OpEd: Will new Senate Leadership bring more openness to the legislative process?

"In a functioning democracy, committees would vote to make recommendations on every bill – should it pass, fail, be amended, or does it need further study (genuine study)?"

An open letter:

While democracy is at risk in our nation, there is a chance to strengthen it here in our state.

Our state senators are preparing to elect a new Senate President.

Much focus in recent days has been on the issue positions of the candidates.

Beyond the importance of each issue is the democratic process itself. Will new leadership end the tradition of bottling up issues in perpetual “study?”

The old system thwarted the will of the people. No matter how many calls or letters we sent to our representatives, the leadership refused to allow our senators to vote on bills to ban assault weapons and payday loans. Those were just two of the many issues that were blocked. One person routinely prevented the other 37 senators from representing the people of their districts.

For this reason, the independent national organization, Common Cause, has rated Rhode Island 49th out of 50 states in the democratic functioning of our legislature.

In a functioning democracy, committees would vote to make recommendations on every bill – should it pass, fail, be amended, or does it need further study (genuine study)? Then the committees’ recommendations would be sent to the full body for debate, followed by an up or down vote.

Incremental reforms have been proposed to democratize the process gradually. For example, the Senate rules could require bills held in committee for three years or those with a plurality of senators signed on as co-sponsors to get a vote. Other proposals include allowing legislators to choose three bills to be voted on in committee, and/or allowing committees to choose one bill each year to send to the floor.

As our senators pick their new leadership, we call on them to pick a leader who will commit to allowing them to vote so that our democratic process can work as intended and they can fulfill their role as our representatives.

• Steve Kloeblen, Bristol

• Kate McGovern, Providence

• Robert Westlake, East Providence