K_Z
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That's a great question, inthedark14.
Anyone, private citizens, nonprofits, special interest groups, corporations, etc can suggest an idea for a law. But only legislators can introduce a bill. If a sitting legislator was embroiled as a defendant in some kind of lawsuit, the degree to which he or she was able to be effective in their job as a legislator would depend on what the lawsuit was about, and what the legislator's alleged role was. He or she might be a pariah, with other legislators distancing themselves, or the lawsuit might be about something so obtuse that it escaped notice of the public and other legislators.
So, Dina herself cannot "introduce" anything into either the AZ House or the Senate. The degree to which the "idea proposer" is invited into the process of writing and promoting the bill is up to the legislator who agrees to sponsor it. And as BettyP has pointed out, Dina cannot be severed from this process for her idea for the bill. It just wouldn't work to have someone else promoting it.
The only hope Dina has, IMO, is to step away from the process all together, and persuade a legislator to take it on independently, without Max's name attached, or Dina, in any way. But that would look very odd. I suppose it "could" potentially work, though, as long as the legislator took total control and responsibility for the bill and the language as though they thought it up themselves, KWIM?
For example, if there were an idea for a bill that had to do with child safety, a legislator may choose to develop a focus group of many interested stakeholders to study the issues for a period of time, and identify priorities-- such as whether there is already something in statutory language that could be changed, or do we need a whole new law. Then the legislator would make a decision whether or not to sponsor a bill for a whole new law, or attach some things to other bills, or abandon it all together. (That is a greatly simplified explanation.)
One thing to keep in mind is that Dina doesn't just have to persuade ONE legislator of her ideas for a proposed bill. She has to make the issues palatable enough, that a bill could be written that has a chance of passing BOTH the house and senate! Once a bill is written (a process that can take a VERY long time in the case of a new law), it is submitted, numbered, read, and referred to a committee. The committee chair has a ton of power-- the chair can decide whether or not a bill gets a hearing, who gets to speak at the hearing, how long, etc. The committee votes it up or down, then it goes to the full senate (or house), and is voted up or down. (Legislators can ask questions and talk about it again before the vote.) THEN the bill has to go thru the SAME process in the house. Only when BOTH the house and senate have passed the bill, does it go to the Governor to be signed or vetoed. There is a lot more to it than that, but this is the basic process. But as you can see, you have to persuade a lot of people that "your" idea should be a law. You have to talk it up to other legislators to either get them to sign on as co-sponsors, or agree to support it and vote it up. There is a lot of "you support my issue, and I'll support yours" discussions at every state capitol.
AZ Senate has 30 members, and the House has 60. AZ has a Republican trifecta-- Governor and both houses are dominated by Republicans. This should theoretically make it easy for republican sponsored legislation to pass, but it doesn't always work that way, lol!
If Dina's idea for a bill gets introduced, it would likely go to the Health and Human Services Committee. Senator Barto is chair of that committee.
And Senator Barto is up for re-election in 2014.
I strongly agree with BettyP that this idea for a bill has almost no chance of passing even one house. However, Dina is in Senator Barto's district, so there is another possibility. Sometimes legislators introduce legislation bills that they know have no chance of passing. They do this for "show" and support for other purposes, sometimes, and sometimes they do it for their constituents. If Senator Barto DOES introduce Dina's idea for a bill, the key thing will be to watch how Senator Barto handles the bill. Does she aggressively nurture it, or let it die of benign neglect?
Roughly 1000 bills are introduced every session, and usually around 300 make it all the way thru the process. Getting a completely new law thru the process is extremely difficult, expensive, and time consuming-- and the process was meant to BE that way! To protect all of us.
And also remember that for most states (I have to check AZ), a bill that is introduced and doesn't make it all the way to being a law DIES at the end of the legislative session. Only a few states have bills held over for a second session. So if your bill doesn't make it, you have to start all over again the next session with sponsors, etc and reintroduce it, if you have enough patience and drive to send the issue up again for consideration! :seeya:
