Column: Citizen’s Bill of Rights would be ideal

Looking ahead, through an ideal political lens: It’s a year from now. New governor, new Legislature. The pandemic has subsided, mostly. A wave of democracy has swept over the voters who called for a better way to make our laws. Many legislators have been reelected, but not all. Most came to embrace the need to renew, change, revitalize and reset.

A citizen’s Bill of Rights has been crafted, based on genuine grievances felt by many — and candidates were asked to pledge to support the following.

All members of the public have the right to know and expect:

>> Their elected legislator will be treated with fairness, equity, dignity, respect and inclusion, regardless of seniority, faction or party. Today this or that faction hoards power, and degrades the dignity of other colleagues.

>> The public be treated with fairness, equity, dignity, respect and honesty during public hearings, regardless of their lack of power, status or wealth.

>> Expression of an unappreciated view will not result in retribution by an elected official, and that no public employee should fear losing her or his job by the Legislature cutting a specific employee’s position number in the budget worksheets. This actually happened in 2021, and other years. It was mean-spirited and vindictive.

>> To provide oral testimony at any public hearing, speaking truth to power, regardless of the preference of committee chairs who might prefer to discourage oral testimony. And to see all submitted testimony on its website no later than 24 hours after it is submitted; and to expect that all official executive testimony or communications, such as budgetary information, be posted on a website in a timely manner. Today, written testimony is hidden until after the hearings, and even committee members often don’t have time to read it beforehand.

>> All committee members see and review all bills, amendments and committee reports before formally voting on a measure in committee. In the past, before any bill left a committee, there was an official paper version of a committee report, and a final text that every committee member could review and sign their name as an expression of their vote. Today, it is common for members to vote without actually seeing the amended text of the bill.

>> That the original content of a bill not be suddenly and substantially changed without adequate public hearings on the new content, including the requirement of all committees to hold a valid, face to face public hearing on each bill that is placed on its agenda. Submission of electronic testimony should not be confused with a genuine public hearing.

>> Senate and House leadership will refrain from “killing” a bill with multiple referrals.

>> Efforts to communicate or meet with legislators will be honored and not dismissed or ignored.

>> Senate and House leadership shall not require that subject-matter committees pass out bills with deliberate defects (such as a defective date), and appropriation bills be passed on with no recommended funding amount.

>> That nonfiscal bills not be referred to the money committees; and that substantial amendments by budget committees shall honor the decisions of a previous committee.

>> That Senate and House leadership and conference committee chairs shall not allow a bill to die in a conference committee by virtue of a conference chairperson not attending.

Such Bill of Rights changes are a personal fantasy, based on how it used to be, and could be. Most of these dreams will not come to pass without active engagement of citizen voices, advocates and organizations. We could be better. We could actually start in 2022, right now.

Jim Shon is a former Hawaii state legislator.