Politics and Friendship -How a Bill (Sometimes) Becomes a Law

Many of us (of a certain age) remember Saturday morning cartoons and the School House Rock episodes that taught us conjugation, electricity and how a bill becomes a law.

For whatever reason, seeing that rolled up bill sitting on the steps on Capitol Hill and then going through the process to become a law intrigued me. As I went through high school, history was my favorite subject and I later graduated from college with a degree in political science. And with all of that education and training, the simplistic jingle of that School House Rock cartoon was pretty close to what you learned in the classroom.

Years later, having worked in Washington, DC for a Member of Congress, I ran for town council in my home town of Medford, NJ. Early on the in the process of politics and campaigning, a friend of mine who I had known since grade school offered to help out and volunteer. Knowing Brad Denn as well as I did, accepting his help and counsel was a no-brainer.

Brad, a partner at Padden Cooper CPA’s (www.paddencooper.com Medford NJ), quickly became an indispensable part of not only my campaign, but also others who were interested in running for local office. He always gave thoughtful and well founded advice.

One evening at an event, Brad approached me with a concern and an idea. His concern was that people who were doing the right thing by installing solar panels on their homes to reduce energy consumption and help make us more energy independent, were being subsequently penalized by having their home assessed higher and would therefore have to pay higher property taxes. As we discussed this further, we came up with the concept of exempting from assessed value “green” improvements to the home. A few weeks later, Medford became the first town in the state that provided for these exemptions.

In 2007, I ran for the NJ State Assembly. I reached out to Brad again for his advice and counsel and was very fortunate to have won a hard fought campaign with his help. Following up on the success of the “green” property tax exemption accomplished in Medford, I introduced legislation that would allow the exemption in every town in New Jersey.

Why, I’m not sure, but my first day as a legislator in Trenton, my bill was heard in committee and voted on. It passed. I was stunned and immediately called the person most responsible for this bill, my good friend Brad. That piece of legislation eventually worked its way through the process and passed both the Assembly and the Senate overwhelmingly and was signed into law. Again, I called Brad and congratulated him for having such a creative concept.

In my fifth year in the Assembly, I decided it was time for me to step down. My kids were hitting the age where everyone had activities and my responsibilities to my business were increasing. The decision was easy enough and once it was announced, friends like Brad called to wish me well.

Towards the end of my term in December 2013, I got another call from Brad with another great idea. He has a client who was retired and taking monthly withdraws from her non-IRA mutual funds to her bank account for monthly expenses. The money in her account was directly deposited from her mutual fund account. She rarely touched the mutual fund account and relied on her bank account (like most of us do) to make her purchases and related activities. Brad’s client received a notice from the out of State Mutual fund that the State of New Jersey would be taking action to take possession the funds (escheat) since they were not being used. Even though there were regular transactions from the account, they were electronic transfers and NJ currently does not recognize automated transactions as being “activity” on the account and that the account would be deemed abandoned.

Fortunately for the client, Brad went into action and clarified with the appropriate institutions that the account was indeed active and not abandoned. And, as I said, Brad did not stop there. He reached out to me in the final days of my term and explained the situation and I quickly introduced legislation that would recognize electronic transactions as appropriate activity to avoid escheatment.

To me, it was entirely appropriate and fitting that my friend from childhood who gave me the idea for my first legislative initiative also gave me my last.

How a bill becomes a law is often a very complicated process. How elected officials come up with their ideas varies. Sometimes it’s a “thoughts while driving” moment, or a group comes in for a specific purpose or sometimes it’s something as simple as a well-meaning person who sees a problem and doesn’t just wish things would be different – they work to make a difference.

How a bill really becomes a law is not something you learn in the classroom. It’s something you learn by standing up and getting involved and its people like Brad Denn that have a real impact on legislation.

Scott Rudder

Member of the New Jersey General Assembly 2008-2014

Brad Denn | 07/10/2014

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Politics and Friendship -How a Bill (Sometimes) Becomes a Law