NEWS & MEDIALatest updates from Act on Mass and the fight for transparency in the State House

"Consider all the major pieces of legislation lawmakers have dealt with in recent years: tax reform, climate change, election reform, transportation, sports betting, mental health treatment funding, veterans affairs. Now ask yourself if you know how your local lawmakers voted on them. Well, there’s no way of knowing."

“Legislating is increasingly done with few, near-unanimous votes on mega-bills with dozens of policy items, and to request a roll call on an amendment not preordained by leadership is considered a transgression. We shouldn’t just be troubled that there are fewer roll call votes, but that those votes in and of themselves have become largely ceremonial,” Leahy said.

"Adam Reilly is joined by Act on Mass Executives Director Erin Leahy and Justin Silverman, the executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, who both see some cause for optimism locally despite an overall picture they describe as bleak."

"How can a legislator represent the will of their constituents when they rarely take votes?" she said. "And how can a legislator represent their constituents when they are convinced that the votes they do take can’t change the outcome? The floor is now more a stage for political theater than it is for genuine debate and decision-making," Leahy said.

2023 was a bad year for good governance on Beacon Hill. The Senate eliminated the Senate president’s term limits, Gov. Healey walked back her promise to comply with the state’s public records law, and the House shot down an amendment that would have made legislative committee votes public without a public vote. And that was just February.

Act on Mass Executive Director Erin Leahy, whose group backs the Sunlight Act, says the bill is “not just about transparency in and of itself.” “It’s not an end itself, necessarily, but also a means to an end — a means to a more healthy, robust democracy, where the public has more access, insight and power over what government is doing on their behalf,” Leahy said.

Like the ballot measure, shedding light on the closed shop of the Legislature should enlist overwhelming bipartisan support. At least that’s how the voters of this state should see it. And since they’re the ones who elect their senators and reps, they should insist that they lift the veil of secrecy on Beacon Hill. Because one way or another – through a direct vote next November or legislation by their peers – lawmakers eventually will be forced to face the music.

These are common-sense and long overdue upgrades to the basic mechanisms of public accountability in a state with a disappointing posture and record on governmental secrecy. We aren’t alone in that sentiment. Transparency advocates like Act on Mass have been pushing for many of the principles in this bill for a long time, and they deserve credit for keeping this fight up amid years of entrenched political resistance.

"There's a connection between the lack of transparency on Beacon Hill and why there's so many bills that don't see the light of day. There's so much frustration by concerned residents, by advocates that -- as much as I'm proud of what the Legislature has done -- that we could be doing so much more," Eldridge said.

“We could not be more thrilled to see the Committee move this bill forward in the legislative process,” Act on Mass Executive Director Erin Leahy said in a statement Wednesday morning. “Transparency is really a democracy issue. If you can’t see how your lawmakers are voting or who is influencing them, never mind if you don’t have enough notice to testify at a hearing, how are you supposed to meaningfully participate in the lawmaking process? The Sunlight Act would go a long way toward opening up our state government to the voices of everyday people. Today is a great day for our movement.”