Guest MINDSETTER™ Emily Koo: Too Many Study Commissions Accomplish Nothing
Monday, December 10, 2012
In 2012, the General Assembly committed to "undertaking a comprehensive study" on dozens of issues: petroleum savings and independence, the educational needs of children with reading disabilities, the public funded election system, the purchase and use of textbooks in public schools, waste and energy incineration, mitigating climate change, the future of the veterans home facility in Bristol... to name a few.
So what does that really mean?
In fact, most of the bills addressing study commissions were simply to "reinstate the life of and extend the reporting date of" a study commission that was never taken off of paper. A year had passed, according to law a report was due rather soon, but no one had actually met to discuss the issue. Did the sponsor forget to assemble the commission? Was a politician or administrative barrier slowing down appointments? How often do these deadlines just pass, unnoticed, without any kind of meeting, report, or extension?
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When my own issue was granted a study commission in 2011, it was glorious. After years of advocating for publicly financed elections, we had mandated that the legislature notice the exorbitant cost of elections, realize that this was undermining our democracy, and address it in some productive manner. But study commissions breeze through the committee process precisely because they lack any sort of mandate. Hardly a political statement, zero costs, meaningless deadlines. Whether or not you support or despise an issue, there's no harm in studying it – no risk of irritating leadership or your constituents (or worse, your donors).
Whether or not a commission assembles is entirely dependent on pressure. Is there an advocate in the Statehouse that's focused on nagging leadership to make their appointments, on reserving a room and scheduling a time to meet, on producing something valuable? If not, can outside pressure nudge the process along? One year after the passage of our study commission, the Senate President had not appointed her half of the joint legislative study commission, and rumors swirled about her personal feud with our commission's main sponsor. No way leadership could withhold implementing this study commission – this law – based on political differences.
There isn't a science to mobilizing a study commission. My group, Rhode Islanders for Fair Elections, went with an email blast, and about thirty phone calls later, the Senate President's secretary assured us that appointing the members of our study commission was now high-priority. A few days later our commission sponsor received the appointments in the mail. This was in April of 2012, and as I write this, nine months later, the commission on publicly financed elections, though assembled, has yet to convene. Was that our job? Do outside interest groups need to continually nag? Are the chairs of our commissions forgetful or distracted or overworked? Don't the Senate and House Policy Office have a set procedure for implementation?
I know – many study commissions do assemble and convene with little fuss. On my radar this month are the Climate Change Commission and the commission on Producer Responsibility in Paper and Packaging. And I’m sure that those that reach the (extended) finish line contribute tremendously to an ever-growing body of policy research. The General Assembly’s recently re-vamped website does present a tab of Commissions, including agendas, meetings, and final reports. However, the list of 17 commissions, some no longer active, only scratches the surface of legislative study commissions that may be pending or off-the-record. The passage of a study commission must go beyond a politically salient compromise, to promptly and deliberately study the issue at hand.
WHEREAS, the legislature undertakes a comprehensive study of dozens of issues each session, most of which are not addressed for many years;
WHEREAS, study commissions lack any sense of urgency and must be constantly reinstated and extended;
WHEREAS, there exists no standard procedure for implementation of study commissions, nor a requirement to share the findings of a commission with the general public;
RESOLVED, I hereby establish a study commission to reevaluate the effectiveness of study commissions in the Rhode Island General Assembly.
