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Legislature Slow on the Uptake; Mercer Proposes Faster Action on Summer Studies

Bob Mercer seems to share my frustration with the apparent slow start to the potentially monumental 2016 Legislative Session. Legislators seem to be slow on submitting bills, and with 18 of 105 legislators absent last week Friday, Mercer gets the impression that four-day weeks seem to be encouraging less work, not more:

Lower attendance and light work on the last work-day of the week seemed to worsen — and I can only say seemed at this point, because I haven’t taken the time yet to conduct actual counts —  in the past decade as the Legislature increasingly went to four-day work weeks. Losing 18 of 105 lawmakers isn’t a good signal to the public. Each of the 18 likely had an individual reason — something at home, a family situation, something at the farm, ranch or business, sharing a ride, having a meeting elsewhere, even taking a phone call or getting caught late at a slow restaurant. The question ahead is whether legislative absenteeism will continue this year, with eight of nine work weeks having four work days, or will lawmakers buckle down? [Bob Mercer, “18 Legislators Missed Friday Afternoon,” Pure Pierre Politics, 2016.01.16]

To help legislators get more done in their 38 days in Pierre, Mercer proposes that interim committees should take priority: schedule every task force and summer study group to present their findings and proposals in the first week of the Legislature, then run their bills through committee hearings and first floor votes in the second week and early in the third week.

If we adopted Mercer’s schedule, we’d see the Blue Ribbon K-12 panel’s teacher pay proposal in writing, in the hopper, and on the agenda for House or Senate Education right now. As things stand, we have no formal written legislation on teacher pay from either the Governor or the Democratic leadership, and House and Senate Education have so far only scheduled their informational briefings.

Four-day weeks may not have increased productivity, but I’d like to try the Weekend Warrior plan, where legislators meet à la National Guard, one weekend a month and two weeks a year. If Legislators were in Pierre on a more regular basis, there might be fewer “Welcome Back” events and socializing taking up their time, and legislators would be able to sustain more working momentum over the year, with more time to gather data and constituent feedback on the proposals before them.

10 Comments

  1. Donald Pay 2016-01-19 09:55

    The first week or two has always been slow. Mercer’s idea is good. I’d also suggest this: let citizens introduce bills through some sort of on-line petitioning process that would be similar to, but a little less cumbersome than the initiative process. Each bill would have to be heard by a committee, and maybe a few would actually pass. Or, let high school students across the state some up with 5-10 proposed bills to be presented the first week in committees. That would beat any civics class. Maybe some of those bills would pass.

  2. Curt 2016-01-19 10:49

    I think Mercer is on the right track. However, I don’t think the Blue Ribbon Task Force was an actual ‘Summer Study’ conducted by the legislature. Wasn’t it a special project of the Governor’s Office?

  3. Richard Schriever 2016-01-19 12:30

    Not sure about that guard schedule Corey.. When involved in monthly small town city government, we were sometimes referred to as 30-day wonders. meet every 30 days and wonder what we talked about 30 days ago. Huh?

  4. Mark Winegar 2016-01-19 14:09

    I haven’t had the opportunity to serve in the legislature yet but I hope that when I do we can knuckle-down and get to work on arrival. There is so much to do and the people deserve best effort.

  5. Nick Nemec 2016-01-19 16:14

    I think the 4 day week is an improvement over the 5 day weeks of a generation ago. A slightly slower legislative pace allows citizens more time to learn what is going on in Pierre and give their input.

  6. Donald Pay 2016-01-19 17:14

    Yeah, I agree with Nick. In theory, the 4 day week provides a little less face time for Pierre-based lobbyists and a little more face time for the public. Whether that is what happens, I’m not sure.

  7. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-01-19 18:59

    Curt, true, the Blue Ribboneers, like the Jolene’s Law Task Force, operated at the behest of the Governor. But it wouldn’t be hard for us to create some official designation for interim committees and task forces (and, as Donald suggests, civics classes and citizen groups offering there own legislative proposals through formal processes, like our Dakota Free Press bills!) whose presentations and bills would get priority during Weeks 1 and 2.

    I do like the four-day week for the same reason that I like the Weekend Warrior schedule: legislators get a little more time to get out of the Pierre pressure cooker, get home, talk to constituents instead of lobbyists, and sleep in their own beds. But whatever days we have in Pierre should be spent working hard.

  8. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-01-19 19:07

    Richard, I see your point. What if we ran a schedule of five 3-day meetings and five 2-day meetings alternating on weekend from January through May, then a 15-day solid wrap-up session in June? Or how about we move Session to summer, June 1 through August 15? Then all the teachers could run for Legislature, and the results would be fresh in our mind when we went to the general election polls in November. Heh heh heh!

  9. Curt 2016-01-19 19:34

    Another proposal that’s been around for years is for an intermission of 5-7 days following the deadline for all bills to be submitted. It would allow time for citizens – and our ‘citizen legislators’- to digest the whole plate of bills and give thoughtful consideration to each.

  10. caheidelberger Post author | 2016-01-19 21:44

    Curt, should we apply a similar “intermission” to bills that get hoghoused?

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