Excerpts from "The Sometime Governments": July/August 2010

These are a sampling of a few of the 73 General Recommendations in “The Sometime Governments” from 1971.

• Reduce the overall size of the legislature: “Although size reduction in a legislative body is extremely difficult to achieve, it has been done in some states … and needs to be accomplished in others …. There should be 100 or fewer members in the lower House. The combined size of both houses should be between 100 and 150.”

• Remove constitutional restrictions on session and interim time: “The legislature should have authority to function throughout a two-year term; ideally, this authority should provide a flexible biennial session pattern that permits the legislature to convene, recess and reconvene as it deems desirable.”

• Reduce the number of committees: “Ideally, there should be from 10 to 15 committees in each house, parallel in jurisdiction.”

 

• Act on all bills: “Committees should be required to report on all bills assigned to them, recommending for passage by the parent body those bills which enjoy the support of a majority of the members of the committee and killing all others.”

 

• Individual offices: “Provide private, individual offices for every member of the legislature, with nearby space for their assistants. The quality and amount of office space should not differ substantially between majority and minority party members.

• Strengthen staff support: “Legislative research, fiscal, legal and planning agencies should be adequately staffed to full utility and at suitable salary levels for professional qualification. Professional staffing should be at a level to enable the legislature to conduct continuous, year-round examination of state resources and expenditures as well as program review and evaluation of state agencies. This staff should also prepare fiscal notes accompanying all appropriation bills, evaluating their fiscal impact over the short and long term. Staff agencies should be upgraded to the level at which competent and timely service can be provided to every member of the legislature.”