Looking behind the legislation

Now that the dust from this year's legislative session is settling, we are left to inspect the results.
1. The tax on the most expensive snuff tobacco is lowered and tax rates are now set by legislation per ounce. So no matter how the price changes on the stuff, the taxes will be static. It will take an act of the legislature to up-date it. This doesn't make sense to me.
2. The amount of time that citizens have to collect signatures for a referendum on legislation has been shortened by about six weeks, by act of this year's legislature. We witnessed the herculean task to place the voucher issue before the voters last year. Regardless of my opinion on education vouchers, I really like the rights of citizens to petition government. I am still trying to figure out why this bill was a good idea.
3. I am also a big fan of citizen's access to the courts. This year, the legislature passed a law that took away the right of most home owners to sue the builders of their homes for slipshod workmanship. I spoke with a frustrated subcontractor who lamented that this would affect the reputation of all the trades in the building industry. The ones who suffer the most from this legislation are the homeowners stuck in a ramshackle house. The ones who benefit are the developers who sweep in, sweep out, and sweep up.

Tied to each of these pieces of legislation, are lobbyists who are making generous donations to the campaigns of many of our legislators. It is not difficult to see who is being represented.