Baltimore Sun Editorial

Watching the legislature in action, Baltimore Sun, February 29, 2016.

Snider Comment

In the Fall of 2008 I reported to Maryland’s speaker the results of my study of 99 state legislative chambers (of the fifty U.S. states, only Nebraska lacks two chambers).  The study is “The Dismal Politics of Legislative Transparency,” published in the Journal of Information Technology & Politics).  What I found was that big, wealthy, and technologically sophisticated states such as Maryland didn’t make legislator roll call votes available by legislator (as opposed to chronologically, which is mandated in Maryland’s Constitution, and by bill).  When I reported my findings to him at a public meeting then and several years later, he said it was in his and his colleagues’ interest to make it easy for the public to see their roll call votes and he would implement easy access to roll call votes, which is a critical foundation of a functional democracy.  It’s now almost eight years later, and I’ve repeatedly testified about this issue before the Joint Committee on Transparency and other legislative committees, and it still hasn’t happened.  For my testimony, see eLighthouse.info.

In the Fall of 2008 I reported to Maryland’s speaker the results of my study of 99 state legislative chambers (of the fifty U.S. states, only Nebraska lacks two chambers).  The study is “The Dismal Politics of Legislative Transparency,” published in the Journal of Information Technology & Politics).  What I found was that big, wealthy, and technologically sophisticated states such as Maryland didn’t make legislator roll call votes available by legislator (as opposed to chronologically, which is mandated in Maryland’s Constitution, and by bill).  When I reported my findings to him at a public meeting then and several years later, he said it was in his and his colleagues’ interest to make it easy for the public to see their roll call votes and he would implement easy access to roll call votes, which is a critical foundation of a functional democracy.  It’s now almost eight years later, and I’ve repeatedly testified about this issue before the Joint Committee on Transparency and other legislative committees, and it still hasn’t happened.  For my testimony, see eLighthouse.info.

I’ve also spoken about problems with regard to televised state legislative proceedings, the issue addressed in this editorial, before the IT section of NCSL (the National Conference of State Legislatures) and SPAT (State Public Affairs TV), and written about the contrast in a National Civic Review article, “Should the Public Meeting Enter the Information Age?” where I noticed that small communities often do a much better job of providing modern meeting access that their large, wealthy, and technologically sophisticated counterparts.

Shame on the Maryland General Assembly.

See also the Maryland Reporter news articles on the dueling cost estimates concerning webcast legislative proceedings:

Hogan backs video of legislative sessions by Len Lazarick | February 24, 2016

Legislators pushing for video of floor sessions say costs inflated by Len Lazarick | February 15, 2016