DMN Casts A Critical Eye On The Committee Process

The DMN has a story up now casting a critical eye on the Lege’s committee process, in particular its late-night meetings:

Critics of the Legislature’s committee system say lawmakers are practicing democracy after dark, delaying votes on hot issues until the last, late-night minute, and dragging out favorable testimony to silence opposition.

The committee process – where bills are first heard, debated and amended – is so unpredictable that the process at the very least raises questions of equal access in some observers’ minds.

Who other than a paid lobbyist can afford to sit at the Capitol all day and night, waiting for a loosely scheduled meeting to begin? Who other than Austin insiders will know when a bill will be taken out of order or voted on unexpectedly? And how many people with children, day jobs or serious health conditions can drive across the state on short notice and wait until 4 a.m. to testify?

Committee chairs call this criticism preposterous. They agree the hearings and unpredictable schedules can be inconvenient – they don’t like to be up until 5:20 a.m., either – but they say it’s simply the nature of the legislative beast.

And, unfortunatly, they’re right. It is the nature of the legislative beast in a state that long ago decided it wanted a pseudo-part-time legislature. When you meet for only a few months every other year and must do all of the state’s business at that time, things are going to happen like this.

This, of course, seems like a great time to bring up the fact that, in the 21st Century, a state as large as Texas having a legislature that meets only every other year is a bit dated and out of sync with modern life.

I’ve said before that we need to pay lawmakers full-time pay since they’re essentially doing full time jobs for their constituants even when the Lege is not in session. A provision similar to the one Congress has in place where outside income is limited would help keep things ethically in line in that department as well.

And, along with that full-time pay, the Legislature should meet every January through May, with the option to meet September through November in odd-numbered years.

Then, you wouldn’t have situations like this. The Leadership could more easily schedule “committee days” on Mondays and Tuesdays with the chambers themselves in session Wednesday through Friday. And, this last minute “rush” we see every year around this time wouldn’t be quite as frenzied.

Of course, voters have, at least four times I’m aware of between 1900 and the 1980s, rejected a constitutional amendment that would allow the Lege to meet more than it does now. It may well be, however, that the time is ripe to try this one again. Maybe next session some brave soul will author such legislation.

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