Saw this article in the Daily News proposing five excellent changes to the Senate rules in New York State that we desperately need. Here’s the proposed changes:
- The state budget bill must be posted online for public review seven days before it comes to a vote. Should the budget deadline pass, the Senate can enact continuing resolutions to provide needed funding. An open budget is more important than an on-time budget.
- Any member of the public must have the right to testify on legislation at committee hearings, in person or remotely. Legislation impacts the life of every New Yorker and we must be allowed to speak for ourselves.
- The Senate should post online an organization chart that lists taxpayer-funded staff and their job descriptions. Voters need to know who’s working for them, whether elected or appointed. The list should be posted by Feb. 1, the job descriptions by April 1.
- A simple majority vote of the Senate should be all that’s required to bring a bill out of committee for a vote. The untimely demise of important bills is unacceptable, and legislation often goes to committee for discussion, never to be seen again.
- The long moribund Ethics and Internal Governance Committee should meet twice a month during session to focus on policies that, among other things:
- Close loopholes in state lobbying laws
- Prevent conflicts of interest and profiting form privileged information
- Establish a whistleblower protection policy
- End sexual harassment, establish clear boundaries for behavior and institute mechanisms to hold to account those who violate the boundaries
Honestly, it makes me mad to learn that some of these aren’t already in the rules - what’s the point of even having an “Ethics and Internal Governance Committee” if they’re not going to meet regularly and address ethics issues? What I like most about these proposed changes is that each of them will make it easier for citizens to hold our elected representatives accountable by increasing transparency. As someone who regularly criticizes Democrats for their funding sources, I’ve often been told that accepting campaign donations from special interest groups does not influence Democrats to legislate in favor of those same special interests — whatever you believe on this issue, increased transparency will settle the debate.
If you live in NY, call your Senator right now and tell them how badly you want these changes. If you don’t live in NY, maybe look into how State’s rules compare to these.
Shout out to TrueBlue, NY Social Justice PAC, and Empire State Indivisible for putting this out there. I don’t actually know much about NYSJP or ESI but TrueBlue has done an excellent job defeating Republicans and their allies within the Democratic Party so it’s probably safe to assume that any group they partner with is unabashedly progressive and swinging for the fences!