The National Conference of State Legislatures = The Forum For America's Ideas

Recently Released & Recommended:

NCSL The State of Staff Survey

The single most influential nonpartisan organization that serves state legislators and staffers in the constant improvement of the legislative process is the National Conference of State Legislatures based in Denver, CO. No brag, just fact.

NCSL personnel management gurus Karl Kurtz and Brian Weberg have completed a survey indicating trends in the staffing patterns of legislatures in all 50 states. NCSL did its first count of staff in 1979. Now well into the 2000s, it appears that the number of legislative staff has leveled off after considerable growth in the 1970s and 1980s. The NCSL survey counted the number of staff employees serving currently, and then reviewed how that number has changed over the past 30 years.

Among the key findings:

• Women are well-represented among all staff, except in managerial ranks.

• Staff jobs are dominated by whites, with minorities under-represented.

• A large majority of legislative staff view their work as a long-term career.

• Main concern among staff managers is the impending retirement of long-term staffers.

The link above leads to more information well worth reading. Other interesting findings relate to:

• Differences Among States

• The Partisan Percentage

• Staffing as a Career

• Staff Concerns

• Future Uncertainties

A Birthday and Constitution Day Tribute to Samuel Johnson

You may have gathered that the Law Writer values history and context as part of the craft. And, will take any opportunity to add historical notes to the process of drafting law. Yesterday was Constitution Day, so the Law Writer will use that excuse, and the gentleman's 300th birthday, to pay homage to  Samuel Johnson, the English author, critic, and lexicographer (1709 - 1784).

Dr. Johnson took nine years to produce his Dictionary of the English Language published in 1755 -- the most commonly used text of its kind for 150 years until the publication of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1928. Dr. Johnson's work had a major impact on Modern English and is widely considered one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship. Particularly important to the Law Writer is the fact that Dr. Johnson's esteemed work influenced the framers of the U. S. Constitution as his was the dictionary of the Revolutionary Era.

The Law Writer must confess that complete appreciation for Dr. Johnson's significance was somewhat lacking when the Law Writer was required to read James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson during undergraduate studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. Now, many years later and after acquiring more seasoned biographical reading tastes, the Law Writer has placed Boswell's masterpiece on the short range reading list.

Happy 300th Birthday to Dr. Samuel Johnson &

A Belated Happy 222nd Birthday to the Constitution

of the United States of America.

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it". Samuel Johnson. 

Recommended Reading: NYT Op-Ed on "Dr. Johnson's Revolution" by Jack Lynch, the editor of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary: Selections from the 1755 Work That Defined the English Language.


[Note: Another important dictionary in American history -- Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.]

New York Law Bans Use of ‘Oriental’ in State Documents

On September 8, 2009, New York Governor David A. Paterson signed legislation to ban the use of the term “Oriental” in reference to persons of Asian or Pacific Islander descent on all “forms or preprinted documents used by state government, public authorities or municipalities.” The redactions are required by no later than Jan. 1.

Governor Paterson said in a statement: "The words we use matter. We in government recognize that what we print in official documents or forms sets an example of what is acceptable. With this legislation, we take action against derogatory speech and set a new standard. The word ‘oriental’ does not describe ethnic origin, background or even race; in fact, it has deep and demeaning historical roots. I am pleased to sign this legislation and remove the phrase from preprinted forms and documents."

The Magic of Law Writing

The Law Writer takes raw materials (consisting of the ideas of others), then applies law writing skills to materialize that idea into law. Sometimes, the process is almost magical.

The first audience for a piece of law writing is the bill sponsor. If the Law Writer's draft bill is satisfactory to the sponsoring lawmaker, the next audience is the legislature. If the legislature approves the bill, and the governor does not veto it (if applicable), then the bill becomes law.

The audience for the enacted law includes the people (the most important audience), the executive branch (which must execute the law) and the judicial branch (which must interpret the law, if necessary.)

Thus, the Law Writer's constant aim is to write statutes so that the words and directives in the law have plain and straightforward meanings, giving the law clarity and effect.

The Law Writer is always aware that statutory interpretation begins with the text. As explained by Justice Corrigan of the Michigan Supreme Court: ". . . when the words of a statute are unambiguous, the task [of interpretation] should end there -- if the legislature has clearly spoken, nothing is left to construe."
{Quote with emphasis included from: Maura D. Corrigan & J. Michael Thomas, "Dice Loading" Rules of Statutory Interpretation, NYU Annual Survey of American Law 2003, Vol. 59:231, 233.}

NOTE:
Chapter 120 of the North Carolina General Statutes defines the requirements surrounding coded bill drafting, which is the official formatting scheme of underlinings and strike-throughs used in the NCGA electronic bill drafting/information system to create, repeal, or modify laws in North Carolina. Chapter 12 of the General Statutes covers statutory construction, working in combination with common law and case law.

The "Supreme Expression"

Law. That which is laid down, ordained, or established. A rule or method according to which phenomena or actions co-exist or follow each other . . . Law, in its generic sense, is a body of rules of action or conduct prescribed by controlling authority, and having binding legal force. . . That which must be obeyed and followed by citizens subject to sanctions or legal consequences is a law. . .Law is a solemn expression of the will of the supreme power of the State. (From Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, 1996)

Statute, n. A law passed by the legislature of a state; an enactment; a fundamental or permanent rule of law. (From Webster's Popular Illustrated Dictionary, 1937)

bill, 6 : a draft of a law presented to a legislature for enactment; also : the law itself . . .(From Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, 1996)

The law is what it is. And, legislative drafting is serious business. The legislative drafter needs a firm foundation in Constitutional Law, should be well versed in all aspects of the Separation of Powers doctrine, and must never think that he or she knows everything. Fortunately, I have learned from some of the very best including:

• John V. Orth, William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Law at UNC Law School. Professor Orth taught eloquently from Lawrence M. Friedman's classic History of American Law and from his own scholarly articles. I recommend two of Professor Orth's books -- Due Process of Law: A Brief History (University of Kansas Press, 2003) and The Judicial Power of the United States: The Eleventh Amendment in American History. (Oxford University Press, 1991).  
• Daniel Pollitt, now an emeritus professor of law at UNC Law. After World War II, Professor Pollitt was an associate of Joseph Rauh. He was the kind of teacher who frequently left the classroom to practice real law in real time by defending capital cases, representing poor people, and taking on free speech and civil liberties cases. While I was in law school, he would spend the summers as a special counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor.
• Gerry F. Cohen, a Morehead Fellow while at UNC Law School, and currently the Director of the Legislative Drafting Division of the NCGA Legislative Services Office. That would be my boss. North Carolina has a non-partisan central professional staff that serves both the State Senate and the House of Representatives, and the majority and minority parties. Gerry is known in NC legal and political circles as "Constitutional Cohen" -- really. 
• Mother Wit.  A master teacher.