"The teachable moment here is that just because you can call the Legislature into a surprise session doesn't mean that you should, absent a real emergency and compliance with the Open Government Law.
Robert Klitzkie
Honorable senators,
While observing your activities on Friday, I noticed that you were playing kinda fast and loose with your own laws. So in order to protect the public who can be harmed when you don't use those laws correctly, I thought it best to pull out those laws for you so that you could use them right. As a former senator, and one who has trained others, I have had some experience with using those laws myself.
People expect senators to correctly use laws that govern their own activity – like Speaker Benjamin Cruz did by always requiring public hearings after he learned a hard lesson from the fastest of all quick draws, The Ray Tenorio-Won Pat Fiasco of 2014. Here's a teaching point: When the people don't know what their senators are doing, or even when they're doing it, there's a danger because public trust is easily lost.
Speaker Cruz, you could call the Legislature to session Friday an hour after the governor vetoed Bill 262, but you were a little too quick on the draw. The Open Government Law, which really helps the public, requires notice to the newspapers plus radio and TV stations about a week before you go into session. On Friday you surprised everyone because you gave no notice at all when you went into session.
You can skip the weeks' notice by certifying in writing to an emergency – best to have a real emergency, though, and have that certificate in your hand before the session starts. Of course, Friday's session was called only to quickly override Gov. Eddie Calvo's veto of the sales tax-repealing Bill 262. So I can see how saying "emergency" wouldn't have sounded very good! Not so good because the sales tax doesn't even kick in until October.
So the teachable moment here is that just because you can call the Legislature into a surprise session doesn't mean that you should, absent a real emergency and compliance with the Open Government Law.
Respecting the 'public' in public hearing
Sen. Tom Ada, your failure to use the Open Government Law to help the public caused you, too, to be too quick on the draw. Without notice, you canceled the public hearing on Bills 283 and 284 scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday. You probably canceled the public hearing so you could attend the nonsession that didn't begin at 4. You could have followed the Open Government Law and adjourned the hearing to a date and time next week.
Using the Open Government Law would have worked better than stiffing the poor souls who prepared testimony and showed up for the hearing that didn't happen because you so cavalierly canceled it.
The teachable moment here is that the most important word in the phrase "public hearing" is the first one.
Finally, a sober reflection: We've seen it demonstrated recently that being quick on the draw makes it easier to "shoot yourself in the foot."
Just trying to help out,
Robert Klitzkie
