Sunday, April 18, 2010
So what all is now void, and what remains?
Bringing order to chaos once again will be a difficult task for the 78th Session of the Senate. As I recently pointed out, the first thing they should do is get their bearings. As a gesture of good will, the fine folks at VLEG have compiled a couple of documents that might prove helpful. They are linked below.
Acts Voided Under Judicial Council Cases
Legislative Acts Invalidated
One caveat: I am applying the ruling's findings to all items the petitioner complained against, even if the Council did not specifically address it. My reasoning is two-fold. First, for consistent application and in hopes of finding a holistic solution, logic demands it. The fact is insufficient practices persist, and the rulings give instruction.
Second, procedurally, the defending parties in the cases all admitted liability and did not dispute any material facts. Thus, petitioner was entitled to the judgment she sought in her complaints.
One last point: these documents advocate for corrective action. The Senate is on abundant notice that, as a matter of ASUN law, the standards in the state's open meeting law apply internally and are judicially enforceable. The Senate should now seek to avoid new harm and mitigate past harm by curing it. Indeed, I am merely an observer providing my two cents, but I hope I have demonstrated I am a knowledgeable observer.
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This Wednesday the 78th Session will consider S.B. 78-1: To Establish the Statutes of the Associated Students and it's under the motion to fast track. The Statutes would repeal all prior bills and resolutions passed by the Senate and would replace them with the new statutes.
ReplyDeleteWhat does this mean? Everything should be solved pretty easily this Wednesday if the bill passes.
I'm not so sure. Although this is one method to correct violations, it isn't narrowly tailored to correct just the voided actions.
ReplyDeleteActions voided can be cured only in very specific ways. Generally, where an action is invalidated for improper notice--as is the case with most of the invalidated acts--the action can be cured only with proper notice, redeliberation, and, if the public body then so chooses, adoption of the prior action.
A wholesale solution, like the one S.B. 78-1 proposes, is inartful and possibly insufficient to fix the problems. Since each act voided won't itself be redeliberated separately, the Senate will deprive the public the opportunity to be heard as originally would have been the case.
Indeed, the biggest problem with this solution is the notice on the agenda for this week's meeting sets up the Senate for yet another OML violation. Where does it say that the item is intended to cure the voided acts, in light of the Judicial Council's rulings? What notice does "[A bill] To Establish the Statutes of the Associated Students" really give students?
And, although not an OML problem, packaging everything together will deprive the ASUN President from being able to consider each act separately on its merits. Should this get to President Jose, he shouldn't hesitate to veto for that reason alone.
In short, this "repeal and replace everything" method is lazy and likely just as invalid as the original voided acts.
Furthermore, while I was gather evidence, I noticed that the invalidated bills contained problems on their own, but I decided not to bring actions on the specific defects of the legislation. If the Senate uses the proposed method, they may be passing badly written legislation subject to attack on on their own deficiencies.
ReplyDeleteThe 76th Senate was a monumental train wreck. It was arguably the worst Senate ever. Are you sure you want to validate everything they did? Why don't you take the summer to think about it and then put it on the Agenda in August or September?
Corinna, an even better response is for the Senate to establish a very small committee (3 members, perhaps the Gov't Ops Chair, two senators, and the Speaker ex-officio, non-voting) to investigate all things related to these opinions, as part of gaining situational awareness, and reporting to the Senate best options for proceeding.
ReplyDeleteThe compulsion is to act quickly, but acting quickly also means more chance of acting hastily. There is no shame in taking what seems like a long time (to many undergrads, at least) to get things right.
If this committee was exceptionally prudent, it would take testimony from those who know how this was all intended to work, like maybe the people who designed the system. Just sayin'.
Just when you thought you were out, you keep pulling yourself back in. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm being charitable and trying to dispell that pernicious rumor that I'm an _____.
ReplyDelete