Putting 'em on record

Posted on Friday, Nov. 02, 2007

By Dan Branch and Juan M. Garcia III
Special to the Star-Telegram

On Tuesday, voters will have the opportunity to enshrine open government in the Texas Constitution.

Proposition 11 would require the state House and Senate to record all final votes, publish the votes in their official journals and on the Internet, and maintain the voting records online for at least two years in a format that is searchable by bill number and subject.

As authors of House Joint Resolution 19 (HJR 19), the legislation that put the proposition on the ballot, we worked with a bipartisan group of legislators in the House and Senate to give voters the opportunity to advance open government in Texas. We believe that voters deserve to know how their legislators voted on every prospective law that passes each legislative chamber.

There's been gradual culture change in the manner in which our Legislature conducts business. Gone are the days in which votes on final passage were saved for Fridays, as designated "floor captains" often voted for absent members, safe in the knowledge that most votes weren't documented anyway.

Since 1999, the number of regular-session record votes in the House has increased by more than 76 percent. Through the Internet, Texans have free access to online bill tracking of legislation and live video of floor debates and committee proceedings.

In 2005, the House passed measures that lowered the threshold for a record vote from a request by any three members to any one member. And this past January, the House showed additional support for record votes by adopting rules that require record votes on passage of all final measures.

Without enshrining this reform in the Texas Constitution, however, any future Legislature can reverse this commitment to transparency in government. House and Senate rules are debated and changed each session. Having mandatory record votes in the a chamber's rules is good, but having this practice mandated in the constitution is better.

Basic, fundamental law, which is what constitutions are, should require that no legislation that will change people's lives should become law without the public knowing how lawmakers voted. Proposition 11 will provide that all legislators are held to account for their votes on final passage of legislation. Passage will make record votes permanent and ensure that record votes will always be a part of our legislative proceedings.

Currently, 41 states mandate record votes. By adopting Proposition 11, Texas will join that majority and will take our place at the forefront of accountability along with the other 15 states that make voting information accessible to citizens by displaying legislators' votes online.

This bill is not just for the media -- it's something that average Texans tell us they want and need. We get calls and letters every day from concerned constituents who are trying to track new legislation that affects their livelihood, their tax burden or their children's education.

The people of Texas want and deserve to know how their representatives vote on laws that affect their lives. It is our hope that the debate about Proposition 11, and the resulting openness if it passes, will empower Texans to become more engaged in our governing process.

There's nothing Republican or Democratic about requiring basic accountability from our elected policymakers. As our service personnel sacrifice so much in Afghanistan and Iraq, we encourage our fellow Texans to take the time to vote for more open government here at home.

If the "yes" votes on Proposition 11 prevail, Nov. 6 will be a date that sets a new high watermark for transparent democracy in Texas.

PROPOSITION 11

On the ballot: "The constitutional amendment to require that a record vote be taken by a house of the legislature on final passage of any bill, other than certain local bills, or a resolution proposing or ratifying a constitutional amendment, or of any other nonceremonial resolution, and to provide for public access on the Internet to those record votes."

Rep. Dan Branch is a Dallas Republican. Rep. Juan M. Garcia III is a Democrat from Corpus Christi.