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By Lyle Hillyard
Senate Chair of the Legislative Process Committee

Representative Barras called me last week. He was just named as the House Co-Chair of the Legislative Process Committee (congratulations Roger!) and we had a good visit with our staff about issues that we need to address this year.

The new Capitol will be a magnificent building - a temple to the idea and operation of our democratic republic - but we need to resolve some questions about how elected officials and the public interface while we try to do our legislative work.

Because of the limited space here in our temporary facilities, face-to-face access has become more difficult. One unintended result was that the people who are paid to have access to us have found the way, by private dinners and socials. I remember when most evenings for the first three weeks were spent in group functions where we had a chance to mingle and hear presentations. Now I find that there are seldom more than 20 or 30 of the possible 104 legislators at such functions. You can’t blame groups for canceling low-turnout events because they can get expensive.

The internet helps people who have an important message, but can’t afford lobbyists to help them share it. E-mail is great but, for many of us, it is frustrating and time-consuming to go through all the spam that pours into the inbox. Are there better ways to screen the spam coming in so heavy on the E-mail during the session? I would sincerely welcome your thoughts about improving the system for better access.

I also believe now is the time to see the impact of the computers. I always prided myself in reading every bill during the session but I have a hard time following bills on the computer. I am concerned that the reading is not being done as carefully as it was when Sen. Rex Black did the job so well. The younger legislators who have grown accustomed to the computers probably don’t have the same problem I do so maybe the solution is to let time take its toll. Do you have suggestions?

There has been some discussion and will be further talk about breaking up the session into 4 days per week or taking a week off during the process. We already have a constitutional amendment in the works to respect Martin Luther King Day by changing the beginning date of the session to the 4th Monday in January.

As soon as all parties appoint their members to the committee, we will begin holding hearings. I hope Senate Site readers will join in and help us find workable solutions to areas of concern.

1 Comments:

 Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what Sen. Hillyard is trying to say in this blog/novella. I got tired after the first paragraph and stopped reading... Brevity is a virtue.

5/18/2007 4:36 PM  

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