Maybe you saw a news report yesterday (here for example) about a legislative attempt to ban the sales of electric vehicles in Wyoming. The attempt to protect the crude oil production industry in the State sounded serious and fit in with various anti-environmental, anti-wokism politics that are receiving national attention right now. Only according to a Washington Post article published today, the legislators were not really serious, it was more about responding to a recent law passed in California outlawing the sale of gasoline powered vehicles in that State by 2035.
I have frequently pointed out in this blog that the introduction of a piece of legislation does not mean that the bill will become law, the vast majority do not. I have also noted on occasion that the introduction does not mean that the sponsor ever had any intention to see the bill passed. Sometimes it is simply an effort to get their colleagues (or the public) to start looking at a problem. More frequently, unfortunately, it is more of a fund-raising effort, making it look like the sponsor is working on a favorite issue of a high-spending contributor or significant voting block.
Similarly, a small majority in the House (currently the Republicans, but of course the Democrats did the same) will pass a controversial bill knowing full well that it has no chance to be considered in the Senate (where consideration of a bill can be blocked by 41 Senators), and if it were (through some legislative miracle) it would never be signed by the President. It makes it look like the small majority is doing something, it fires up the conservative (liberal) base, and keeps money coming in to the campaign coffers. So, maybe in two years, the small majority will become big enough to ‘actually accomplish something’.
This is one of the reasons that when I look at a piece of
legislation here in this blog, I always try to look not only on what it
attempts to accomplish, but its chance of making it through the legislative
process.
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