Lawmakers are paid to make tough decisions, and they faced one in April with an Assembly bill to place a fee on liquor wholesalers.

The fee was part of an effort to mitigate the huge costs of alcohol-related problems in California, which place a burden on taxpayers and the state's general fund.

But amid fierce opposition from the liquor industry, the bill stalled in committee.

Why? It wasn't because a majority of the 19-member Assembly Health Committee voted against it. AB 1019, authored by Assemblyman Jim Beall Jr., was defeated because nine of the committee's members didn't vote at all.

"Taking a pass" is hardly a rare occurrence at the Capitol. A recent story by The Bee's Phillip Reese reported that legislators frequently opt to abstain rather than vote a bill up or down.

According to a Legislative Counsel's Office database, lawmakers skipped 22,000 of the 300,000 votes that have taken place so far this session.

In some cases, legislators missed votes for legitimate reasons. In a few others, they abstained in pursuit of a better deal. But in a large number of votes, they just couldn't stomach taking a stand.

Either they feared the future political ramifications of their votes, or they were just trying to stay on good terms with the omnipresent special interests.

To read the complete editorial, visit The Sacramento Bee.