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As the Delaware General Assembly convened its new session today, Senate
Republicans made a strong public statement to reaffirm their commitment to
open government by voting a unanimous "NO" on Senate Resolution #2 which
continued the Senate's archaic Rules of closed operations.
The Republican effort came one vote short of achieving a public debate
on the Rules. One Democrat Senator joined the Republicans in advocating
reform, but 11 Democrats remaining all voted to re-adopt the old Rules.
One more vote from any Democrat Senator to challenge the status quo would
have led to a public discussion of the Rules.
Senate Republicans have pushed hard for 5 specific changes to give the
public more information, access and input in the legislative process.
Senate Republicans' 5-point plan for more open
and accountable government:
- Pass legislation under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) to define the
General Assembly and all its standing and ad hoc committees as "public
bodies".
- Change Senate Rules to do away with the power of a Senate Committee chair
to single-handedly kill legislation by preventing public debate.
- Change Senate Rules to create a deliberative process that guarantees
legislation will get a public hearing in committee within a reasonable
time frame.
- Post Senate Roll Call votes on the General Assembly website giving the
public access to an accounting of individual votes by all Senators.
- Close loopholes to avoid the potential and appearance of conflict inherent
in holding dual roles in government, including a prohibition on paid
registered lobbyists holding office on state Authorities, Boards,
Commissions and statutory Committees.
Senate Republicans have consistently sought more open Senate Rules.
They made open government an issue during the 2006 election campaign as
all Republican Senators and candidates pledged open government. Since
then, House Republicans and House Democrats have joined the call for more
transparency in government.
Senator Charlie Copeland, Minority Leader said "Senate Republicans made
a strong point today that we are serious about open government. Our
unanimous vote for new and better Rules was the next step, and we came
within one vote of breaking the issue loose and having a public debate.
The old Senate Rules are hanging by a single thread."
"To their credit, the Majority Leadership gave us public assurance
today on the Senate floor that Rules reform will be discussed. We take
them at their word and look forward to those discussions. However, we must
note that such promises have been made in the past, and the Committee on
Permanent Rules has failed to meet for years thereafter. If there is no
serious discussion of positive Rules changes before the end of January and
no Rules Committee meetings scheduled during the Joint Finance session
break, we will be compelled to raise this issue again."
Senator Steve Amick, a long-time advocate of Senate Rules changes and
member of the Rules Committee said "The changes we seek are in the public
interest, make good sense, and are in line with what we require from all
other decision-making public bodies in the state. I look forward to the
Senate taking on bipartisan discussions to improve the process."
Senate Minority Whip Liane Sorenson said "the Rules changes we propose
are easy to accomplish and make common sense. The public ought to be able
to know what's happening, be able to comment and participate, and one
person--a Committee Chair--should not have the power to kill a bill and
prevent public debate by the 'desk drawer veto'. This change will make the
process better and promote public participation and confidence in
government."
The Republican Senators & their Districts are: Senators Charlie
Copeland (4th), Cathy Cloutier (5th), Liane Sorenson (6th), Steve Amick
(10th), Dori Connor (12th), Colin Bonini (16th), John Still (17th) and
Gary Simpson (18th).
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