2008 Brennan Center updated priorities for Legislative
Rules Reform - Still Broken
- Strengthen the committee process by creating mechanisms
for rank-and-file members to force hearings and vote
on bills.
- End leadership control over bills getting to the
floor by creating a mechanism for rank-and-file
members to force floor votes.
- Institutionalize conference committees and,
- Codify fair, objective criteria for allotting resources
and staff to members and committees.
2007-2008 Proposed revision to New York State Senate Rules Down
load in .pdf format
Brennan Center
for Justice at NYU School of Law
In 2004, The Brennan Center issued a report
that showed New York's State Legislature is the most dysfunctional
in the nation: rank and file members are discouraged from
participating fully in the legislative process; public
hearings are a rarity; a few senior members have defacto
power to veto the consideration of proposed legislation;
and votes and important actions of individual legislators
go unrecorded.
The result is a legislature that does not work. Basic,
necessary legislation that is crucial to the health of
the State doesn't get passed, and no one is held accountable.
New ideas and proposed reforms are quashed. Deals are cut
behind closed doors and the public is left in the dark.
In short, the State Legislature is not responsive to its
citizens.
The Brennan Center's report, New York State Legislative
Process: An Evaluation and Blueprint for Reform, documents
the State Legislature's most serious problems and outlines
practical solutions for increasing the transparency, participation
and effectiveness of the Legislature. Since it's publication,
the report has received the support of nearly all of the
State's leading newspapers, business and civic organizations.
Most importantly, citizens from around the State have been
organizing to push for change.
The Brennan Center has released their findings in several
formats. See the table below, and pick one to learn
why these steps are essential to the reform of our state's
current flawed processes.
In all cases, a new
window will open.
Note that updates were issued in 2006 and
2008, indicating:
"The quantitative analysis of the Legislature's
performance in 2006 and 2007 and qualitative information
from interviews with lawmakers reveal that the problems
outlined in the original report still plague both chambers.
Our analysis of the legislature's performance in 2006 and
2007 shows that the vast majority of problems identified in
our previous two reports remain endemic in both chambers"
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