Making laws the easy way: Groups offer templates so state legislators can fill-in-the blanks

Legislation templates make proposing bills easy

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — State legislators across the country are finding that sponsoring legislation can be as easy as filling in the blanks.

Groups from both ends of the political spectrum give lawmakers legislative templates that require a minimal amount of tailoring from state to state. While such templates have been around for years, lawmakers and lobbyists say technology has fanned the model bills from state to state faster than ever.

Instead of scanning or even retyping some sample bills, all lawmakers have to do now is fill in the blanks in electronic versions of the legislation.

But even the groups that create the models caution against using them as-is. And some say the groups creating the templates are too cozy with industries that may benefit from the new legislation.