Story of the Session of the California Legislature of 1909Hichborn, Franklin
History
Story of the Session of the California Legislature of 1909
Hichborn, Franklin
California -- Politics and government
The Estudillo bill, as it was known on the Senate side of the Capitol,
had a more eventful history. Introduced in the Senate on January 8th, it
had gone to the famous Committee on Election Laws, which had been
stacked for the defeat of the Direct Primary bill. Estudillo was, to be
sure, Chairman of the Committee, but a lamb herding lions never had a
harder job on its hands than did Estudillo. He could not get his
committee together to consider the well-backed Direct Primary bill, let
alone the worthy but not politically supported local option measure.
Along about the middle of February, however, Estudillo succeeded in
getting the committee to act. By a vote of four to four the committee
refused to recommend the Local Option bill for passage. Senator Stetson,
who favored the passage of the measure, to compel committee action and
get the bill before the Senate, thereupon moved that the bill be
referred back to the Senate with recommendation that it do not pass.
Senator Stetson's motion prevailed.
Thus, the measure went back to the Senate with a majority committee
report that it do not pass. But in spite of this adverse report, the
Senate passed the measure on second reading and sent it to engrossment
and third reading. It looked very much just then as though the bill
would pass the Senate.
But the resourceful machine had other plans. When the measure came up
for final passage on February 24th, instead of being voted upon, and
passed or defeated, it was amended.
To amend a bill on third reading exasperates those who are supporting it
as nothing else can. The bill must, when thus amended, be reprinted and
re-engrossed before it can be passed. The delays thus caused very often
result in the defeat of the measure.
But the reprinted and re-engrossed Local Option bill got back to the
Senate on February 26th, and its supporters could think of no other
possible excuse for delaying its passage.
But the machine could, and did. On Senator Wolfe's motion - the reader
will no doubt remember that Senator Wolfe led the fight against the
Direct Primary bill, against the Anti-Gambling bill and against the
effective Stetson Railroad Regulation bill - on Senator Wolfe's motion
the Local Option bill, instead of being put on its final passage, was
sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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