EDITORIAL
Legislature shakeout deserves second look

Anyone who follows the work of the state Legislature knows that nothing is certain until the gavel is brought down on closing day.

And even then, things have a habit of changing.

Still, as the Legislature moves along, a picture of what is possible and what is less possible begins to emerge. One important "smoke-clearing" day is "crossover," during which the House sends its best ideas to the Senate and vice versa.

At this point, it is perhaps more important to look at the bills left behind. Since it is always easier to kill legislation than pass it, the fact that some ideas have been held up suggests they face serious — perhaps fatal — opposition.

In some cases, that's a good idea. In other cases, it is a shame that worthwhile ideas have hit a stone wall. Here's a brief look at some of the bills that have stalled, and our hopes for them in the remaining days of the session. Stalled and should stay that way:

• Exempting the counties from the state sunshine, or open-meeting, law. This is a retrogressive idea. If anything, the Legislature should be brought under the law rather than having the county councils enjoying an exemption.
• Subjecting students to mandatory drug testing. While everyone agrees with the effort to keep young people off drugs, this proposal would create tensions and wariness between students and the educators they are supposed to trust.
• Tightening the rules governing the medical use of marijuana. This appears harmless, but in fact is a major step away from the enlightened decision to allow patients to use marijuana for medical treatment in limited cases.
• Landfill loophole. This would have allowed a commercial landfill operation to go forward by permitting such uses over drinking-water aquifers. While the landfill operator would clearly use the best environmental practices, this would have opened a door to further bending of our environmental laws.
• Repeal of the so-called "bottle bill." Let's at least give this recycling measure a chance to prove itself before acting to repeal it.

Bills that deserve a second look even though there are objections:

• Unadjudicated traffic fines to the counties. This would allow the counties to keep uncontested traffic and parking fines, which are issued by county employees. Since the state incurs no costs where there is no contest, there is no rational reason why the state should keep the revenue.
• Taking public school principals out of the union. While this is probably too controversial a measure to pass this session, the idea deserves a lot more discussion and fleshing out this year.
• Traffic camera enforcement against "red light runners." Clearly stung by the backlash against traffic camera enforcement of speeding laws, lawmakers are reluctant to proceed with this far more modest and sensible use of technology. It is a good idea.