Good-Government Groups Send Letter to New NY Senate Governing Coalition Pushing for Rules Reform

December 18, 2012

State Senators Jeffrey Klein and Dean Skelos

Legislative Office Building, Room 304
Albany, NY 12247

Dear Senators Klein and Skelos,

Like many New Yorkers, we have closely followed the post-election developments that have led to your new coalition in the Senate.  You have stated that this new partnership marks a bold new chapter in the history of the Senate, and we are encouraged by your promise to work in a constructive, bipartisan way to put good policy ahead of politics.  As you know, our groups have long deplored the Senate operating rules, which have been one of the most substantial impediments to the thoughtful development of policy that benefits from the creative input of affected New Yorkers.  Your coalition presents an unprecedented opportunity to reform those rules and create a body that is more representative, responsive and deliberative.

In particular, our groups call for four main changes: (1) increase the strength and efficiency of committees, so that they function fully and effectively; (2) provide greater opportunity for rank and file members to bring legislation with majority support to the floor, even over the objection of leadership; (3) institute more equitable allocation of resources between all of the conferences; and (4) increase transparency in the chamber.

More specifically, we strongly urge you consider the following changes to legislative procedures:

1.        Increase the strength and efficiency of committees by

a.       Reducing the number of standing committees, and the number upon which members can sit;

b.      Allowing members to vote in committee only if they are physically present;

c.       Clarifying the rule on petition for hearings, so that 1/3 of members can ensure a hearing on a bill unless a majority of members object;

d.      Requiring a public reading and mark up process for bills before they can be passed through committee; and

e.       Requiring that all bills that pass out of committee include reports that set forth the purpose of the bill, proposed changes to existing law, a section-by-section explanation of the bill, a cost-benefit-analysis, the bill’s procedural and voting history, and any individual members’ comments on the bill;

2.     Encourage greater participation by all legislators by providing the opportunity for a simple majority of members to bring any bill to the floor for consideration and a vote, regardless of leadership objections.

3.     Foster equity and comity through the fair allocation of resources between the majority and minority parties by ensuring that funding for central staff is proportionate to a conference’s size and tightening rules prohibiting the use of resources for political purposes.

4.     Increase transparency by making access to information on the Legislative Retrieval Service free and following through with the creation of the State Government Public Affairs Channel (often referred to as “NYSPAN”).

When your new coalition convenes for the first time in January and adopts new operating rules, you will have a tremendous opportunity to send a signal to New Yorkers about your commitment to making the Senate a more representative, deliberative, accountable and efficient legislative body.  We hope that you will adopt the reform proposals listed in this letter, and welcome the opportunity to discuss them with you in greater detail in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

Lawrence Norden, Deputy Director, Democracy Program Brennan Center for Justice	Susan Lerner, Executive Director Common Cause New York
Russ Haven, Esq., Legislative Counsel New York Public Interest Research Group, Inc.	Bill Mahoney, Research Coordinator New York Public Interest Research Group, Inc.
Sally Robinson, President League of Women Voters of New York State	Dick Dadey, Executive Director Citizens Union

New York State Senate Majority Kills 311 Bills in a Single Day

Over 311 legislative proposals were killed in one fell swoop in Albany this week, after the Senate majority adopted a new method to stall legislation: refer all bills where a motion for committee consideration has been filed to the Rules Committee, where they can be ignored.

The new strategy lets them circumvent a senate rule designed to allow rank-and-file senators to force a committee vote on their bills over the objection of leadership.

The rule on motions for committee consideration was first introduced in 2009 by a Democratic majority and passed again by a Republican majority in 2011. The new rule was intended to increase the ability of rank-and-file members to move their bills out of committee by forcing chairs to place the bill on the committee agenda and schedule a vote. This replaced the Senate’s earlier rule on discharge motions which allowed a chair to stall a bill even if the bill had enough support to pass.

According to a three-paragraph letter, sent to committee chairs Tuesday morning, the Temporary President of the Senate “may at any time refer bills to the Rules Committee,” and at the request of the Temporary President, “any pending motions for committee consideration have been discharged from the respective committee and committed to the Rules Committee.”

A search through the legislative research service reveals that an astonishing 311 bills were sent to the rules committee on March 12, 2012.

This action goes against the spirit of greater transparency and accountability that the new rules were meant to accomplish. A 2009 joint statement which included then-Senate President Malcolm A. Smith and Minority Leader Dean Skelos, touted how these rules would increase the power of rank-and-file members. “No longer will the Senate be run by leaders making all the decisions,” the statement said.

Moreover, in summarizing how the new rules-- including the new motion for committee consideration– would strengthen the committee process, the statement added that “these changes will give greater power and authority to individual committee chairs and members so they can consider, judge and act on legislation independent of leadership.”

It’s disheartening to see how the majority has distorted the rules. The ability to kill 311 bills in a single day speaks to how truly “independent of leadership” the Senate has become.

Brennan Center Urges Floor Vote on Ethics Reforms

The Brennan Center for Justice wrote members of the New York State Senate today urging them to sign the petitions for chamber consideration circulated last week by Senators Squadron, Krueger, Rivera, and Addabbo to force a floor vote on four ethics bills. As our readers know, we have long advocated for rules that make it easier for rank-and-file legislators to be able to advance legislation over the wishes of the majority, and we are pleased to see that Senators are actually using them. If the Senators are able to obtain the signature of three-fifths of the entire senate, their bills will subject to a public and binding vote by the entire chamber. This will give New Yorkers an opportunity to find out where their elected officials stand on ethics reforms.

To view the letter, click here.

Hard of Hearing?

To most, this might seem like boring parliamentary wrangling, but to us at the Brennan Center it highlights everything that is dysfunctional in the Legislature:

The Senate engaged in a heated debate yesterday afternoon as lawmakers in the majority sought a vote on an economic development bill, while lawmakers in the minority sought to get a hearing on the Governor's redistricting bill. More specifically, Senate Democrats attempted to appeal a decision by the Chairman of Rules Committee to reject their petition for an "up or down vote" on whether to hold a committee hearing on the bill. Their petition was deemed invalid because it was allegedly "delivered incorrectly."

As the minority engaged in a seemingly hopeless attempt to resuscitate their petition to vote on holding a hearing on an extremely important and well publicized piece of legislation, the public got yet another taste of how hard it is to force a hearing in Albany -- or even to get legislators to publicly VOTE on whether to allow a hearing.

Hearings devoted to important legislation are a foreign concept in Albany. In contrast, many states REQUIRE hearings on ALL legislation. Hearings provide an important opportunity for legislators to obtain important testimony from both experts in the field and the general public -- and to provide momentum for issues that many legislators would otherwise love to see go away -- like reforming the redistricting process, the State's ethics laws, or our campaign finance rules.

We raised the problem of lack of committee hearings on specific bills in 2004, 2006, and 2008. Even after passing new rules in the last session and the current session -- which made it easier to force a hearing -- it still happens all too rarely in Albany.

In a transparent, deliberative, and democratic legislative process, it should simply not be this difficult to hold a hearing. The public deserves better.

Good Government Groups Continue Push for Senate Rules

In response the rules resolution introduced Tuesday by the Senate Majority, the Brennan Center for Justice, Citizens Union, Common Cause/NY, League of Women Voters of New York State, and New York Public Interest Research Group sent the following letter to Majority Leader Dean Skelos. In the letter, we reiterate suggestions we have previously made for reforms to the committee process and urge the Senate to have an open and public debate as they consider our proposals.

1/27/2011 Letter to Majority Leader Skelos Re: Rules