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Testimony to the Senate Task
Force on Reforming the New York State Legislature
Mark W. Bitz
3/1/06
Family, Community, Education, Free
Enterprise, and Democracy are the keys to a vital population.
In 1950, the population of New York State enjoyed intact
families, strong communities, exceptional education, vibrant
businesses, and a working democracy. More than any other state
or nation, the people of New York State thrived.
Fast forward 56 years, and the population of New York State
ranks 44th among the fifty states in a composite of
several vital measures. Our state ranks 45th in ten
year personal income and population growth, as well as in the
proportion of the population employed. We have the 32nd
highest proportion of people without health insurance and the 41st
highest poverty rate. We spend more for education on a per
pupil basis than any state, yet have the 44th lowest
high school graduation rate and 43rd lowest SAT
scores.
Many attribute our state’s poor
performance to its climate and the economic rise of the South,
Mexico, and China. Yet, Minnesota farther north and with a
harsher climate, ranks 8th among the fifty states.
To paraphrase Shakespeare,” the fault dear friends, is not in
our stars, but in our dysfunctional governors and legislatures
that we are underlings.”
After a year of reviewing the data
on our state, clearly our state leaders and Legislature do not
address the systemic problems of education, healthcare, an
uncompetitive business climate, and a dysfunctional government
in a meaningful way. They allow healthcare costs to escalate at
rates four times the inflation rate and become unaffordable to
much of our population. They ignore the plight of inner-city
and rural youth. They overtax businesses to the point of
bankrupting them or causing them to move to other states.
They sell laws and benefits to the
highest bidder. They hold office for life by amassing campaign
contributions to deter challengers. They rig the voting
districts. They rarely solicit public input on bills, nor
debate, research, and amend them. They do little more than
rubber stamp laws that the Majority Leader and Speaker work out
with vested interests.
Today, I wish to introduce to you
seven of the twelve reforms delineated in my book, Creating a
Prosperous New York State. My 64 page book will be
published Monday and a copy of the book will be sent to every
state senator and assembly member. I also wish to strengthen
your resolve to enact serious reforms.
Voter
Initiative
There is no purer form of democracy than direct democracy, and
Voter Initiative is such a form of direct democracy. New York
State needs Voter Initiative, because the Legislature has proven
incapable on enacting many needed reforms, such as borrowing,
taxing, and spending restraints.
Please enact a process where
citizens who obtain 500 supporting signatures in each of New
York’s 62 counties can propose laws to the voters in general
elections. Massachusetts would be more like New York State, in
decline and less prosperous, without its Voter Initiative Law
and the taxing and spending constraints that came from it.
Non-Partisan Voting Districts
The genius of democracy is in the system’s ability to obtain
feedback from its citizens and pass laws that reflect at least a
majority of the population’s needs and preferences. By drawing
districts in a manner that protects incumbency rather than
reflects people’s preferences, elected officials subvert the
effective feedback mechanism and power of democracy.
Please, set up an independent
commission of retired judges to oversee the development of a
computer algorithm to draw Senate and Assembly districts,
maximizing the use of county and township lines and minimizing
the number of lines to draw each district.
Citizen
Based Campaign Financing
In the last 10 years special interests lobbying expenditures
have increased 350%. The right of free speech that interest
groups use to justify their expenditures is a sham. When the
speech of a few powerful interests in the form of campaign
support overwhelms citizens’ concerns, this influence needs
limiting. New York’s future literally depends on your
willingness to curb the largest eight PACs’, the Teacher’s
Union, Health Care Union, Attorneys Union, Doctor’s & Dentist’s
Unions, Public Employees and Civil Unions, and the Police and
Prison Guard’s Union, influence on elections and policies.
Please pass laws to allow candidates to raise campaign funds
only during the ten months prior to an election and require them
to return any used campaign funds to donors after an election.
Bar businesses, unions, PACs, and all organizations from making
campaign contributions, and limit individual contributions to
$100 per candidate per year.
Senate and
Assembly Rule Reforms
Current Senate and Assembly Rules enable the Majority Leader and
Speaker control each of their party’s members by deciding
committee assignments, member staffs, and budgets, lulus, and
member items. You, as members of the minority, understand this
better than I can express. You also understand each of you
should be able to represent your constituents as well as any
member in the majority.
The Senate and Assembly Rules should be changed so all senators
and assembly members are treated equally within their respective
houses with regard to their budget, staff, member item money,
and compensation. The rules should also require any exceptions
for house and committee leaders to be approved by two-thirds of
the members in both the Senate and Assembly.
The rules should empower committee
chairs to employ and terminate staff and require committees to
hold a public hearing upon the request of one quarter of the
committee members. They should require committee chairs to hold
votes to release each bill referred to the committee 60 days
prior to the end of a session.
Your rules should require a
complete committee report for all bills favorably reported by a
committee, require a house floor vote on every bill that is
favorably discharged from a committee within 60 days, and
convene conference committees upon the request of either of a
bill’ major sponsors.
Interstate
Benchmarks & Performance Based Compensation for Legislators
Benchmarking New York’s performance against other states reveals
the effectiveness of state policies and agencies, as well as
opportunities for improvement. Businesses constantly benchmark
with their peers, and so should the Legislature and state. The
governor should be required by law to publish annually the
following New York State’s Rankings among the 50 states:
1)
Four Year Population
Growth,
2)
Four Year Personal
Income Growth,
3)
Percent of the
Population Employed,
4)
Percent of the
Population without Health Insurance,
5)
Percent of the
Population Living in Poverty,
6)
Per Pupil Education
Cost,
7)
High School
Graduation Rates,
8)
Average Math &
Verbal SAT Scores,
9)
Average Commute
Times, and
10)
The Composite
Average of These Nine Benchmarks.
In addition, please base your
compensation on your performance as indicated by the composite
ranking. Citizens would be happy to see their representatives
earn three times as much was the above composite measure among
the top five states in the country.
Public
Sector Borrowing & Spending Limits
From 1992-2002, state borrowing
and spending grew twice the rate of inflation, while the
population of New York State grew less than half of a percent
per year. The unbridled borrowing and spending cause New York
State taxes to be the among the most oppressive in the nation.
The data suggest that public education contains spending far
better than state and local governments. Public education is
required to gain taxpayer approval on all spending. The
residents of New York State would be better served by a similar
approval procedure for state and local government borrowing and
spending.
New York State needs a
constitutional amendment limiting the growth of per capita state
and local government borrowing and spending to the inflation
rate, unless a majority of the voters approve a larger increase
in a public referendum. This change more than any other helped
transform Colorado’s economy into one the fastest growing
economies in the country.
Reining in
Medicaid
From 1992-2002, the cost of
Medicaid increased 107%, while New York State’s population
hardly grew. We want to take care of the poor, but we do not
want people with means to live off the system. For in doing so,
we lessen our ability to care for the poor.
The Legislature will not be in a
position to responsibly borrow, tax, and spend until it deals
with the Medicaid monster. To gain control over this monster,
require three years of state residency and poverty level incomes
and assets for people to be eligible for Medicaid. Include
spouses’ income and assets and a 5 year look-back on an
applicant’s assets in the eligibility determination.
Conclusion
I am here today to speak for the
majority of people who work hard every day to raise good
children, are honest with others, and want to live in a
prosperous state - for the broken families and communities whose
children and friends move to other states - for the one in six
New Yorkers who cannot afford health insurance - for the four
out of ten children who will not graduate from high school - and
for the thousands of small businesses who provide work for our
citizens despite the extraordinary high workers compensation,
electricity, and health insurance costs, and property taxes.
I understand that many of you run
for office because you see problems in your districts and the
state, want to address them, and want to make a difference. I
also understand that though you may come to Albany with the best
of intentions, the system frustrates you, wears you down, and
eventually renders you ineffective.
For everything there is a time,
and the time has come for you to shape the system rather than be
shaped by it. Fear not. Work together and do the right thing.
The people of New York State have had enough of the current
system and the rotten fruit that it bears. They will respect
and support sincere and effective reform. You will be reelected
by merits of your actions rather than the gerrymandering of your
districts. An example of this is Tom Suozzi, a bold reformer
and Democrat, who won reelection with 60% of the vote in the
largely Republican County of Nassau.
Family, Community, Education, Free
Enterprise, and Democracy are the keys to a vital population.
The data clearly indicates our state policies steadily erode
these keys rather than strengthening them. Blaming the other
branches of government or gridlock for the poor results is a
luxury we can no longer afford. The Governor, Senate, and
Assembly always have had to work together and always will have
to work together. Please pause, reflect upon what you are
doing, gather courage, and implement the reforms that are so
badly needed.
Please cease taking money from vested interests and then
rewarding them with taxpayer funded benefits. Please elect a
new Majority Leader and Speaker, people who will facilitate the
democratic process rather than usurp it. Please responsibly
utilize your office and the trust voters place in you.
New York State can once again lead
the country and the world. We could once again become the most
prosperous people on the planet. For this to happen though, we
need leaders and representatives who address rather than ignore
our challenges.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Creating a Prosperous New York
State can be purchased at Free NYS.org, Amazon.com, and
numerous book, grocery, and drug stores. |
