According to a recently completed statewide
field poll, only 14 percent of the state's voters
approve of the Legislature's performance, the
poorest rating ever recorded in trend measures
dating back to the early 1980s. After the recent
budget crises, perhaps it's only to be expected.
"Nobody is satisfied with the Legislature
these days," said Jerrol LeBaron, a Los Angeles
County businessman, activist and proprietor of
http://honorinoffice.org.
"We need to be confident that the legislation
will represent the people, and frankly, that's
not happening."
To that end, LeBaron is promoting the "Honor
in Office Act," a proposed ballot measure
which, if approved by voters, would prevent lawmakers
from voting in favor of legislation unless they
certify, under penalty of perjury, that they have
read and understand the bill in question. LeBaron
must collect 694,354 signatures for his measure
to reach the ballot in 2010.
LeBaron said the resistance to his idea has been
startling. "Just last night I got an e-mail
from one of the current legislators, saying, 'There's
no way we can do that with so many bills getting
shuttled back and forth in the middle of the night.
How do you expect us to do that?' With attitudes
like that, I think it's perfectly acceptable to
demand change," he said.
LeBaron understands that it is almost impossible
to read every single piece of legislation that
is proposed. But he thinks it is reasonable to
request that legislators understand bills they
choose to enforce.
"If you know you're going to reject a bill,
fine," LeBaron said. "Find a paragraph
you disagree with. Have one of your aides find
it for you. ...But if you're going to support
it, you should understand it enough to debate
for it. It just promotes common sense and competency
in the Legislature."
LeBaron said most voters are unaware of the degree
to which their legislators skim the text of proposed
new laws. The crucial state budget measures are
no exception, he said.
"I was just at the Capitol for the Assembly
meeting about the budget last night. And I'd say
about 50 percent of the legislators were completely
[fudging] their claims. One person was flipping
pages in the bill, several were text messaging
to pass the time and the rest clearly hadn't read
their half of the proposal. It's unacceptable."
Some voters, however, think the Honor in Office
Act asks too much.
"We would hope that [the legislators] read
all bills," said professor Barbara O'Connor,
director of the Institute for the Study of Politics
and Media at Sacramento State. "But in the
flurry of end-of-term legislation, it's simply
not possible."
She cites the recent budget rush as a prime example.
"I know very many people were anxious about
seeing the proposal in writing, because the devil's
in the details, but there just wasn't time before,"
she said. "If they'd been reading everything
... it would have been impossible. And I generally
don't believe in trying to support the impossible.
"As for LeBaron's belief that uncorrupted
legislators would be unwilling to perjure themselves,
she remained skeptical. "Perjury is only
valid in court. We're not going to take legislators
to court over every single bill. It's a waste
of time and energy. "She said she doubted
Honor in Office Act would ultimately be enforced.
"We're not going to give them pop quizzes
before every bill to make sure they've read it,"
she continued. "At the rate legislation moves,
legislators often rely on hired staff. There are
moments where people haven't read something they've
voted for and regretted it, but micromanaging
with initiatives is really dysfunctional.
"Instead of 'nannying,' O'Connor suggests
that the process could be better streamlined by
cutting down on the number of bills legislators
can propose. "[The passage of bills] is an
expensive process," she said, "and it
can certainly be simplified. But internal legislative
rules are much more easily changed than passing
initiatives like this one."
But LeBaron insists that his proposal will result
in more competent lawmaking. "In The Dark
Knight, the Joker says, 'This town needs a better
class of criminal.' Today as I was driving through
Sacramento, I thought, 'This state needs a better
class of leadership.'"
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