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The 10th
Plymouth District
includes all of
West Bridgewater,
Easton Precinct 3,
Brockton:
Ward 6 A, B, C, D;
Ward 5 B, C, D;
and
Ward 4 B and C
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A story About Lawmaking
This is a true story about Ms.
Palma Johnson’s second grade class at the
Kennedy School in Franklin, Massachusetts.
One day, Ms. Johnson told the class that, by law,
there is a state bird – the chickadee – and state
tree – the American Elm – and a state fish – the
cod. |
“What about a state bug?”, somebody
asked, “do we have none?”
“No,” said the teacher.
“I think there should be a state bug,” said one little
boy. |
Ms. Johnson’s
second-graders |
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A good idea
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“I think so too,” said a little girl,
“and I think it should be a ladybug.” All of the
children agreed.
“What a good idea,” said their teacher. “Maybe our
class can make the ladybug the state bug. Maybe we
can help make it a law!”
All of the boys and girls began to talk excitedly.
They agreed that they would like very much to try.
It would take a long time, the teacher told the, but
in the end it would be worth it. |
The class learned that everyone who lives in
Massachusetts has the right to give legislators,
the men and women who make the laws, ideas for new
laws. |
This right is called the right of free
petition.
So Ms. Johnson wrote to the State House, the
capitol building in Boston, and in a few days the class
received a petition form. They wrote their idea about a
state bug on the special form.
Then, Ms. Johnson told them, they
would have to get their petition signed by a
legislator. She explained that there are two kinds
of legislators: representatives, who speak
for one or two towns, and senators, who speak
for several towns. The found out that their town,
Franklin has its own senator and its own
representative. So the children wrote to their
representative.
He wrote back to say that he would be glad to sign
the petition.
After their petition was signed, it began its long
journey to becoming a law. |
Signing the petition
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The class decided to find out everything that would
happen to their petition on its journey and make
sure to be there when anything important happened
along the way.
First, their petition had to become a bill.
The House Clerk in the House of Representatives
takes care of this. He read their ladybug petition
and gave it its own number, H.5155.
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Talking about
the bill
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Then, he had to decide which of the
committees in the House of Representatives to send
the bill to. Different committees study different
kinds of subjects. When the House Clerk picked the
right committee, he had copies of the bill made and
sent to all of the senators and representatives on
the committee, so they could study it.
Meanwhile, at school, the children in Ms. Johnson’s
class were busy making ladybug costumes to wear when
the time came for them to visit the State House.
They wanted to show everyone there how much they
really cared about making the ladybug the official
bug! |
When the class heard which committee was studying their
bill, they wrote to find out when their bill would be
“heard.” A committee has a public hearing for
each bill it studies. At a hearing, anyone can come and
say why he or she thinks a bill should or should not be
made a law or passed into law.
On the day of the public hearing, Ms. Johnson’s
second grade class dressed in ladybug costumes, got
on the yellow school bus and rode all the way to
Boston to the State House. |
Dressed in their costumes |
They walked inside the enormous building
with the shiny golden dome and into the room where the
hearing was being held. They wanted to testify – to tell
the legislators about their idea.
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At the hearing |
When it was their turn, some of the boys and girls stood
up and told the legislators why they thought it would be
a wonderful idea to make the ladybug the official state
bug.
“They’re so beautiful with their shiny orange backs and
bold black spots,” they said, “and they can be found in
everyone’s backyard.”
The committee listened very carefully while the
children explained how they felt. Then the committee
had to decide what to tell all the legislators, who
would later vote on the new idea. You will be glad
to hear that the |
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committee told the House of
Representatives that they believed the ladybug bill
should be passed into law! The class was very happy. |
A
few weeks later, Ms. Johnson’s class got back on the
school bus and headed for Boston. It was the day that
all of the representatives were going to discuss the
ladybug bill for the first time.
This time the class went to the beautiful chambers of
the House of Representatives. They stood high up in a
balcony where they could see and hear everything that
was happening.
The class found out that there are three readings of
every bill before a final vote can be taken. So between
the three readings, the class visited some of the
representatives in their offices and wrote to others to
ask them to vote for the bill.
The House of Representatives voted for the ladybug
bill, and then sent it to the Senate to be read
and voted on again. The children once again
returned to Boston and this time they sat in the
gallery of the Senate chamber to hear the
Senators talk about the ladybug bill. |
High up in a balcony |
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Writing to representatives |
The Senate also like
the bill and wanted it to be made into a new
law. The children cheered!
Now the bill was printed on very special paper call
parchment and sent back to the House of Representatives
for a final vote called enactment. Soon, the Senate also
did the same.
At last, the bill could go to the governor. If
he agreed that the ladybug should be the
state bug, he would sign the bill.
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The governor agreed! He invited Ms. Johnson’s
second grade class to be there when he wrote his
signature on the bill.
They all wore their best clothes and piled once again
into the bus to made the last, familiar journey to the
State House in Boston. They walked up the grand
staircase to the governor’s office and watched as he
signed their bill into law.
They were very proud. |
And that is how the ladybug came to be the
official
state bug of Massachusetts.
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Published
by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth
Citizen Information Service |
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