We've been posting editorials from across Western Minnesota urging the legislature to clean up its act in order to finish its work on time.
One reform that's been suggested is the 24-hour deadline for bills. The final draft of a bill or conference committee report would have to be written 24 hours before lawmakers take it up on the floor. This would give state representatives and senators--and citizens--time to read each bill.
The aim to avoid tweets like this:
This time last night trying to read a 599 page bill. GOP House Epic fail in managing time & public input. pic.twitter.com/UrBrdMXLPR
— Rep. Rick hansen (@reprickhansen) May 24, 2016
But not everyone's on board, because transparency and clarity might remove the ability to cut some backroom deals.
We're not kidding.
Take Representative Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, who supports the reform except that he really doesn't.
In the latest issue of the Morrison County Record, Tyler Jensen reports in Gazelka and Kresha hears criticism of last-minute legislative chaos:
After a session with several key bills not becoming laws, state Senator Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake and state Representative Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, appeared at a legislative update in the council chambers of Little Falls City Hall Wednesday.
Constituents were unhappy with how the session ended. Roman Witucki, chair of the Morrison County DFL, talked about how there should have been more time for the bills to be reviewed, and said he didn’t like the back room deals he said the legislation went through,
“I think back room stuff, last minute stuff can be eliminated with a simple procedure of ending your session a day early and 24 hours later you get to vote on it,” said Witucki.
Gazelka agreed with Witucki and said while he didn’t know how to get there, he would like to see a deadline for major bills before they are voted on.
Kresha also said he supports a 24-hour waiting period for bills.However, he sees a problem, leverage.
“Every side knows this, if you want to get what you want in a bill, you hold off until the very last second when you have the most leverage,” Kresha said. He added that whatever they do to change the system, people will work to find ways to gain leverage.
Some constituents said they didn’t care about the deals in politics; they just wanted stuff to get done.
“You people have got to find a way to expedite this process, not to wait till that last hour and I don’t care what you think about leverage,” said Peter Larsen, adding after he watched the house session one night, he went to bed angry with how they did business, calling it disgusting.
We keep reading articles in the metro dailies that tell us that voters don't care about process. Someone forgot to inculcate this cynical and conventional wisdom in the rest of us.
Screengrab: Kresha (right) tells constituents that he's for a 24-hour deadline for bills to be finished before being taken up on the floor of the legislature, except maybe when it gets in the way of cutting a back-room deal.
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