Out of Control

George Passantino suggests giving California legislators more time off would make it harder for them to create mischief:

Like the vast majority of states, including powerful Texas and Florida, California should return to a part-time Legislature. Reducing the amount of time lawmakers spend in Sacramento would force the Legislature to focus on the real priorities of the state.

Each session, several thousand legislative proposals are introduced, and together they reveal a lack of focus on core priorities. In recent years, bills have been introduced to mandate that gas stations not charge people to put air in their tires, to require couples seeking marriage to first read a state-sanctioned fact sheet on how marriage will impact their lives, and another that confronted the growing threat of unlicensed horse massage. The latest example is an effort to ban ``Redskin'' as a high school mascot. Each of these bills costs the taxpayers money, but more important, they draw attention away from real problems.