THE IOWA JOURNAL OF HISTORY AND POLITICS

OCTOBER NINETEEN HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE

VOLUME NINETEEN NUMBER FOUR

VOL. XIX-32

THE LEGISLATION OF THE THIRTY-NINTH

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF IOWA

In accordance with a constitutional provision1 the Senate and House of Representatives of the Thirty-ninth General Assembly convened on January 10, 1921; and both houses adjourned eighty-nine days later on April 8th. This is the shortest regular session since 1909 when the period consumed by the Thirty-third General Assembly also included eighty-nine days. Both houses of the Thirty-ninth General Assembly were in actual session only sixty-seven working days: besides the twelve Sundays, recesses were taken on January 14th, 15th, and 17th at the end of the first week and again from February 26th to March 5th inclusive to permit the members to attend to business matters at home. On the basis of the number of days employed the compensation of members of the Thirty-ninth General Assembly amounted to approximately fifteen dollars a day.2

Some notion of the work of the Thirty-ninth General Assembly may be obtained from a summary of the number of bills considered. During the session 1147 measures were introduced. Of these, 529 bills and 10 joint resolutions originated in the Senate, and 606 bills and 2 joint resolutions in the House of Representatives. The House took action upon 463 of its own measures, and 257 of these were 1 Constitution of Iowa, Art. III, Sec. 2.

2 Most of the statistical information contained in the following paragraphs was compiled and verified by Mr. Jacob Van Ek. The facts were obtained from the bill files and Acts of the Thirty-ninth General Assembly, the House Journal and Senate Journal of the Thirty-ninth General Assembly, and the Index and History of Senate and House Bills, 1921. All tabulations and summaries were carefully checked.

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also acted upon by the Senate; the Senate took action upon 408 of its own measures and 225 of these were also acted upon by the House. In all, 404 acts and 7 joint resolutions passed both houses and were approved by the Governor 150 of them receiving the executive signature after the date of adjournment, all but two being signed during the following week. One measure, the Springer Public Utilities Bill, was vetoed.

Two hundred and five of the measures that gained enactment originated in the Senate, and 207 in the House. There were 43 Senate bills and 2 joint resolutions which failed to pass the House; while 103 House bills failed to pass the Senate. This is in marked contrast to the Thirty-eighth General Assembly in which nearly twice as many Senate bills failed to pass the House as House bills failed in the Senate. Like the previous Assembly, however, the Thirtyninth General Assembly enacted approximately thirty-six per cent of the bills introduced. The House passed nearly fifty-two per cent of its own measures, and the Senate passed more than forty-six per cent of the Senate bills. This again is almost the exact reverse of the situation in the Thirty-eighth General Assembly. It appears, therefore, that in the Thirty-ninth General Assembly the House was able to dispose of business with more expedition than the Senate. Perhaps this was due to the installation of the electrical voting mechanism. No less than 191 acts over 46 per cent were deemed to be of immediate importance and were declared to be in effect upon publication in designated newspapers. This is 75 more than were deemed of immediate importance by the Thirty-eighth General As

8 Action in this case is construed to mean that a bill has come to or beyond the stage of being placed on the calendar. This means, in most cases, that a committee report has been adopted or rejected, which implies that the whole house has expressed an opinion on the measure.

sembly. The remaining 220 measures became effective July 4, 1921.

In regard to the measures that failed of passage, by far the greater number were defeated in the chamber in which they originated. For example, of the 401 House files which failed of enactment 294 were lost in the House, 103 were lost in the Senate, one was lost in a conference committee, one was vetoed, and one was recalled from the Governor by both houses. Of the Senate files which failed of enactment 289 were lost in the Senate, while only 45 were lost in the House. The manner in which the bills were defeated constitutes an enlightening commentary on the methods of legislation. No less than 217 of the 735 propositions that failed were withdrawn. More measures were disposed of adversely by this method than in any other way. This practice has the parliamentary advantage of disposing of a bill without prejudice and leaving the way open for its reintroduction at a more auspicious time in the same or future sessions. There were 204 bills which failed of enactment by being indefinitely postponed and 174 measures were lost in committee. Indefinite postponement was often recommended by committees on the theory that the matter would be handled during a special session on code revision. A surprisingly small number of bills only 69 were defeated by an adverse vote on the question of passage. It appears that the chances of passage are good if a bill can be brought to the stage of the final vote. A few bills were lost by being passed on file and forgotten, and the career of others ended with the substitution of another bill on the same subject. There were only eight instances of bills being killed by striking out the enacting clause.

As in the Thirty-eighth General Assembly the number of bills introduced by individual members is, roughly speaking, inversely proportional to the size of the house. The