It is time for Sine to Die

Columnist : L. Henry

Practice of holding ‘lame duck’ sessions should be ended

The Pennsylvania General Assembly is preparing to engage in a practice that is outlawed in most states.  Every two years following legislative elections, the incumbent “lame duck” legislature reconvenes for one final session, known in government parlance as “sine die.”  Elsewhere such sessions are unconstitutional preventing defeated and retiring legislators – who will never again be accountable to voters – from making major policy decisions.

It is different here in Pennsylvania.  The post-election sine die session is actually the most active period on the legislative calendar.  In the 2002-2004 session of the General Assembly more bills were passed in the sine die session than in all the other sessions combined.  This points to a spectacular lack of productivity, but more significantly raises the issue of accountability.

Not only are the bulk of laws passed after legislative elections, but the most controversial and difficult actions have historically been held for this session. For those lawmakers planning to seek re-election, the sine die session is the most distant from their next appearance on the ballot.  They count on voters having short memories and forgetting what they did before returning to the polls two years hence.

That is one troubling aspect of the practice.  But even more disturbing is the fact defeated and retiring lawmakers are eligible to vote during the lame duck session.  These members of the General Assembly face no future electoral contest and are therefore completely unaccountable to anyone.

This year’s sine die session is shaping up to be of particular concern.  As a result of the furor over last year’s pay-jacking, an unusually large number of lawmakers decided to retire rather than face the voters.  Voter anger subsequently resulted in a much higher number of incumbents losing in the May primary than usual – and a record number of incumbent defeats in November is at least possible.  Therefore, the sine die session will be even more unrepresentative and unaccountable than usual.

That the post-election session will be used to again raid the pocketbooks of Pennsylvania taxpayers has already become clear.  Key details contained in a report on the fiscal crisis facing Pennsylvania’s mass transit and highway agencies slated for release in mid-November have already been made public.  It comes as no surprise that the report calls for hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending – and in new taxes to pay for it.

State House Transportation Committee Chairman Rick Geist (R-Altoona) told Capitolwire “with the 60 or so new lawmakers coming in, everyone knows that if we are going to do this, we have to do it in sine die, since no one will vote for new taxes before the election, and there is no way the new legislature, with all those new members, is going to do this next session.”

In other words, the General Assembly lacks the intestinal fortitude to confront the issue and deal with it in a responsible manner prior to the November election, and it assumes returning and new legislators will be equally irresponsible when the new General Assembly convenes in January.  Geist admits, and correctly so, that the only way significant new taxes will be approved is if unaccountable legislators take action this November.

This is a clear admission that voters disapprove of the pending actions of the General Assembly.  Geist and others are working to circumvent the will of the taxpayers – their constituents – in a way to avoid paying a political price for having done so.

Reform groups have adopted the slogan “Over by October.”  That means the General Assembly should take whatever action it is going to take before adjourning in October for the November elections – and go sine die at that point.  That way voters can go to the polls with full knowledge of every action their legislator has taken and decide whether or not to re-elect their representative based on his/her total record.

Sine die sessions are a complete perversion of the democratic process in Pennsylvania.  During the upcoming campaign voters should demand their senators and representatives put an end to the process – beginning immediately.