Thousands of new bills are filed every year by lawmakers in Springfield. Some of them feature popular, widely accepted ideas to make the state better, while others seem a little more out of left field. Every week, the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus is highlighting a few of the bills that are outlandish, not very well thought out, or just plain bad for the people of Illinois.

This week we take a look at:

Senate Bill 153, which would require courts to appoint legal representation for cats and dogs. It should be noted that the legislation doesn’t state how the lawyers would effectively communicate with their four-legged clients.

Senate Bill 571 would ban alcohol purchases at self-checkout registers. Currently, stores with self-checkouts require a staff member to check a customer’s ID before the system will let the purchase process move forward, so it’s not clear what would be gained by requiring customers to wait in line for one of the few checkouts with an employee ringing up the items.