EDITORIAL: Will state Democrats embrace good government reforms?

A handful of new proposals in Carson City would apply accountability measures to state lawmakers. This makes eminent sense. Will the Democrats who control the Legislature let them be heard?

Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama, a Republican who represents a large chunk of the western Las Vegas Valley, has requested three bill drafts designed to promote transparency in the legislative branch. They would, among other things, apply the state’s public records law to the Legislature, force lawmakers to comply with Nevada’s open meetings law and require legislators to wait at least 72 hours before voting on a bill once its final language is published.

Ms. Kasama also seeks to impose more disclosure requirements on lawmakers in order to shine light on potential conflicts and to empower the governor with a line-item veto.

These are all worthwhile efforts toward instilling more public confidence in the Legislature.

“The public has an expectation that the legislators who are elected are doing that work in the public eye,” Patrick File, a professor of media law at UNR, told the Review-Journal last year. “And the more transparent that they can be, the better we’re all served by that.”

Yet for years, lawmakers have resisted efforts to operate under the same open records laws that govern all other public agencies in the state. This has led to legislators denying requests for information that their local government counterparts must provide. It has created the absurdity of taxpayer-funded legislative reports being withheld from those very same taxpayers.

The Legislative Counsel Bureau, charged with offering legal advice to lawmakers, has long abetted this charade, providing legal fig leaves for flaccid arguments about why the people’s business is best done behind closed doors. Ms. Kasama’s proposals would neuter such nonsense.

Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo this week came out in favor of Ms. Kasama’s agenda even though, as Clark County sheriff, he had a spotty record in terms of making public documents available. Perhaps he has seen the light. He no doubt loves the idea of a line-item veto. But even with the governor’s support, it will be up to legislative Democrats — who are on the verge of supermajorities in both houses — to move Ms. Kasama’s legislation forward.

Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas, and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, must decide when lawmakers reconvene next year whether to allow debate on these proposals or to toss them in the circular file. If they’re truly interested in good government, the course of action is obvious. The taxpayers will be watching.