Smith's Reforms For State Senate Do Not Go Far Enough

Last week, we saw a great change at the State of the State speech. Not only was the Lieutenant Governor of last year now at the podium, a Democratic State Senate Majority Leader was close behind him at the lectern. Yet the promise for reform in that legislative body does not look too hopeful. He had promised a marriage equality bill in 2007, but that clearly isn't going to happen, at least for now. Though he did assure us just last week that rules reform was a reality. So let's see what exactly he reformed.

From The Times-Union:

Smith's resolution contains three real changes: slightly more relaxed motions to discharge bills from committee to force a floor vote, eliminating canvass of agreement so that "no" votes are recorded on discharge and amendments, and allowing minority members to sign onto bills without receiving permission. The proposed rules would expire at the end of the year. Senate leaders would need to draft, consider and vote on a new set.

There is nothing wrong with these changes, but they fall far short of the kind of comprehensive reform the Senate needs if it is to become the deliberative, open, representative, accountable body that the Senate Democrats promised before the November elections.

To give the Senate Democrats the benefit of the doubt, up until just a few days ago, many members were almost exclusively focused on whether they would actually take control of the chamber and who would lead the conference. It is doubtful many had much time to discuss or deliberate about legislative rules changes in the past few weeks.

With that thought in mind, there is still one glimmer of hope for change in the Senate. The Democrats' proposed resolution also creates a seven-member "Temporary Committee on Rules and Administration Reform" to recommend further changes in the rules.

So basically this Op-Ed by members of the Brennan Center state that Smith's changes aren't bad, but more is needed. Perhaps this committee can enact some change with their recommendations in three months from now, but my worry is that it gets lost in the middle of the session. Smith had months, nay, years to fashion and get ready to implement the transparent government he promised and that all of us who believe in good government dreamt of.

Brennan Center Re-Checks Sheldon Silver

Earlier this week the Brennan Center put out a report showing how broken our state's government is. Speaker Sheldon Silver, being one of the key players in keeping things the way they are, responded to their findings. Unfortunately, the truth is too much for Shelly's attempt at spinning and the Brennan Center comes right back to put him in his place.

From ReformNY:

In response to yesterday’s release of the Brennan Center’s report Still Broken: New York State Legislative Reform 2008 Update, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver issued a statement suggesting that our report misrepresents the legislative process in the Assembly. We thought we’d set the record straight. Our responses to excerpts from Silver’s statement (in italics) are below.

In analyzing the work of the legislature, the Brennan Center report completely omits the state budget, as well as countless bills that pass either house every year.

This is incorrect. The analysis that forms the basis of the report included all of the budget bills listed on the New York Legislative Session Information page for 2006 and 2007 except the Legislature and Judiciary Budget Bill and the State Debt Budget Bill in each year. The statistics regarding substantive floor debate, meaningful dissent, and committee deliberation regarding these bills generally conform to the poor performance of both houses in considering the rest of the major legislation analyzed in this report.

The fact of the matter is that while the budget process in New York has become somewhat more transparent in the last few years, it is still far too opaque. Budget deals are still cut behind closed doors – once the budget bills are drafted, most details of budget reductions, tax increases, and member items are briefed and debated outside of public view.

The response to the response goes on, picking apart all of what Silver has to say for himself and defusing his nonsense. The modus operandi for people like Silver for the longest time has been to pretend things are transparent while working extremely hard to make important documents exceedingly difficult to decipher.

Good government groups try hard to unwind the mess, but because there is so much to entangle, by the time we can see what is going on the damage has already been done. It is important though that things do get untangled and places like the Brennan Center document the opacity of our state government so that people are more aware of the problems created in Albany. Hopefully because of it, the public gets motivated to actually do something about it.

NY Legislature Claims Top Honor As Most Dysfunctional

Not that this is a big surprise to those that follow state politics here in the Empire State, but NY has the most crooked legislature in the country. The Brennan Center did the statistical and factual compilations and shows us just how bad things are in Albany. Last year was just another repeat of a broken system where personal greed is encouraged next to nothing gets done for the people.

From The NY Daily News:

Almost five years after nailing the Assembly and Senate as partners in America's worst legislative branch, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School has compiled a fresh set of scandalously damning data:

• The state's 212 lawmakers introduced 18,239 bills and resolutions in 2008 - triple the number introduced in the next-highest legislature and half again more than introduced in Congress.
• More than 90% of the bills made it only as far as press releases and then they vanished without serious consideration.
• Legislative committees - which should move the bills to up-or-down votes - existed in name only. They held almost no hearings and produced exactly zero detailed reports on major legislation.

And the list goes on and on. In a nutshell, bills brought up by individual members have no chance at all unless given a go by the Speaker of the Assembly and the Majority Leader in the State Senate. Nothing has changed in a long time in our capitol and without a lot of hard work on the people's part, Albany will continue to be the scourge of the nation.