Limit legislative measures

Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel: The proposal to place a limit on the number of bills filed in the Tennessee House of Representatives should be adopted by the full House in policy and in spirit.

That means the proposal should not be a signal to the state’s 99 House members and about 500 lobbyists in Nashville to begin looking for loopholes and exploiting the exceptions, although, given human nature and politics, that is bound to happen to some extent.

The aim of the proposal by House Speaker Beth Harwell — at the behest of Gov. Bill Haslam — is good government, more efficient government and a savings to taxpayers. A Republican Party, now with a supermajority, that touts operating government like a business should be amenable to Harwell’s goal, while leaving plenty of room to debate any legislation offered.

Harwell’s proposal is the result of years of discussion on the number of bills being filed in the House. Despite the ongoing issue, few took seriously the possibility of caps until the last couple of years.

After 2,200 bills were introduced in the 2011 session, Haslam sought to reduce the number by about one-third and promised to work with legislative leaders to accomplish that. If only 10 bills are filed by each House member, the total would be 990, well under the bar sought by Haslam.

At this time, there is no similar proposal in the Tennessee Senate, which has 33 members. Nevertheless, the House caps would inhibit some Senate measures because those bills would need a House sponsor.