Lawmaker Comments On Hoghousing
Air Date:02/22/2011
By Kealey Bultena
South Dakota lawmakers use the term hoghousing to take all existing text out of a bill and replace it with an entirely new measure. Because it happens as an amendment, hoghousing can occur in committee meetings, but it also happens on the House and Senate floor. After several bills took new forms in the House of Representatives Tuesday, Democrat Larry Lucas stresses that lawmakers shouldn’t skip the normal process.
"There’s been no effort at all or opportunity for proponents and opponents to have testimony. We just introduce a title to a bill, pass it down the floor, then put on our hoghouse amendment and say we’ll take care of it on the Senate," Lucas says. "There’s 35 Senators and there’s 70 of us, and I don’t want to give up my legislative prerogative to trust the 35 Senators always. They do a good job, but we have our job too."
Lawmakers sometimes introduce legislation that contains little content, so they have an easy piece of legislation to hoghouse.
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