls, is obviously interested in giving

residents outside city limits representation in a government that has

control over planning and development, his bill would also produce

representation without taxation.

Those who live outside city limits would have an equal say in all things

without sharing in the cost. It's easy to envision residents in the planning

jurisdiction happily voting for road improvements or swimming pools or

community centers with no cost to themselves.

O'Neil's Senate Bill 253 is obviously targeted at the situation that has

developed between the city of Whitefish and its surrounding planning

jurisdiction. But who knows what effects it would have in Billings, Bozeman

or Great Falls.

We're betting O'Neil's bill will be met with plenty of justified

opposition.

There are reasons to be leery of legislation that would require schools

to offer full-day kindergarten classes, but some of the reasons cited at a

hearing last week were just plain odd.

Some folks said they oppose full-day kindergarten because it amounts to

some form of anti-Christian socialism that somehow robs parents of the

ability to teach their kids.

For starters, the proposed legislation does not require kids to attend

kindergarten - parents can still choose to enroll their kids or keep them at

home. And even if kids attend kindergarten, their parents can still be

highly influential in their education. Parents can keep tabs on what is

being taught in full-day kindergarten just as well as they can with half-day

classes.

Children "are safer at home and better taught by their loving mother and

father," said Dallas Erickson of the Montana Family Coalition. Well, that

assumes that parents are indeed at home, and not at work, and that all

parents are safe and loving.

More relevant to the discussion is concern about how much full-day

kindergarten will cost taxpayers and whether the cost is worth the benefits.

Clouding that debate is unnecessary.

There are some lawmakers in Helena, it seems, who might benefit from some

counseling on the art of restraint.

Topping the list of legislators with the most bill draft requests this

session are Rep. Dave Gallik, D-Billings with 111, Rep. Rick Maedje,

R-Fortine, with 61 and Rep. Jill Cohenour, D-Helena, with 55.

Granted, piling up requests with the Legislative Services Division sure

gives the impression that these lawmakers are busy and concerned about a

huge array of problems and issues. We understand that in some cases they may

be acting as workhorses for their respective caucuses. We understand that

many of their bill requests are officially "on hold," a status where the

bills may be partially or completely drafted but have yet to be introduced.

We also understand that these lawmakers want to make a difference.

But please. More than 50 bills from any single legislator seems excessive

and unfocused for a 90-day legislative session.

If every legislator requested 111 bills like Gallik, the Legislative

Services Division would have 16,650 requests at its doorstep instead of the

2,334 that were received this year. If they were all considered by the

Legislature, that would mean handling 185 per day.

Such a pace would mean we could no longer call the Legislature a

"deliberative body." More appropriate would be the "bill mill."