There were a couple of examples from the 2008 legislative session of lawmakers standing up to their leaders in the name of improving government transparency and increasing scrutiny.
House Resolution 1 allows all representatives to pre-file legislation between Dec. 15 and the Friday before the start of the session. The Senate already does this, and it’s a great way to get a jump on the ticking clock of the session.
It increases scrutiny and transparency because it lets the discussion begin earlier on important bills. Citizens, the media and advocacy groups have more time to scrutinize and/or promote legislation and people have more time to share their opinions with lawmakers.
The resolution, jointly sponsored by Reps. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, and Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, originally passed the House on a vote of 33-9. Since it’s a House rule change, that’s all that was required for the bill to be enacted.
House Speaker Ben Lujan and others who opposed the change made an attempt to reconsider approval. That vote failed 50-19 later in the session, and the rule change stood. Legislation for the 2009 session can be filed as early as Dec. 15 of this year.
Score one for government transparency and increased scrutiny.
There was also a victory in the Senate that is worth mentioning. You might recall that legislative leaders recently decided against Webcasting live from the Senate and House chambers even though lawmakers had appropriated $75,000 for that purpose.
The Senate voted earlier this month, in approving Senate Memorial 45, to reject the decision by legislative leaders and direct Legislative Council Services to begin planning to broadcast over the Internet from the Senate chambers beginning with the 2009 session.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque, passed on a vote of 27-13.
One vocal opponent was Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, who argued that the Senate shouldn’t broadcast its business over the Internet because then senators will opt to watch from their offices instead of being in the Senate chambers.
To be blunt: Sanchez’s argument is crap. It reveals that his focus is not on making it easier for constituents to know what their senators are doing. He repeatedly opposes proposals that would increase Senate transparency, such as opening conference committees.
There’s no good argument against broadcasting legislative proceedings over the Internet and giving the public greater access to its government. None. End of story.
I’m not going to believe the Senate’s proceedings will be broadcast online until it actually happens. The leaders could scrap this plan yet again. But even the fiscal impact report for Boitano’s resolution makes clear that the majority of senators want this to happen. Legislatures in 45 other states already do this.
Hopefully Sanchez and other legislative leaders will see the wisdom in bowing to the will of the majority and allowing webcasting to proceed. Hopefully the House will pass a similar memorial next year and begin webcasting in 2010.
A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that the vote on reconsideration of HR1 was 55-19.