Most of you have likely seen the Reform SC television ad that promotes Rep. (Nikki) Haley’s gubernatorial bid. In the ad, she confidently remarks that politicians are scared and that the public should demand to know how their lawmakers vote on any bill that is important enough to be debated on the floor of the legislature.

The clear message is that major pieces of legislation are being pushed through the state House and Senate without recorded votes. The solution is a state law, HB 3047, sponsored by Rep. Haley that requires a vote on every bill and on every section of the state budget bill. She is especially targeting the state Senate for its reluctance to embrace her solution to what she calls “the embarrassment this issue has brought to South Carolina.”

All of us have witnessed campaigns over the years that attempted to generate an issue such as this one with the expected refrain: “Elect me, and I’ll make ’em do it!” Unfortunately, this candidate and the groups that are attempting to help her while building their own support base are preying on the public’s distrust of government in general and its unfamiliarity with the legislative process in particular.

Like many legislative bodies around the country, the state Senate has a contested and uncontested calendar. For those more familiar with the terminology, the Senate’s uncontested calendar is similar to a consent calendar. This division of the calendar allows the chamber to address legislation that is reported out of the various committees without opposition and non-controversial in an expedited manner. These bills routinely raise few questions and are not debated on the floor.

For those bills important enough to debate on the floor, as Rep. Haley puts it, Senate rules actually require a roll call vote on any contested bill. An uncontested bill is placed on the contested calendar when just one senator objects. But the Senate requirement for a roll call vote goes much further than simply any contested bill. It requires a roll call vote for any bill that raises a fee or tax that affects members’ pay or retirement benefits, that has a fiscal impact of more than $10,000, or amends the campaign or ethics laws. An uncontested bill in this category that enjoys unanimous agreement of all forty-six senators must have a roll call vote. The rule also imposes this requirement on bills that are returned from the House with amendments and on conference reports.You can read the entire rule at: http://www.scstatehouse.gov/senatepage/sr16.htm .

In an effort to provide even greater transparency on how we vote, the Senate Rules Committee last week unanimously reported out an amendment to this rule. It would enable the Senate to record voice votes on uncontested bills that do not require a roll call with a recorded vote of yes. Only members that answer to the daily quorum call would be counted in this vote. Members that wish to be recorded as voting no would simply notify the clerk as is done now on routine voice votes.

Rep. Haley appeared before my subcommittee recently when we held a public hearing on HB 3047. The House had just recently passed its version of the state budget. I asked her repeatedly why she, as a member of the House, did not object to the scores of sections on the budget that were adopted by unanimous consent. Why did she not insist on a roll call vote on each section of the budget as she proposed in her bill? Her response finally was that she should not have to do so, that it should be the law. Well, Rep. Haley had the ability, in this case the right she held as a member of the House, to object and impose the roll call voting requirement on each and every section of the budget. Why didn’t she insist on this requirement when she had the opportunity? Moreover, why hasn’t she and the cosponsors of her bill demanded a roll call vote on every uncontested bill passed by the House this year?

Lastly, the most important reason for the House and Senate to address this issue by rule is because the state constitution requires it. Article III, Section 12 requires each house of the legislature to adopt rules of procedure. There is a reason that our founders require a rule and not a state law that necessarily involves the other branches of government such as the governor and the courts. It is called the separation of powers doctrine. Further, Article III, Section 22 establishes a threshold of five senators and ten House members for demanding the yeas and nays to be entered into the journals. HB 3047 would have no more effect on a future House or Senate adopting its own rules in this regard than Rep. Haley did during the House budget debate when she chose not to insist on a roll call vote on each section of the budget.