Let the Sun Shine in
on the Legislature
by State Rep. Sean Williams
(R-Watertown)
January
16, 2004
As we all
know, these are very grave times for the state of Connecticut.
The state legislature is entering unchartered
territory with the possibility of the impeachment of Governor Rowland, which is
why I have decided to support the formation of a bi-partisan legislative
investigation committee so that we can get all of the facts on the table about
the situation surrounding the Governor.
However,
the controversy surrounding the Governor should not mean that the business of
the state of Connecticut should come to a complete
standstill. This year, the state
legislature has an opportunity to correct its broken budgeting process and put
an end to the cloak of secrecy that has become all too common at the State
Capitol.
I was proud
to stand with the other members of the House Republican caucus in November as
we unveiled a series of proposals that would, among other things, open up the
process of budget negotiations to the public.
The effort that my colleagues and I are supporting would increase public
knowledge about what is contained in budget legislation and shine the light of
day into what once were clandestine closed-door meetings.
When
budgets are repeatedly completed months after the date required by statute, the
system is broken. The current system is
far too secretive. The public ought to
be able to know and understand what are in important bills, such as budget
bills, and the press ought to have access to budget deliberations.
By way of
example, during this past legislative session, a number of new taxes were
initiated without so much as a public hearing.
Taxes were raised by $490 million for the biennium and the citizens were
not given the proper input. That is why
I will be supporting efforts to require a public hearing for any changes to the
tax code that would result in an increased tax burden.
Another
horrid example of the secretive budget process was last year’s approval of a
bill that completely changed the way the state operates Connecticut’s prescription drug program for
senior citizens. ConnPACE,
as it is otherwise known, was never meant to be a loan as a means of senior
citizens to get their much needed prescription drugs but the new legislation,
which I will fight to repeal in the next legislative session, will allow the
state to recoup the money it spends on ConnPACE from
the estates of the program’s beneficiaries after they die. This legislation would affect over 50,000 Connecticut residents on ConnPACE,
and very few people, including legislators, knew anything about this new law
because it was hidden and buried in another long bill in the waning minutes of
the session. Unfortunately, the practice
of voting on proposals just hours after they were crafted is all too common but
can have severe repercussions, because often times
legislators do not have ample time to review these lengthy documents and the
public does not have time to comment on the proposed legislation before it is
voted on.
Some of the
other changes the House Republican caucus has proposed include:
- Require that committee agendas
be publicly available in the committee room and on the state website 36
hours before every meeting so that the public is aware of and able to
comment on proposed legislation before it is voted on.
- Require legislative committee
offices to have easily accessible email addresses so that the public can
e-mail testimony and require that testimony to be available to committee
members on the day of the public hearing.
- Require that emergency
certified (e-cert) bills be published and available to the public and the
media on the Internet three days before a vote on the chamber floor.
- Combine similar legislative
committees, reducing the number of committees from 26 to 17 to make the
process easier to navigate and save taxpayer dollars.
If lawmakers are too ashamed of proposed legislation to pass
it during the light of day when the citizens of Connecticut are able to pay attention to what
we are doing, then it simply shouldn’t become the policy of the state of Connecticut.
Democratic legislative leaders have indicated that they will not act on
these recommended changes which would put an end to the back-room deals in Connecticut’s budget process. I would urge anyone who wants to see their
state legislature become more responsive to call the House Speaker at
800-842-1902 and the Senate President Pro Tem at 800-842-1420 and tell them to
let the people back into the process.