Senate President Mattie Daughtry (right) discusses possible rule changes during a meeting of the Joint Rules Committee in Augusta on Jan. 6. (Photo by Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star)
After months of lengthy discussions and sharp criticism from the public and legislators of both parties, lawmakers are nearing agreement on how to fix transparency issues related to vague placeholder bills.
While still working out the specifics, the majority of the Joint Rules Committee, which oversees the rules that govern legislative business, indicated during a Monday meeting that it supports requiring that these bills, known as concept drafts, have substantial proposals posted online at least two days before the public hearing for the bill. And if that deadline is not met, the bill will be automatically killed.
The committee plans to settle on a joint order on Thursday for rule changes for concept drafts as well as several other matters aimed to increase transparency and efficiency in the lawmaking process, which will then be sent to the full Legislature for consideration. The Legislature can make changes to the joint rules with a majority vote before Jan. 17. Beyond that, two-thirds support would be needed for any such changes.
The narrowed agreement on Monday comes after lawmakers heard a slew of proposals over the course of two lengthy meetings this past summer and fall in response to growing frustration with the increased use of concept drafts that don’t provide sufficient information about what the bill will be about.
Revisor of Statutes Edward Charbonneau said, as of Monday, roughly a dozen concept drafts have already been submitted this session, though he added that he believes them to be, “legitimate concepts,” where the sponsors have an issue they are aiming to address but are seeking more clarity on how precisely to do it.
Committee co-chair Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland) cited the fact that lawmakers have already begun to file bills as a reason to introduce less restrictive reforms now and see how they work before tackling sweeping change.
“We don’t want to prejudice people who, last week when they submitted that legislation, were in compliance with the rules,” Carney said.
Before work begins, the Maine Legislature wants to change its rules
While indicating that he ultimately intends to support the proposed restrictions, Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) also recommended going a step further. Keeping with his earlier stance that concept drafts are unnecessary, he proposed banning concept drafts, aside from the budget bill and model legislation adopted from other states or uniform laws, and allowing lawmakers who already filed concept drafts an extension past cloture, the day bills are due to the Revisor’s Office, to create fleshed out proposals.
Some members shared his view, including Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook), but the majority of the committee was opposed, arguing the plan would also eliminate some benefits of concept drafts, such as affording committee chairs the space to submit bills to address issues that become more clear as the session progresses.
As of Monday afternoon, lawmakers still disagreed on some specifics of the proposal expected to be recommended to the full Legislature. For example, the committee is divided on the standard that would make an amendment sufficient, whether that means meeting the typical standard of the Revisor’s Office for bills to be sent to the floor or another bar that simply provides the public with enough information to know how they’d want to testify.
The legislators also discussed recommending that certain committees further extend the time required for concept draft amendments to be posted online before hearings, particularly those like the Judiciary Committee that often consider lengthy and complex bills, such as the data privacy proposals last session.
Discussion around how to restrict voting between 10:30 p.m. and 7:30 a.m — another point of contention last session — led to some disagreement. The current joint rules already state that committees can’t vote on bills during that time frame unless authorized by the presiding officers.
Incoming legislative leaders hope to bridge partisan divide with focus on transparency, process
Bennett proposed an addition to specify that any votes during that time frame be invalid, arguing that a properly functioning organization shouldn’t be voting during those hours. Senate Majority Leader Teresa Pierce (D-Falmouth) and Senate President Mattie Daughtry (D-Brunswick) argued that the rule as it stands provides needed flexibility to allow late night votes when deadlines are looming or to get work done before an impending storm, for example.
The committee unanimously indicated support for a proposal raised by Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) to allow for the Senate secretary and House clerk to refer most bills to committee rather than taking up time on the floor for committee chairs to make a motion, reverting back to a process the Legislature allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic when Fecteau last served as speaker.
Along with the committee’s intent to settle on a joint order by Thursday, it plans to prepare a memo to the presiding officers that suggest policy and procedure changes to make lawmaking more transparent outside the joint rules.
The presiding officers, Fecteau and Daughtry, have already started to make some procedural changes in light of concerns raised in previous rules meetings, such as prioritizing committee work during the first several weeks of the legislative session by limiting House and Senate session days to Tuesdays.
Although the rules committee is required to meet annually, it met for the first time since 2018 this past summer. However, the group intends to meet more regularly moving forward.
Carney suggested meeting both halfway through and at the end of the first regular session to assess how well rule changes pan out and to recommend any necessary tweaks.
Bennett said at the halfway mark he intends to propose changes related to the budgeting process, particularly to clarify which bills end up on the “appropriations table,” where legislation frequently dies a quiet death.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.