Legislative Secrecy: Title Only Bills

The Legislature has a terrible habit of introducing "title only" bills. They just have the title of a bill (like "An act relating to ...") but no actual text. This allows deals to be cut behind closed doors and text to be added to the bill at the last minute. Literally, the last minute. So no one--neither the public nor the minority party--can read it before it's passed.

The Washington Policy Center's Jason Mercier describes why this is a bad way to pass the "people's" laws because it allows the Legislature to do what they want without the "people" getting any say in it.