Eric Eisnaugle drafts plan to decentralize power in the house

Orlando state Rep. Eric Eisnaugle released a memo Tuesday morning outlining his plan to decentralize power in the Florida House of Representatives.

Eisnaugle is currently slated to become the House Speaker in 2020, and the report comes after months of tension between house members regarding how future speakers are selected.

The proposal identifies the amount of power the Speaker has in the process as the main problem and outlines a solution revolving around independently electing the Speaker Pro Tempore and Majority Leader, forming a House Oversight Committee, empowering committee chairs, and providing a more meaningful role for the minority party.

He identifies the plan as a starting point for a discussion on rules changes that would meaningfully disperse power in the Florida House.

You can read the memo below which he posted on social media below.

A Member-Driven Process: The Plan to Decentralize Power in the Florida House of Representatives

The Problem: In the Florida House, all institutional authority is centralized in the Speaker. No other member, even chairmen of the most important committees, has sufficient authority to counterbalance that power. Importantly, some Speakers choose to disperse power and allow chairmen and members to act on their conscience. However, any system that relies on the benevolence of a single person has the potential, in any given year, to disenfranchise members and their constituents.

The Solution: We should disperse power to elected officers other than the Speaker, and empower policy and budget chairmen to independently manage their committees. These concepts present a framework from which to start a real and substantive discussion centered upon decentralizing power in the Florida House. In addition, there are many ideas not included here which could supplement the foundational reforms discussed below.

I. Independently elect the Speaker Pro Tempore and Majority Leader

To disperse power in the Florida House, we must create other leaders who, like the Speaker, are separately elected and accountable to the members. Thus, we should allow the members to independently elect the Speaker Pro Tempore and Majority Leader to provide a meaningful counter-balance to the power of the Speaker.

II. Vest institutional authority with the Speaker Pro Tem and Majority Leader

An independently and separately elected Speaker Pro Tempore and Majority Leader will have a limited impact unless they are vested, by rule, with meaningful institutional authority. For example, the Speaker

Pro Tempore could serve as Chair of a House Oversight Committee, and propose administrative assignments like offices, parking, etc. The Majority Leader might serve as Vice Chair of a House Oversight Committee, and propose committee assignments for members of the majority.

III. Form a House Oversight Committee

The House Oversight Committee would be a standing committee made up of the Speaker, Speaker Pro Tempore, Majority Leader, and perhaps others appointed by them. The House Oversight Committee would approve or amend administrative and committee assignments proposed by the Speaker Pro Tempore and Majority Leader, in addition to the duties described below.

IV. Empower committee chairmen

Currently, chairmen in the Florida House serve at the pleasure of the Speaker. An ever-present threat of removal diminishes a chairman’s independence and discourages chairmen from even expressing disagreement with the Speaker. Chairmen should be empowered to make decisions and manage their committees without undue influence from the Speaker. Therefore, once appointed by the Speaker, policy and budget chairmen should not serve at his pleasure. Rather, the Rules should require the Speaker to obtain the approval of the House Oversight Committee to remove a committee chairman.

This will insulate chairmen from the threat of unilateral removal by one person, and will empower them to be real chairmen. At the same time, the possibility of removal in a more transparent and open process will provide accountability. Importantly, this process would maintain a mechanism for removal when truly justified.

The Speaker, just like any chairman, must retain the full ability to manage both the calendar and decorum of the body. Thus, in contrast to the policy and budget chairmen, the Rules Chairman is an extension of the Speaker’s most critical role in the process, and should continue to serve at the Speaker’s pleasure.

V. Include a more meaningful role for the Minority Party

As Dan Webster recognized when he became Speaker in 1996, allowing the minority party to have a meaningful role is an important part of tearing down the pyramid of power. For instance, he specifically lamented the unwritten rule at the time that freshmen members of the minority party could not have their bills heard in committee. Speaker Webster, instead, envisioned a legislature where “every member, whether Democrat, freshman, council chairman or even the speaker, will be on a level playing field when it comes to the ability to pass bills.”

Currently, after the Speaker has made committee assignments, the Minority Leader recommends members of the minority party for the position of “ranking member” on each committee. However, the final decision is left with the Speaker. The Minority Leader should be permitted to appoint members of his party to the position of “ranking member” – without having to obtain the approval of the Speaker. Moreover, the Minority Leader might also propose committee assignments for members of the minority caucus. Just as with the Majority Leader’s proposed assignments, the Minority Leader’s assignments would be subject to the approval of the Oversight Committee.

Conclusion: These ideas serve as a starting point for a discussion on Rules changes that would meaningfully disperse power in the Florida House. Anything less than formal, Rules-based limitations on the Speaker’s existing authority would be mere window dressing. True reform will make the Florida House more responsive to the people of Florida, and lead to a more robust and open debate of ideas.