Repairing the Must Vote Timing

While I previously proposed fixes to improve the circulation process by making the documents public and addressing what amounts to stale items and those converted to Open Meeting items, we also need to update and improve the process for voting circulation items.  Unlike items disposed of at the Commission’s monthly Open Meetings, items circulated to Commissioners for consideration outside of the meetings (those on the Circulation List) have no voting deadline until they enter “must vote” status.  While that might sound like a concrete deadline, far too often, quirks in the process can delay the conclusion of items by over a full month, even for smaller or non-controversial items.  Accordingly, the Commission can and should expedite the must vote timing, which can be done without undermining the ability of Commissioners to examine, debate, and vote on any circulation item.

It’s appropriate to update the overall timing given our experience over the years.  In particular, I suggest that the timeline, which is not required by law or the Commission’s rules, can be reduced by eliminating the requirement that an item sit around for 21 days before the voting deadline is triggered. In essence, combining reform to the must vote timing with publicly releasing the text of circulated items (minus adjudications) would vastly improve the overall review and provide necessary scrutiny from interested parties of circulation items.