Elsewhere: Augusta, Maine
Proposal to merge both houses dismissed by State Senate
Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:45:00
New York is not the only state wondering about what its State Senate does all the time.
Maine Rep. Linda Valentino (D-Saco) sponsored a bill in her state, not surprisingly killed by the Maine Senate earlier this month, aimed at replacing the two houses of the state’s government with a unicameral legislature.
The consolidation of the Maine Senate and House of Representatives would have reduced the number of state legislators from 186 to 151 and resulted in savings of $11 million.
“Eleven million dollars is a lot of money,” Valentino said. “But we certainly wouldn’t do it just for the savings. If I didn’t think it was good government, I wouldn’t do it.”
Nebraska is currently the only state in the nation that has a unicameral legislature.
Having just one legislative chamber is more transparent because there are no conference committees, said Mike Flood, a senator and speaker of the Nebraska Legislature. It is also less costly and more efficient.
“Bicameral legislatures obviously work well for many states,” he said. “[But] in terms of government efficiency, you can point to Nebraska.”
Nebraska adopted a unicameral legislature in 1937 by a citizen’s initiative, spurred by the efforts of Congressman George Norris and the economic decline of the Great Depression.
The measure was put to the people and passed by a nearly 100,000-vote margin.
Valentino’s proposal is just the latest in a long string of drives to restructure what some believe is an outdated and inefficient bicameral system.
In 1964, the Supreme Court ruled in Reynolds v. Sims that all state legislative districts must represent about the same number of people. Afterwards, many argued that there was no need for two houses to be apportioned based on population.
Fourteen states—including New York several times in 1960s—attempted to adopt a unicameral system based on the Nebraska model in the wake of the ruling, but they all failed.
New York’s constitution does not allow citizen initiatives, so a switch to unicameralism, as in Maine, would have to either come through a constitutional convention or the Legislature.
Even in light of recent events, that idea does not seem to have much appeal in Albany.
“I’m a strong believer in bicameral legislature,” said Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari (D-Albany).
The New York Senate coup was “a temporary blip in the history of the institution” that does not warrant a shift to unicameralism, Canestrari said.
Canestrari said that while a unicameral legislature may be right for a state as demographically homogenous as Nebraska, bicameralism “provides balance, particularly in a state as diverse as New York.”
In Maine, despite the bill’s demise in the Senate, Valentino defended the underlying concept of unicameralism.
“People understand it. They like it. It’s people in the government that don’t,” Valentino said. “You’re never going to have the senators vote themselves out of office.”
Still, she remains optimistic that the measure will eventually pass in Maine and elsewhere in the country, as state governments begin to see the error of their bicameral ways.
“It’s an idea,” she said, “whose time has come.”
Maine Rep. Linda Valentino (D-Saco) sponsored a bill in her state, not surprisingly killed by the Maine Senate earlier this month, aimed at replacing the two houses of the state’s government with a unicameral legislature.
The consolidation of the Maine Senate and House of Representatives would have reduced the number of state legislators from 186 to 151 and resulted in savings of $11 million.
“Eleven million dollars is a lot of money,” Valentino said. “But we certainly wouldn’t do it just for the savings. If I didn’t think it was good government, I wouldn’t do it.”
Nebraska is currently the only state in the nation that has a unicameral legislature.
Having just one legislative chamber is more transparent because there are no conference committees, said Mike Flood, a senator and speaker of the Nebraska Legislature. It is also less costly and more efficient.
“Bicameral legislatures obviously work well for many states,” he said. “[But] in terms of government efficiency, you can point to Nebraska.”
Nebraska adopted a unicameral legislature in 1937 by a citizen’s initiative, spurred by the efforts of Congressman George Norris and the economic decline of the Great Depression.
The measure was put to the people and passed by a nearly 100,000-vote margin.
Valentino’s proposal is just the latest in a long string of drives to restructure what some believe is an outdated and inefficient bicameral system.
In 1964, the Supreme Court ruled in Reynolds v. Sims that all state legislative districts must represent about the same number of people. Afterwards, many argued that there was no need for two houses to be apportioned based on population.
Fourteen states—including New York several times in 1960s—attempted to adopt a unicameral system based on the Nebraska model in the wake of the ruling, but they all failed.
New York’s constitution does not allow citizen initiatives, so a switch to unicameralism, as in Maine, would have to either come through a constitutional convention or the Legislature.
Even in light of recent events, that idea does not seem to have much appeal in Albany.
“I’m a strong believer in bicameral legislature,” said Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari (D-Albany).
The New York Senate coup was “a temporary blip in the history of the institution” that does not warrant a shift to unicameralism, Canestrari said.
Canestrari said that while a unicameral legislature may be right for a state as demographically homogenous as Nebraska, bicameralism “provides balance, particularly in a state as diverse as New York.”
In Maine, despite the bill’s demise in the Senate, Valentino defended the underlying concept of unicameralism.
“People understand it. They like it. It’s people in the government that don’t,” Valentino said. “You’re never going to have the senators vote themselves out of office.”
Still, she remains optimistic that the measure will eventually pass in Maine and elsewhere in the country, as state governments begin to see the error of their bicameral ways.
“It’s an idea,” she said, “whose time has come.”
