The number of amendments can be
easily calculated, but by what standard
can the nature of an amendment be
measured? This evaluation necessarily
involves an examination of an amend-
ment in terms of the entire bill to which
it is adjoined. What is the thrust of an
amendment, and how does it affect the
bill as written? The value of the review
will be expressed by the magnitude of
the change.6 Again, an assumption is
being made in favor of a second review
that a greater change means a greater
improvement. A relative comparison of
the "textual change" type of amendment
with the "new idea" type of amendment,
lends itself well to a categorization.
However, such an evaluation constitutes
a judgment. Anticipating the argument
that the study is only as reliable as its
least accurate judgment, the "relative
significance" test employs only a few,
clear, categories into which the amend-
ments will easily fit. Difficult judgment
is essentially eliminated. The categories
were as follows :
STATE OR LOCAL
This was the initial separation. Since
it is anticipated that home rule will soon
relieve the General Assembly of local
legislation, it was decided that the issue
to be resolved is second review of state
legislation. Bills concerning a single
county or area received no further at-
tention. The remaining state legislation
was placed into one of the following
seven categories :
DIED IN HOUSE OF ORIGIN
Clearly, not all bills have a second
review because not all bills get to the
second house. Many die in the original
committee. These have been designated
6 This may not be the case, but if one as-
sumes that all change is beneficial, one must
remain consistent and assume that greater
change is more beneficial.
118
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D.I.C. for "died in committee." Bills
which died on the floor of the original
house were also included under this label
since for the purposes of this paper there
is no distinction.
This can be illustrated by Senate Bill
196. Introduced by the president of the
Senate, the bill concerned extending the
terms of notaries public. Referred to the
Committee on Judicial Proceedings,7
the bill is not further journalized.
DIED IN HOUSE OR SENATE
This category describes all bills which
passed one house but died in the other.
Senate bills which died after senate pas-
sage and house bills which died after
house passage reflect that a type of
review had taken place.8 This review
was not the constructive criticism usually
seen. In most cases the bill died in a
committee of the other house.9
The argument must be met that part
of the value of second review rests in
the defeat of undesirable bills. It may
in part, yet the theory can be met on
two grounds. First, the two-house system
lends itself to a shifting of the respon-
sibility for the demise of certain bills.
This shift results in some bills having a
relatively easy time through the house
of origin and then meeting sudden and
devastating opposition in the other
house. Such organized spontaneous op-
position is relied upon, and would
probably elicit legislative discomfort if
it failed to materialize. Second, the end-
of-session rush does not grant an oppor-
7 1 md. H. del. jour. 201 (1965).
8 Senator Dirksen has been quoted as saying
that the real test for a legislative session is not
what was passed, but what was killed.
9 It is certainly a common practice in a bi-
cameral legislature to introduce controversial
bills and even some bad bills by the con-
stituents with the tacit understanding that
they will be killed in the other house.
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