Mar 05, 2007
A better rulebook
Editorial - News & Observer

One of the signs that legislative power has gone to somebody's head is when the rules of orderly procedure -- rules necessary to ensure open debate and preserve the rights of political minorities -- are twisted into a pretzel or simply ignored. Over at the General Assembly, in recent years there's been some of both. 
 
Was it a symptom of leadership grown too powerful and too zealous in trying to preserve that power? Knowing what we know now about the failed ethical compass of former House Speaker Jim Black, convicted on felony money-for-influence charges, it's sadly reasonable to assume the worst. 
 
Fittingly, the man who has replaced Black has taken the lead in pressing for some procedural reforms in the House. Speaker Joe Hackney last week unveiled welcome new rules, including a ban on two practices that easily could be and in some cases have been abused. 
 
One of those practices was the use of floating committee members -- allies of the leadership who could be dispatched to any committee meeting to tilt a vote as leaders saw fit. Just to describe it suggests what a mockery these "floaters" could make of the committee process. Just send in some ringers to make sure the leaders get their way. 
 
Also scrapped by Hackney is the long-standing use of so-called special provisions in the budget bill that have nothing to do with state spending. These provisions, inserted on the say-so of legislators with the clout to do it, have been used to accomplish all manner of things that might well not have been possible if they'd been presented as individual bills, subject to regular scrutiny and debate. A painful example was the provision employed by Black to limit insurance co-payments required of chiropractic patients to the same amounts required of patients seeing medical doctors. And yes, Black illegally took money from chiropractors. 
 
On the Senate side, President Pro Tem Marc Basnight says special provisions serve a worthy purpose and will be retained. Banning them won't stop anyone from breaking the law, he asserted with some justification. 
 
But that doesn't mean they are a good way to do business. Basnight, who has ruled the Senate roost for lo these many years, ought to heed his freshly minted counterpart in the lower chamber and go the extra mile to help keep the legislature operating on the up and up.