Is There a Reformer in the House?
Time has come to pass the ‘Roadmap to Reform’
It is now crystal clear to anyone not living in Osama’s cave that the voters and taxpayers of Pennsylvania want serious and significant reform of their state government. The question now is: how much reform, if any, will we actually get?
State government, especially the Imperial Legislature, is slow to change. The defeat in one election cycle of the two highest ranking members of the state Senate and ten percent of the House Republican caucus should be enough of a wake-up call to change that mentality. But don’t bet the mortgage on it. The only way meaningful reform will take place is for voters to keep the pressure on their legislators.
But what reforms should be enacted? A group of reform minded organizations ranging from the Commonwealth Foundation on the right to Common Cause on the left have banded together to produce a “Roadmap to Reform.” The document is sweeping in its scope, and uniting in its principles. The surviving members of the General Assembly would be well advised to study the document carefully, and institute the reform recommendations contained within it as quickly as possible – and certainly before the November election.
The “Roadmap to Reform” calls for greater transparency in government by strengthening the state’s open records law, placing controls on lobbyists, ending legislative sessions before the general election, making legislative voting records available to the public, providing a “citizen opportunity period” for people to study and comment upon pending legislation, and reigning in legislative perks. Reforms called for in the roadmap would improve electoral competition by placing modest controls on campaign fundraising, making reapportionment fair, and allowing greater ballot access to minor parties. Perhaps most significantly, it would authorize a general constitutional convention to bring real, structural change to state government.
While all components of the “Roadmap to Reform” are vital, two strike me as particularly pressing: ending legislative sessions before the general election, and the calling of a constitutional convention.
Dubbed “Over by October,” the reform proposal would put an end to the Imperial Legislature’s notorious lame duck or “seine die” sessions. Such sessions are held after the November general elections, but before the legislature constitutionally expires at midnight on November 30th. This means that retiring legislators along with those who have been defeated in either the primary or general elections get to vote.
Making this practice even more reprehensible is the fact the most significant and controversial issues are frequently brought up for consideration during the seine die session. This is done to insulate members against voter to reaction to their decisions. Such dodging of responsibility has worked like a charm for years. Of course so did middle of the night pay raise votes until last July.
The “Roadmap to Reform” calls for ending not only the practice of lame duck sessions, but for adjourning the legislature by October 1st so voters will have time to digest the actions of their representatives before going to the polls to vote in November. Let me suggest taking this one step further, do as Maryland does – hold a 90 day session at the beginning of each year and then adjourn. In practice, most of the legislature’s work gets done in 90 working days anyhow, it just gets spread out for the entire year to justify legislative salaries and perks.
Another key milepost on the “Roadmap to Reform” is the calling of a state constitutional convention. The last such gathering was held in the late 1960s, and there is no doubt that it produced serious structural deficiencies in state government. A new convention could address those problems – or possibly make them worse – but the system we have now is so broken it is an undertaking well worth the risk.
It remains to be seen whether and how quickly the Imperial Legislature will address reform proposals. Some reform-minded members have already gotten the ball rolling with a package of proposals known collectively as the Jefferson Reform initiative. The question now is will the traditionally autocratic legislative leadership stomp out the reform movement, or will voters have to take further corrective action at the polls this November.
(Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly Lincoln Radio Journal. His e-mail address is [email protected].)
