Many of those who helped draft the measure defend it as a vital breakthrough in their years-long effort to pinpoint weaknesses in the science behind costly regulations.
The Internet traffic on the draft often cites as evidence of a future draft the measure sponsored by Mr. Rangel, which would require two years of military service or the alternative of national service, as well as its companion in the Senate sponsored by Senator Ernest F. Hollings, Democrat of South Carolina.
"These common-sense reforms are needed to bolster the public's confidence in elected officials," said Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), a member of a group of lawmakers that drafted the measures.
The National Right to Life Committee drafted the measure.
She also noted that lawmakers drafted the measure "in order to protect taxpayers and consumers".
Mr. Schwarzenegger drafted the measure with the help of the brain trust of former Gov. Pete Wilson, whom he hired to buff his image after suffering a tabloid takedown last year when his name was bandied about as a candidate for governor.
"What this initiative does is cap a 20-plus-year war on marijuana," said Dan Hamburg, a former Democratic congressman and now one of the local Green Party members who drafted the measure.
Instead, the cabinet late Friday evening drafted the measure into a bill, which it planned to introduce within the next three days in Parliament, where Mr. Berlusconi's center-right coalition has a solid majority.
Sergei P. Zabednov, the Volgograd city lawmaker who drafted the measure, said that legislators were not trying to rehabilitate Stalin, but "return respect" to the millions of Soviet veterans who fought at Stalingrad and brought fame to the city under that name.
After an initial backlash, the Islamic-based United Development Party, or P.P.P., which drafted the measure, said it would scale back its goals and instead seek comprehensive regulations on the sale of alcohol.
