Grace Ross: The Legislature is not even pretending to work democratically

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Grace Ross, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

So it’s not that I am naive. I’ve worked on policy at many levels of government, but most often through the Massachusetts Legislature – working with all sorts of people on the issues that impact their lives the most. We have tried very hard to get legislation that addresses the specific problem but in a way that should work better for everybody.

I’ve seen and heard all sorts of stories; today’s may represent a low even for recent years.

The end of the legislative session in Massachusetts (which is now two years long) ends on July 31st of the second year. It’s always ended on July 31st at midnight.

The crunch of bills and good issues that people have fought for and hard won battles toward the end of legislative session– well it’s really an indescribable crush everyone should experience! Just like I think that all kids, as soon as they’re old enough to understand it, should be taken to the State House – no matter how imposing all those tall marble hallways are, and have an adult kneel down at their level and look in their eye and tell them: “this is your House”. Surely, if every person in our state considered that their house, it would change the entire dynamic of what goes on!

Party at the State House

Many years ago I was working with single mothers fighting hard to make sure that their families would have enough to survive on, waiting for a vote at the very end of session. The House side of the legislature had announced they would be voting on bills all night and through the next day. Two of these women decided to literally stay overnight; they were willing to take time to be available all night long going legislative office to legislative office.

They called me in the wee hours of the morning: they told stories of kegs brought into some offices. And the level of inebriation! It broke something in them that these elected representatives in this condition were making decisions over their and their children’s future! We all understand the crazy stress of trying to stay up all night and trying to have coherent thoughts, but the idea that they were drinking while they were doing it..., these women tried to laugh it off.

I’ve also seen horse trading where the issues at hand were incredibly important for many people’s lives. Yet because of the need to come to some kind of compromise, these bill got pitted against each other. It can be really disturbing but what happened last week signals a different kind of low.

Lack of Transparency a Problem

Lack of transparency and of real debate have gotten worse over the time that I’ve been working on legislation. I don’t think it’s just the influence of money, but what the money represents. A certain kind of disregard for issues fundamental to certain constituents has been exacerbated, polluted by other factors of greed and interests in getting reelected as opposed to serving when you’re in office.

Last week the legislation that we’ve all been pouring so much energy into around foreclosures was reaching what should have been its final stage of development. The House had voted one version; the Senate had voted another. It had been sent off to Conference Committee for a compromise.

This is a Conference Committee had this one bill to focus on. It wasn’t like the budget Conference Committee where a million things are coming at the same people; they’ve got to weigh even slight difference in the value of each expenditure among thousands. Budget conference must be totally overwhelming – even separate from all of the many power plays and special interests flying for attention and getting what they want.

Changes to Foreclosure Bill Made without Notice

This foreclosure Conference Committee was supposed to look at the House version and Senate version – and maybe if there’s some slight changes that lie in between the two or on the same beaten path, then come up with a version that both sides can agree to. Legislation going to its first vote in one of the full bodies of the House or the Senate, amendments are supposed to be allowed so that people can have genuine debates of the real important sides of the issues before voting. By the time Conference is done with their work compromising, all that the legislators are allowed to do is vote it up or down.
Conference slid something in this time. They slide in a whole new section that in certain circumstances extinguishes a right for homeowners that they’ve had for more than 150 years (maybe much longer). I hear they did add it ‘technically’ according to the letter of their own rules even if it was a new section that ethically they’re not supposed to add!

Not only was that slipped in, the real problem was they gave no notice to their colleagues or anyone else. The required legislative summary didn’t mention that there was a new section added. There was a release to the media – especially the State House news which covers all of these detailed legislative issues for the members of the legislature and government in general. That press release didn’t mention this whole new section. Then given the craziness of this time of year, the House suspended its rules and took up the measure in less than two hours from the start of that day’s session. They voted it with almost no one having read it as far as we can tell.

We were doing our due diligence (with a half dozen volunteer lawyers) to try to read and form an opinion of the Conference Committee version. We found this destructive stealth section maybe an hour and half after it was published. We started trying to contact House members. The vote was actually called before we could inform practically any of them!

There are 160 House representatives; 59 of them – actually representing more than that – had gone on the record signing a letter asking for improvements in the House version of the bill (including pre-foreclosure mediation the Senate had passed). These representatives were deeply concerned for their constituents because of the foreclosure crisis; they put their name publically on a letter knowing that this wasn’t necessarily what their leadership wanted.

Legal Protections Eliminated

Yet not one of them knew about a whole new section extinguishing a legal protection that had been around for more than 150 years and certainly affecting every single homeowner going forward. If we don’t get the Governor to amend it, we’re going to have to inform homeowners statewide that they’ve lost a valuable right that no one knew about it. There was no debate, no visibility, no attempt to engage those concerned in a reasonable analysis and debate of a major change in our laws. Their colleagues set them up to vote for something so that these folks are going to have to run against a vote this November that they didn’t even know they were taking.

We must tell homeowners that they’ve lost this important right. When asked why we’re going to have to say it’s because all the legislators voted for it – even the legislators who we know if they had known about it might not have.

Our hope is they’re going to get a second bite at the apple because the Governor’s going to amend this and send it back for a new vote.

What’s shocking to me is that not only was no time given for we-the-people to review this document, the few legislators who made this change felt no compunction about slipping a fast one by on their colleagues.
It puts those of us who actually not only fight for the issue but believe that the health of our democracy is at stake in a truly horrible position.

Citizens Must Stay Involved

People need to not give up on their representatives. Why? Because the very wealthiest interests never will. They’ll end up with more and more control over what happens in our lives not just because of their money but because of our hopelessness.

On the other hand, what are we to say? When representatives who are supposed to not only serve, but pay some attention to democracy and the public interest, care more about slipping one by on all of us (including all their colleagues) than on even leaving the door open for real democratic debate and provide us with at least halfway decent policy?

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.

Email to a friend Permalink