Legislative Law and Process in a Nutshell

This book -- authored by a longtime legislator, law professor, appellate judge and volunteer lobbyist -- provides a pragmatic view of how state legislatures operate. It gives a behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating and little understood intellectual journey that is the legislative process. This book helps its readers understand how hard thought and hard work turn first-draft legislative ideas into effective laws. It describes the process used by all legislative institutions to refine bills, and examines the tactics of advocates that speed or impede legislation. The dynamic life of legislative law after enactment is detailed, including how agencies, local governments and businesses use statutes and how citizens, lawyers and courts adjust legislative words to fit life's realities. The third edition of this popular book retains the practical insights of the previous editions and adds descriptions of the profound impact the Internet and cell phones have had on the daily work of the legislature (for both outsiders and insiders). It also analyzes the influence -- and probable life expectancy -- of the bitter political partisanship of recent years.