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Amending the State Constitution Isn't Enough

by: Dan Jacoby

Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 15:39:52 PM EDT

In light of the recent insanity, from the defection of Sens. Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate, through to the Court of Appeals decision concerning the appointment of Richard Ravitch as Lieutenant-Governor, it is pretty obvious that parts of the state's constitution are in serious need of reworking.

What is not so obvious is that the consolidated laws of the State of New York are in even more dire need of scrubbing. Many of our laws are obsolete, others are so badly written that their meaning is obscure at best, still others are rendered irrelevant by later laws. The result is often a confusing morass. What's worse, even the laws that do have a specific, relevant meaning are often phrased in ways that only a topnotch lawyer can understand.

My recommendation after the jump:

Dan Jacoby :: Amending the State Constitution Isn't Enough

I recommend a blue-ribbon panel be created with the (paid) job of going through all of New York's consolidated laws.

I suggest that the panel consist of 17 members, 4 each from the majority and minority parties of each house of the legislature, and the chair -- someone who is considered to be above partisanship -- picked by the other sixteen members.

The panel would have the power to decide how it will divide the job among its members, how those members will work together, and how often (and where) the entire panel would meet. The panel's pay scale would be set by the law that creates it.

The panel would make recommendations for changes to current laws. Where the meaning of a section of law is unclear, the panel should make multiple recommendations, so that each potential interpretation is covered.

The panel would be charged with reporting to the governor and the legislature after six months; that report should give a timeline for completion of the project. Upon receipt of the final report, the legislature should be required to go into session in mid-September for the purpose of legislating the recommendations of the panel. Under this plan, the legislature would not be allowed to adjourn until all the recommendations have been acted upon -- in each section covered by the panel's report, either the law would be modified or a vote would be taken to leave the law as it is.

This could take years, but the end result will be a clean set of consolidated laws. It is a long-overdue reform.

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Amending the State Constitution Isn't Enough | 4 comments

A few recommendations... (4.00 / 1)

I like the fact you bring this up Dan. I agree that the constitution needs some fixing, but these laws need to be fixed too.

The panel you propose is a good idea. I think it shouldn't include any legislators, to be honest with you. They are, after all, the ones who helped create these laws. I would rather see an independent group created that is charged with doing this.

by: robert.harding @ Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 19:47:32 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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I couldn't agree more (0.00 / 0)

There shouldn't be any legislators, current or past, although I believe there should be at least a few people on the panel who have been involved in legislative drafting.

In addition, the panel should be able to research the history of the laws, to see when they were created/amended. Knowing how we got into this mess can only help us find out how to get out of it.

by: Dan Jacoby @ Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 23:00:02 PM UTC

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I particularly don't want it to have state Senators -- use judges (0.00 / 0)

I mean seriously, you would trust the State Senate to clean up the laws?

I'd rather have a panel of judges and recently retired judges. The judges are the people who have to deal directly with the unreadability, contradictions, gaps, and so forth in the laws and they'd probably have some strong feelings about how to make it make more sense.

Perhaps representatives of the local governments, who also have to deal with this nonsense regularly, might help. And other independent people who are concerned with the issue.

by: neroden @ Sun Sep 27, 2009 at 18:38:01 PM UTC

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The federal government has permanent civil servants (0.00 / 0)

I would also note that this sort of thing isn't a "do once". It has to be done repeatedly and continuously.

The Office of the Law Revision Counsel in the House of Representatives is tasked with the job of cleaning up the law and making it readable and coherent. They move slowly but continuously.

In the UK the "Law Commission" and the "Scottish Law Commission" perform similar tasks, but with a broader remit: they can recommend functional changes rather than merely wording fixups, although they are still focused on creating coherence.

Ireland's Attorney General's office has a division devoted to similar tasks.

The State of New York deserves such an office too. I would model it on the UK/Ireland model rather than the federal model; it's very much worth allowing the commission to recommend functional changes.

by: neroden @ Sun Sep 27, 2009 at 18:41:41 PM UTC

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