A decision by Senate Republicans to employ a little-used loophole to fast-track a bill has left some Democrats concerned the move may presage a session of bullying and strong-arm tactics by the party in power.

Usually for a bill to be discussed on the floor of the Senate, it has to be subjected to relatively lengthy scrutiny and reworking in subcommittees and committees.

But if a bill has a lot of public attention or is near the top of one of the parties’ legislative agendas, it can be entered into debate almost immediately on the floor as a special order with consent from both sides.

And then there’s what happened to a bill that would require voters to show photo identification before being allowed to vote.

When the Voter ID bill couldn’t muster a bipartisan vote on the Senate floor, Republican leaders sent the measure to the Senate Rules Committee. In that GOP-controlled committee, a simple majority was enough to send the bill back to the floor for special consideration. In other words, parliamentary procedure has a loophole favorable to the majority party that allows an end-run around the regular process for fast-tracked special orders.

Once back on the Senate floor, the bill passed last week after terse debate that would extend early voting periods and require ID from voters beginning in 2012. The House will get the bill next.

While this might seem like insider baseball to some, others see the GOP caucus having a powerful tool that enables it to circumvent the rules of order in the Senate and strong-arm only the bills it deems important onto the docket. Heightening the situation was that the move came in January, leading some insiders to wonder how contentious the rest of the session will be.

With this year’s overriding concern on money, the state’s baseline budget for the 2010-2011 year is at 2003 levels. That means fights on the floor of the State House could be especially bloody this year, with even party allies expected to savage each others’ bills to protect their own pet projects.

In that stalemate, anyone with even the slightest of advantages would be able to win — and win consistently.

“To put it mildly, we are not pleased with the prioritization of the Senate’s agenda,” said Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Hartsville.

Malloy said he was surprised his Republican counterparts would expend so much political capital so early in the session — especially on this particular bill — when there are so many other pressing matters.

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell (R-Charleston) said the Democrats’ worry was misplaced, as this was an isolated maneuver, and that it’s rarely been used before. McConnell said the Voter ID bill, because of the antipathy it raised, needed to be gotten rid of first, “so we can get to the rest of the Senate’s business.”

McConnell worried that extreme opposition to the bill could have blocked the GOP Senate from the rest of its agenda.

Sen. Larry Martin (R-Pickens), chair of the Rules Committee that cleared the way for the bill, said he understood the Democrats’ concerns, but said the maneuver won’t likely be repeated this session.

“At least, no one has said anything about doing so to me,” Martin said.

Crystal ball: If McConnell was right — that the Rules Committee loophole will be used sparingly, if at all — then all is well. But if the GOP caucus in the Senate continues to use its apparent trump card to get bills fast-tracked, look for Democratic senators to resort to filibusters or loading up bills with hordes of amendments in an attempt to bog them down. To quote Spider Man, with great power comes great responsibility. We’ll be watching. 


Bill Davis is the editor of SC Statehouse Report; he can be reached at editor@statehousereport.com. Let us know what you think: Email news@free-times.com.