1. How did you first year go?

Givens- I thouroughly enjoyed my first year and I felt like we had a productive session. I was extremely impressed by the LRC staff on how essential they are to the legislative process. I also came to the realization that the time demands are high.

2. Was being a legislator being than what you had expected?

Givens-Again, as I said earlier I was surprised by the intensity and volume of work. I was really impressed on how on some specific issues we worked on especially regarding the budget challenged us to work together to the best interest of the state. I was disappointed that some pieces of legislation did not go through because the House let out so early on the last day and refused to vote on any new pieces of Legislation.

3. What was the most important thing you saw come out of session?

Givens- I believe that Senate Bill 1 was the most important piece of Legislation that came out of the 09 Session. These changes to the assessment program are going to be phased in over the next two years some things starting this year and it will be fully implemented by 2011. This process will also be looked at by both sides of leadership on how to construct a new assessment tool to be used in academic evaluation. Another important thing that came out of session was the combination revenue measure that was a necessary action taken by the legislature. This combination of the taxes on alcohol and tobacco, and legislation approving cuts in the state budget shrank the net spending buy 100 million.

4. What are some things that you are looking forward too for next session and during the interum period?

Givens-Right now during the interum I am working with the Unemployment Insurance Staff Force to look at the structural implications that medical regulations have on unemployment insurance. Right now the state owes the Federal Government 200 million and we are looking at ways to reduce in some areas to be able to pay that back. Again, I am really looking forward to being a part of the task force that will create a new assessment for academic evaluation.

He also told me to mention that he had an excellent intern haha.

To understand the importance of committees we have to first look at the way a bill is created so that it will be effective in a committee. When a bill is first drafted it often times can be too narrow only telling the logistics of the bill not going into detail or specifics. Partisan conflict is conflict between the House and the Senate, the Executive and Legislative or in other areas. To go from this broad generalization to a complex form of legislation “scrutiny and modification in the committee (Rosenthal 363)” is required.

Constituents are an important part of how legislators determine how a bill will be created and how well it will move through a Committee. Most Committee meetings are open to the public so they can view how democracy runs and have a say in each bill that comes through the committee. “A European observer would be baffled by all of this ‘few countries require anything resembling the openness of the American process” (Wilson 130). Constituents are the most important factor determining whether a legislator will vote for or against a piece of legislation. If the legislator’s constituents are not pleased with they way they are represented they can just vote that official out of office next time his re-election comes around. Normally, legislators vote according to what the majority of there constituents want because of this scare that they might be voted out of office therefore doing away with their power.

Communication to their constituents is also a pertinent thing in politics. “He must want to play the role of the leader and educator in his constituency. The legislator who fails to recognize the importance of communication will not devote the time and resources that are necessary to the task” (Jewell 49). Bills that are being created and have to go from a general to narrow piece of legislation largely require constant communication between the constituents, interest groups and legislator. This is also important in committees because the constant input of the constituent allows for more discussion in a committee to support or oppose a piece of legislation.

Committees create positions of power allowing every member to have some form of influence and input on legislation. Committee members are influenced by the environment and the member’s constituents and concerns. The members’ goals are “Re-election, good public policy, influence in the chamber, and career ambitions beyond the chamber. They perceive committees to be differentially useful in the pursuit of these goals (Fenno 139).”

One example of power displayed through a Committee was from the Senator I interned under. Senator Givens was the chairman of the Agriculture committee and sat on the Transportation and Education committees. Senator Givens is a farmer who graduated from Western Kentucky University with an Agricultural Degree and is on the Agricultural Board for his home county as well as Producer and Board member of Green County Cattleman’s Association. Because of the Johnson Rule 1953 which “assures every freshman of a major assignment before other vacancies are filled (Fenno 151),” the leaders decided to place him as Chair of the Agricultural Committee because of his previous experience with agriculture.

            As chairman of a committee you get to decide what bills will be heard in your committee, and if they will pass. A chairman can stop a bill before it even is heard. In example this year Chairman Givens decided to not hear all of the bills that were sent from the House Agriculture committee. He had a House member of his party get mad and even says a couple choice words to him. Senator Givens said that he was going to hear the Representative’s bill on a certain day but it was postponed. Senator Givens could have just retaliated and not have the committee hear it at all because he has that authority but instead he allowed it to be heard.

As in the formation of a bill there is partisan conflict in Committees and in Committees between the House and the Senate even when the majority party is the same for each of them. “Senators, in sum, want to, can, and do sustain a decision-making process that is more individualistic and gives greater influence to the individual legislator than is the case in the House. The important corollary of this institutional difference is that decision making inside the Senate is much less of a committee-dominated process than it is in the House (Fenno 146-147).” Senators are spread out over more committees than House members are so there specialization in the Senate is less. Since the Senators aren’t required to be experts on issues the committees they are assigned to focus on they can dabble in two or three areas that aren’t necessarily in there committee.

Subcommittees are an important part of the Legislative process. Many times an issue is so large for a particular committee that it has to have a subcommittee created for it. For instance, Senator Givens is on the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee a subcommittee dealing with the agricultural issue of tobacco in the state. “On the Senate side, members can get, in time, any subcommittee assignment they want (Fenno 186).” The reason this is said is because since there is less of them they have more individualist say on where they would like to be placed and the more qualified are placed on these subcommittees so they can regulate what the House of Representatives proceed to do.

During interim months subcommittees will meet and committees dealing with particular issues. These committees can not pass bills that will come into law because that task is only performed during session  The committees are essential in the fact that they can sort out issues the two bodies may have or the parties may have. They also, are important for research and gaining greater understanding of issues that will most likely arise and be formed into a piece of legislation in the upcoming session. At the end of session this year Senator Kelly remarked that they will be having a lot of interim committee meetings and maybe even a special session to look at the issue of the budget.

In Frankfort the budget is on everyone’s mind and how to deal with it is forefront, one piece of legislation that was proposed was the cigarette and alcohol tax. This legislation was split between constituent concerns and financial issues for the state. In the urban areas constituents wanted a tax on cigarettes and not on alcohol and in rural areas the opinions were opposite. As I have mentioned earlier constituents play an important role in the deciding of a bill and in Frankfort when this bill finally was allowed to come to a committee hearing numerous amounts of people came out to express their views. The committee reluctantly let the bill pass through but was the most difficult piece of legislation and most controversial piece of legislation that was sent through a committee.

The other issue that was weighing on public and officials minds was reform of the CATS testing. Both of these pieces of legislation were successful in Committees. This success was very astonishing considering that the House and the Senate are run by two different political parties. The CATS legislation took years to finally get a compromise so it could even be heard in a committee. It passed through the committee with a majority vote.

The passing of the CATS reform bill could be seen by some as a decline in partisanship in the Legislature. Then others will just say that all constituents from every district were concerned with this legislation so therefore it was not the decline of partisanship but just a concern for there political face value to the people. “The point is not that candidates and officeholders should sacrifice their political interests and values for the sake of the party but rather that a range of viable strategies of campaigning and governance are available some of which tend to reinforce and others to undermine party strength” (Salmore 244). This statement makes the point that the legislators top concern is not loyalty to the party but instead loyalty to their constituents and personal interests.

As I have demonstrated in this paper Committees are important to the legislative process. Without successful committees and the committee system, passing bills would be more complex putting more strain on the individual legislator to know each 100 plus bill that would come through the lawmaking process. Committee’s allow legislators to have a say in each piece of legislation but still focus on the representative part of Government by attending to constituent needs more closely than lawmaking. It also allows legislators to take part in legislation they are more familiar with instead of trying to know a little about everything they know about specifics. Interning in Frankfort, I have seen the committee process in action and it is very effective and very essential for Democracy today.

Citations:

Fenno Jr., Richard F. Congressmen in Committees. The University of Rochester. Little, Brown and Company. Boston 1973

Jewell, Malcolm E. Representation in State Legislatures. The University Press of Kentucky 1982. Lexington, Kentucky.

Rosenthal, Alan. Engines of Democracy: Politics and Policymaking in State Legislatures. Eagleton Institute of Politics-Rutgers University. 2009.

Salmore, Stephen A. Candidates, Parties, and Campaigns: Electoral Politics in America. Congressional Quaterly, Inc. 1985. Washington D.C.

Wilson, James Q. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. Basic Books, Inc 1989.

Another interesting thing that came out of this legislation was we saw the use of a line item veto on HB 330 dealing with appropriations and transportation. The line that was vetoed by the Governor dealt with specific appropriations and time periods that the governor thought the state didnt have money to spend on that particular piece of transportation. The line item veto when sent to the Houses was not acted upon and the bill was signed by the Governor and became law.

Even though the closing of this legislative session was not as eventful as 2008′s it was still extremely effective. The most incredible thing was that we saw partisan lines being crossed and compromises being made on both sides to improve the condition of the state, whether it was through education or taxes to increase revenue. So in conclusion I would say that this session was more effective then alot of sessions we have had in the past.

April 17, 2009

Final Paper Proposal

Committees play an important role in politics in the federal, state and local government. What I intend to look at will concern the issues pertinent to this years General Assembly and how their role and stance in the committees affects their advancement into becoming a bill and then law. Interning in Frankfort will give me insight into what issues are the most controversial and the most important to the public and to the legislators and how they may differ at times.

In Frankfort the budget is on everyone’s mind and how to deal with it is forefront, one way piece of legislation that was proposed was the cigarette and alcohol tax. In my research analysis I plan to look at how this legislation compares to others similar to it and its difficult route through the committee processes. The other issue that was weighing on public and officials minds was reform of the CATS testing. In my analysis I plan to look at this piece of legislations process through the committee system and how it became successful and ending up passing even with opposing parties in each house and was signed into law.

Throughout the paper I will make references to other bills that went through the committee process and how they were perceived by each party and how the public responded to those particular bills. I also plan to take interviews of legislators from each political party, different lobbying firms and organizations to get there viewpoint on what happened in the committee’s in this General Session that was important or detrimental to their cause. Finally, I will look at why these pieces stopped in the political process of a bill becoming law and at what point of the process did they stop.

Citations:

Fenno Jr., Richard F. Congressmen in Committees. The University of Rochester. Little, Brown and Company. Boston 1973

Jewell, Malcolm E. Representation in State Legislatures. The University Press of Kentucky 1982. Lexington, Kentucky.

Rosenthal, Alan. Engines of Democracy: Politics and Policymaking in State Legislatures. Eagleton Institute of Politics-Rutgers University. 2009.

            Committees play an important role in the Legislative branch of the government. They allow for more detailed analysis of the bills that are proposed as well as create more positions of power. They allow every member to have some form of influence and input on legislation. Committee members are influenced by the environment and the members constituents and concerns. The members goals are “Re-election, good public policy, influence in the chamber, and career ambitions beyond the chamber. They perceive committees to be differentially useful in the pursuit of these goals (Fenno 139).”

            Senator Givens was the chairman of the Agriculture committee and sat on the Transportation and Education committees. Senator Givens is a farmer who graduated from Western Kentucky University with a Agricultural Degree and is on the Agricultural Board for his home county as well as Producer and Board member of Green County Cattleman’s Association. Because of the Johnson Rule 1953 which “assures every freshman of a major assignment before other vacancies are filled (Fenno 151),” the leaders decided to place him as Chair of the Agricultural Committee because of his previous experience with agriculture.

            As chairman of a committee you get to decide what bills will be heard in your committee, and if they will pass. A chairman can stop a bill before it even is heard. In example this year Chairman Givens decided to not hear all of the bills that were sent from the House Agriculture committee. He had a House member of his party get mad and even say a couple choice words to him. Senator Givens said that he was going to hear the Representative’s bill on a certain day but it was postponed. Senator Givens could have just retaliated and not have the committee hear it at all because he has that authority but instead he allowed it to be heard.

            There are differences in the committees in the House and the Senate even when the majority party is the same for each of them. “Senators, in sum, want to, can, and do sustain a decision-making process that is more individualistic and gives greater influence to the individual legislator than is the case in the House. The important corollary of this institutional  difference is that decision making  inside the Senate is much less of a committee-dominated process than it is in the House (Fenno 146-147).” Senators are spread out over more committees than House members are so there specialization in the Senate is less. Since the Senators aren’t required to be experts on issues the committees they are assigned to focus on they can dabble in two or three areas that aren’t necessarily in there committee.

Subcommittees are an important part of the Legislative process. Many times an issue is so large for a particular committee that it has to have a subcommittee created for it  For instance, Senator Givens is on the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee a subcommittee dealing with the agricultural issue of tobacco in the state. “On the Senate side, members can get, in time, any subcommittee assignment they want (Fenno 186).” The reason this is said is because since there is less of them they have more individualist say on where they would like to be placed and the more qualified are placed on these subcommittees so they can regulate what the House of Representatives proceed to do.

Committees are important in both houses of the Legislature no matter how differently they work. Without committees, the process of a bill become law would be more strenuous and at the same time not as effective. Even though the Legislatures may not know every fact about a piece of Legislation, committees allow them some insight into the details of the bill. Members of the Legislature would not be effective without them.

Fenno Jr., Richard F. Congressmen in Committees. The University of Rochester. Little, Brown and Company. Boston 1973

One incredible accomplishment this session was the passing of Senate Bill 1. This bill has been sent through the legislative process for three years in a row and still never passed because a compromise could not be made. Finally, this year it was signed into law. This bill is about the restructing of the CATS program and the education system, so that students would be better equipped for college and there future. The Democrats added the admendment that would not allow it to go into effect till 2011 but still a compromise was made and that is historical for a divided legislature. Another important bill pertained to the recovery of inmates who had addictions. This bill inacted that they be put in a program until well, which will cut down on the inmate return. All in all, I believe it was a sucessful session.

The other piece of legislation that is thoroughly being debated is dealing with Education. Senator Winters has proposed legislation for early high school graduation and Senator Shaunessy is very hesitant about the bill because it cuts out a large portion of extra courses and courses outside of the main curriculum. So this bill passed on the floor but there was Admendments attached on from Senator Shaunessy. Also, I am sure there will be thorough debate in the House. The other Education legislation is on the removal of CATS testing and the replacement of an shorter achievement exam. Senator Winters feels that the students of Kentucky are not thoroughly prepared for college and the curriculum that comes with college courses and one reason behind this is that the CATS testing does not do a accurate job at determining this. This legislation has yet to make it through the Senate but continues to dominate the regular conversations.

The other interesting part of my day was went I was sent to go fetch Representative Turner from the House to come and speak with Senator Givens. Not knowing that Rep Turner was upset with Sen Givens after a while of searching I finally find Rep Turner. I told him that my Senator would like to speak with him and I got a couple choice words to respond back to Sen Givens. Come to find out the reason for Rep Turner being upset was because Senator Givens did not call his bill up in Sen Ag Committee. Senator Givens then proceeded to use me as practice for the conversation that would occur between him and Rep Turner. He ended with Im the chair  of the committee I can not look at certain types of legislation if I desire not too. One thing that I have really noticed this time is that people in leadership positions have a large amount of power and when needed they will use it.

By emelli6

                 When a bill is first drafted it often times can be too narrow only telling the logistics of the bill not going into detail or specifics. In the book Engines of Democracy there is a large section on the complexity and detail that a bill must have before it is sent to the floor. To go from this broad generalization to a complex form of legislation “scrutiny and modification in the committee (Rosenthal 363)” is required. One example seen of this during the session this time was when Senate President David Williams had half of his interns working on a piece of Education legislation dealing with homeschoolers. This legislation was thoroughly scrutinized and followed with a conclusion that more information was needed before an effective vote can be taken on it.

                Other factors that can affect a bill in an indirect way are truly political for instance they are partisan conflict- sometimes conflict between the House and the Senate, and disputes between the Executive and Legislative.  One example of Partisan conflict is between the House and the Senate for the Kentucky General Assembly. The House is controlled by the Democrats and the Senate is controlled by the Republicans. This alone makes the normal conflicts that agreeing legislatures might have even more strong. For example, members of the House are allowed more leeway to specialize because they have less responsibility. This is a huge difference I have discovered this spring internship.  When I was in the House there were many discussions on the issues at hand on the contrary in the Senate constituent population is larger and there is less senators to distribute the legislation too. The Senate and the House rival for influence, especially when it comes to dealing with money such as the budget.

                One of the biggest rivalries and stopping point for many bills last year was when it was required for the Executive and Legislative branches to compromise. This session I have yet to encounter any large legislation that has caused the two branches to split on their vote and their support but the budget has yet to be finalized so I believe there will be some division.  The Senate President and the Speaker of the House can be just as powerful as the governor as we send from time to time last session. I believe this session, because of the compromise being seen so far, the partisan conflicts in each individual assembly and between the two branches will be minimum.

Source:

Rosenthal, Alan. Engines of Democracy: Politics and Policymaking in State Legislatures. Eagleton Institute of Politics-Rutgers University. 2009.