Member-only story
Model legislation is not a problem
Using copycat bills is responsible, not subversive
State legislators across the country are said to be abrogating their responsibilities by introducing bills they didn’t even write themselves. As the USA TODAY breathlessly reports: “special interests have infiltrated state legislatures using model legislation.” Our democracy is being subverted by copy and paste it seems.
What is model legislation?
Model legislation, sometimes called copycat legislation, is exactly what it sounds like: a model for others to use, a prewritten bill presented to a legislator by some outside — generally non-governmental — person or group.
Erin Merryn is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse turned author, speaker, child advocate and activist. She is the founder and president of Erin’s Law, an advocacy group to “persuade all 50 states to pass Erin’s Law, which mandates that all public schools use age-appropriate curricula to teach students how to tell on anyone who touches or attempts to touch their private parts.”
Erin has traveled to dozens of states, speaking to hundreds of legislators and their staff, on behalf of Erin’s Law. When visiting various state capitols, in addition to statistics on child sexual abuse and testimonials from survivors she brings a sample Erin’s Law with her.
