CrowdLaw Communiqué: Continuity of Legislatures (April 2020)
CrowdLaw Communiqué- A quarterly newsletter on open and participatory public-decisionmaking
Designed for interested public officials, technologists, politicians and researchers, the CrowdLaw Communiqué features curated news, interviews, announcements, and recommended readings on the evolution of law and policymaking processes for the 21st century.
To share a story, please email us at crowdlaw@thegovlab.org
IN THIS ISSUE
1. Continuity in Congress
- Video: An overview of how legislatures around the world are using technology to convene, deliberate, and vote remotely.
- Video: Association of the Former Members of Congress organize “Simulated Remote Hearing.
2. Readings from the Field
- Continuity in Congress: Does Spain Lead the Way? by Victòria Alsina Burgues and Dane Gambrell, The GovLab
- Testimony before a Mock Hearing of Congress on International Legislatures and their Use of Technology to Convene, Deliberate and Vote, by Beth Simone Noveck, The GovLab
- Coronavirus: Changes to practice and procedure in other parliaments by the House of Commons Library
- Continuity of Legislature During Emergency by National Conference of State Legislatures
3. Additional Resources
- The Inter-Parliamentary Union — Parliaments in a time of pandemic
- Demand Progress — continuityofcongress.org
- First Branch Forecast — https://firstbranchforecast.com/
- House Democrats Back Changing Rules to Allow Remote Voting During Pandemic(New York Times, April 16, 2020)
4. Follow
To share a story, please email us at crowdlaw@thegovlab.org
1. CONTINUITY OF CONGRESS
HOW LEGISLATURES AROUND THE WORLD ARE FUNCTIONING IN THE TIMES OF COVID-19
The following series of videos feature overviews of how legislatures around the world are using technology to convene, deliberate, and vote remotely. The first is led by Beth Simone Noveck of The GovLab and covers a variety of countries. The second features French Member of Parliament Paula Forteza who explains how the French National Assembly is responding to COVID-19 and conducting online committee hearings. The third features Cristiano Ferri, Founder of the Hacker Lab in the Brazilian House of Representatives, who describes how the Brazilian parliament is responding to COVID-19.
Second “Mock” Hearing Convenes Experts to Discuss Remote Proceedings
By Marci Harris, Co-founder and CEO, POPVOX
On April 16, former members of Congress participated in a “Mock Remote Hearing” exercise to test the viability of online proceedings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event was co-chaired by Former Rep. Brian Baird [D, WA] and Former Rep. Bob Inglis [R, SC] and co-hosted by: AEI, The Brookings Institution, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, Georgetown University, Bipartisan Policy Center, Congressional Management Foundation, Demand Progress, The GovLab at New York University, Lincoln Network, and POPVOX.
Click here to read the full report
2. Readings from the Field
This special edition of CrowdLaw Communiqué is focused on the “Continuity of Legislatures,” or how parliaments around the world are using technology and other innovative approaches to continue legislative operations during a global pandemic. The following items are readings which examine that subject and explore illustrative examples.
- Continuity in Congress: Does Spain Lead the Way?, by Victoria Alsina and Dane Gambrell, The GovLab. This blog post uses Spain’s Congress of Deputies as an example to explain several challenges in the shift to remote lawmaking and how Spain has addressed them.
- Testimony before a Mock Hearing of Congress on International Legislatures and their Use of Technology to Convene, Deliberate and Vote, by Beth Simone Noveck, The GovLab. This is an extended version of the testimony presented to members of the Association for Former Members of Congress during a virtual mock hearing held on April 16, 2020.
- “Coronavirus: Changes to practice and procedure in other parliaments,” the House of Commons Library. This UK Briefing Paper illustrates changes that have been made to procedures and practices in response to coronavirus in the House of Commons and a small selection of other parliaments. It begins with a more concentrated focus on UK proceedings, then moves to showcase new ways of working from France, Australia, Canada, and several other countries around the world.
- Continuity of Legislature During Emergency, National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). NCSL has compiled key points and information for legislatures to consider in developing or reviewing a continuity of government plan in the case of an emergency and, in turn, a disruption in regular government operations. In this blog post, NCSL suggests what to look for when examining state constitutions for provisions that may either help or hinder in designing a continuity of government plan, and highlights other aspects of legislative operations that may help facilitate the legislative process during an emergency.
- “Democracy Is Hard. These Cities Are Finding Ways to Pull It OffIElena Souris and Hollie Russon Gilman via New America. ,” n this article, the authors emphasize the importance of effective civic engagement during a crisis and reference in-depth examples documenting what cities around the world are doing and why strengthening democracy is so critical.
3. Additional Resources
- The Inter-Parliamentary Union — Parliaments in a time of pandemic. As parliaments worldwide attempt to adapt to function in the midst of COVID-19, the Inter-Parliamentary Union offers resources for parliaments including a country by country compilation of parliamentary responses to the pandemic and a practical Q and A on remote working tools and technology to continue functioning during the crisis.
- Demand Progress — continuityofcongress.org. A hub for resources on the “continuity of Congress,” including legislative actions, reports & analyses, video briefings, simulated remote proceedings, state & international actions, news, and more. Check in periodically for updates from this rapidly evolving website.
- The First Branch Forecast is published at the beginning of each week by Demand Progress Education Fund, a project of the Sixteen Thirty Fund. It focuses on the ability of Congress to govern.
- House Democrats Back Changing Rules to Allow Remote Voting During Pandemic(New York Times, April 16, 2020): If approved by the House, the switch to proxy voting would be the first time in the history of Congress that lawmakers could cast votes other than in person.
4. FOLLOW
- The GovLab created a Twitter list of the who’s who in the field of participatory lawmaking from around the world. Check out the list here!
- For more information about CrowdLaw, visit crowd.law and follow us on Twitter @thegovlab and on Facebook at fb.com/thegovlab.
- To share a story, please email us at crowdlaw@thegovlab.org
