For anyone out there who wants to learn how to write state legislation, in the Public Interest, here's a WOLF 101 crash course:

1] Use your favorite search engine to contact your State Assembly (House or Senate).

2] Download a few pending bills and some existing state law to get the hang of it.

3] Familiarize yourself with the abbreviations for the different types of bills (variable from state to state).

4] Clearly define the purpose and context of the intended legislation, and research existing statutes. Creative adaptation of other states statutes can work under the right circumstances.

4] Pick an editable copy of a short piece of legislation in WORD or other standard format and make a working copy.

5]  Familiarize yourself with the general form of the bill. Keep the line numbers, headings, layout, etc. and edit out the specific language of the bill and synopsis. You now have a general template for a given state legislature and bill type.

6]  Write a bill, or propose an amendment, think carefully and use clear, and precise language, logically organized by section. Keep section, paragraph, subchpter, chapter numbers, etc. in order.

7]  Start out small, with a short but specific proposition and work up to larger pieces as you gain more experience.

8] Most importantly, write legislation that in the greater public interest, preserves the Constitution, does not waste public funding, simplifies  needlessly complex procedures and/or  gives greater creative freedom and; think of its real effects before you write it.

The above procedures also work for state contitutional amendments, but these should be used sparingly if statutory remidies are not possible under the existing legal framework.

Lobbyists and special interest groups write legislation and hand it to politicians, so it's about time that the People did the same.

The power is in your hands.

Now you know the basis of writing state legislation. The next lesson will deal with a specific example of a proposed amendment to a Delaware House bill.

[ From the teachings of Chairman Wolf.]