House Republicans question timing of publication of Democrats' rules
February 03, 2009 State government | Government transparency
By Erin Halasz
Staff Reporter | Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (Feb. 3) - House Republicans are angered about the after-hours posting Monday night of rules resolutions sponsored by House Democrats.
House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, met with reporters about 4:30 p.m. Monday to discuss the three resolutions. Sometime after 6 p.m., the resolutions were made public online.
Eachus said he expects a vote on the resolutions Wednesday. That gives legislators until 2 p.m. Tuesday to propose amendments, or 22 hours after the resolutions became available.
One of the resolutions is one page long, but the other two are about 90 pages each.
According to Steve Miskin, spokesman for the House Republicans, the 22 hours between when the rules were posted and when amendments must be proposed is not enough time to allow for a complete review of the massive rules package. He said openness and transparency did not figure into the process.
“It just makes you wonder. Why didn’t they have these posted last week?” Miskin said. “We still don’t know fully what is in it.”
Miskin referenced an op-ed in the Allentown Morning Call by House Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon, entitled “We have no interest in going backwards.” McCall wrote that in formulating the rules, House Democrats included suggestions from Republicans. He also wrote that a vote on the rules was postponed to allow legislators more time to discuss them, not to “ram through changes.”
But this timeline did not take average citizens into account, according to Tim Potts, co-founder and president of Democracy Rising PA, a government-transparency activist group. Potts said 24 hours is not enough time to review the resolutions in full, especially for average citizens.
“Even if you have a 24-hour rule, that’s not nearly enough for citizens to know what’s going on,” Potts said.
He added: “Unless you’re a junkie, like me.”
Potts said a 72-hour rule would make more sense and be more in the public’s interest.
The resolutions in question are HR 40, HR 41and HR 42. HR 40 would extend by an additional 15 days the temporary rules adopted on Jan. 6 to allow for debate on the newly proposed rules. HR 41 and 42 include a number of rule changes and reconfirmations of existing rules, including changes in how to move to extend debate and a retention of the committee sizes set last month by the temporary rules.
To read a story from Capitolwire on the announcement of the rules, CLICK HERE, and CLICK HERE for an analysis of how the proposed House rules compare to Senate rules.
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Staff Reporter | Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (Feb. 3) - House Republicans are angered about the after-hours posting Monday night of rules resolutions sponsored by House Democrats.
House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, met with reporters about 4:30 p.m. Monday to discuss the three resolutions. Sometime after 6 p.m., the resolutions were made public online.
Eachus said he expects a vote on the resolutions Wednesday. That gives legislators until 2 p.m. Tuesday to propose amendments, or 22 hours after the resolutions became available.
One of the resolutions is one page long, but the other two are about 90 pages each.
According to Steve Miskin, spokesman for the House Republicans, the 22 hours between when the rules were posted and when amendments must be proposed is not enough time to allow for a complete review of the massive rules package. He said openness and transparency did not figure into the process.
“It just makes you wonder. Why didn’t they have these posted last week?” Miskin said. “We still don’t know fully what is in it.”
Miskin referenced an op-ed in the Allentown Morning Call by House Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon, entitled “We have no interest in going backwards.” McCall wrote that in formulating the rules, House Democrats included suggestions from Republicans. He also wrote that a vote on the rules was postponed to allow legislators more time to discuss them, not to “ram through changes.”
But this timeline did not take average citizens into account, according to Tim Potts, co-founder and president of Democracy Rising PA, a government-transparency activist group. Potts said 24 hours is not enough time to review the resolutions in full, especially for average citizens.
“Even if you have a 24-hour rule, that’s not nearly enough for citizens to know what’s going on,” Potts said.
He added: “Unless you’re a junkie, like me.”
Potts said a 72-hour rule would make more sense and be more in the public’s interest.
The resolutions in question are HR 40, HR 41and HR 42. HR 40 would extend by an additional 15 days the temporary rules adopted on Jan. 6 to allow for debate on the newly proposed rules. HR 41 and 42 include a number of rule changes and reconfirmations of existing rules, including changes in how to move to extend debate and a retention of the committee sizes set last month by the temporary rules.
To read a story from Capitolwire on the announcement of the rules, CLICK HERE, and CLICK HERE for an analysis of how the proposed House rules compare to Senate rules.
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