“I’m holding a contest,” she states. “We need a name for when the Legislature amends a bill to add a completely new topic, different from the original bill.

“For example, ‘Gut and Replace’ is a good descriptive name. … But that term only applies when the Legislature ‘guts’ a bill (removes the original contents) and “replaces” it with entirely content.

“Gut and Replace doesn’t apply when the Legislature keeps the original contents, but changes the bill drastically by adding an entirely new section that has nothing to do with the original content. …”

Thielen, it seems, is having a little fun to make an important point of this new trend. Read Civil Beat’s story on a recent example.

Photo courtesy twm1340.

—Chad Blair