Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/225

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THE LEGISLATURE
201

as to be most accessible for the use of the members and the public, during the session and at the end thereof in the office of the secretary of state."

Wisconsin has now added to its other machinery a permanent statute revisor. It is his duty at the close of each session to issue an annual volume bringing the statutes to date and systematically to revise them, chapter by chapter, submitting each chapter as revised, to the legislature for approval. The revisor of statutes and his assistants are now called in by the governor to examine all bills for technical mistakes before he signs them. This adds a further check on mistakes and will doubtless prove a step toward making our statute law a much finer and more dignified code.

Wisconsin has had a great advantage in its appropriation procedure, for all appropriation bills must receive the sanction of the joint committee on finance. This committee has practical control of the amounts apportioned and it has become so thoroughly a custom to "uphold" the committee, that its cuts are almost always maintained. This has led to great economy and particularly efficient adjustment of various appropriations. Of course, this committee withholds the bills until it sees their full content and until some estimate of revenue can be made. The committee in recent years has employed clerks and statisticians. Contrary to the custom in nearly all other states, this committee reports these