MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - On Friday (Dec. 3), legislators began the paperwork of the legislative session that ultimately will create a paper trail more than 1,000 miles long.
Friday was the start of "pre-filing" when lawmakers can begin introducing bills for the session that begins Jan. 3.
For each bill, hundreds of copies will be printed. It is the start of a mountain of paper.
Doug Burnett, House of Representatives Chief Clerk, said his office spends about $65,000-$70,000 yearly for paper to print legislation, amendments and daily house journals.
"In the last two years, the there has been an average of about 850-900 bills printed," Burnett said. "Each bill runs about four, five or six pages."
And that's just for the House. Another 450-500 bills are filed in the Senate.
These bills are distributed to each legislator, various governmental departments, and interest groups.
The consumption of paper in the clerk's office would be dramatically decreased if the legislature starts putting bills on the Internet, as has been proposed. Burnett said that transition would mean savings for Missouri.
"At some point some day I hope to see the bills on-line," he said. "I anticipate that somewhere down the road we will realize some cost savings." He added that the shift from paper to computer would not take place for at least a year or two.
But do state representatives really read every one of the hundreds of bills placed on their desks each session? Burnett said house researchers prepare summaries of the bills for the legislators.
Representative Mary Lou Sallee, R-Ava, said there's no way the legislators can read all of the bills. "As far as every rep reading every bill that's an impossibility," she said. "I read the summary of every bill that comes to the floor." But she also said that many of the bills never make it to the floor, and are never touched by legislators.
Although leftover bills are recycled, Burnett said not much can be done about the amount of paper used. "There's a lot of paper consumed in the legislature and government," he said. "We print on demand."