There are a lot of serious issues demanding the attention of the Maine Legislature this forthcoming session: housing, Maine’s business environment, opioid abuse, indigent defense and more. Before legislators get started tackling any of those big issues, though, they need to take a hard look at how they do business themselves. In other words, before the Legislature fixes any of Maine’s problems, it needs to fix its own, or it risks doing what it has done so often in recent years: vaguely nibbling around the edges without really getting anything done.

In that vein, it’s good to see that legislators are at least considering reining in the pernicious concept draft, a bill with no legislative text often written at the last minute.

I’ve explained before how this rule has been abused, and it’s good to see that Sen. Rick Bennett, who’s always been on the right side of this issue, is proposing requiring that actual legislative text be published at least a day before a committee hearing. It’s just a proposal at this point, one that has to be endorsed by the Rules Committee and then adopted by the next Legislature, but it’s good to see that the discussion is at least happening.

The problem with that is that it doesn’t nearly go far enough. It’s better than nothing, which is what we have now, but it’s hardly an ideal solution. For one, a single day – even with the ability that we have to post it online – isn’t long enough. The public should have more time to review legislation; a single day may be adequate for full-time lobbyists, but it’s not for everyday people trying to testify at a hearing. Most of us can’t spend all day, or perhaps even a few hours, reading a bill, then change our plans, write testimony and rush to Augusta the next day. A better number would be 72 hours; that would be real transparency that would allow the public to participate.

Another issue is that concept drafts aren’t the only transparency problem facing the Legislature. Massive bills (in the form of amendments) are sometimes written at the very last moment, and even legislators themselves don’t get a chance to read the whole thing – let alone members of the public. This most often happens during the scramble to pass a budget, but it’s happened in the past with other legislation as well. Indeed, absurdly, in the past there have been complaints from legislators about lobbyists getting the chance to read the budget before they did.

These kinds of shenanigans need to stop, and they need to stop now.

Regardless of whether the last-minute introduction of bills is the result of malice or incompetence, it shouldn’t be allowed to happen. The Legislature ought to have a rule that all bills and amendments must be posted online for members of the public to see at least 72 hours before any vote is taken. If we have to start by applying the 24-hour rule to everything, that would be a good beginning, but it shouldn’t be the final word on the matter.

If the concept of a 72-hour legislative waiting period sounds familiar, that’s because it’s a rule that the U.S. House of Representatives put in place a while ago, thanks to Republicans. The problem with that rule is, when they wrote it, they made it far too easy for leadership to ignore it. If legislative leadership can simply waive a rule whenever they like, it really doesn’t mean anything at all, especially if it’s waived any time anything important is done. So, ideally, if there is a rule requiring that all legislative text be available before a vote (or, indeed, any action) is taken, there shouldn’t be any possibility for exceptions – but if you want to allow for it, make it difficult. In the Maine Legislature, waiving the requirement should require a unanimous vote of the Legislative Council. Then, each chamber ought to have to agree to that with a two-thirds vote, just like they do with emergency legislation.

A 24-hour rule sounds good, and it may be all that can be passed, but it won’t really do much, especially if it’s only applied to concept drafts. It’s better than nothing, but only barely. Instead, the Legislature should adopt a universal version of the U.S. House’s 72-hour rule and make it difficult to waive. Then we’d have real transparency and avoid the mad dash at the end of the session to get things done.

Jim Fossel, a conservative activist from Gardiner, worked for Sen. Susan Collins. He can be contacted at:
jwfossel@gmail.com
Twitter: @jimfossel