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

"At its core, this issue is, or should be, above politics. It’s about prioritizing equipping voters to hold politicians accountable over keeping those politicians’ machinations secret. We urge the Berkshire delegation and all members of the state House of Representatives to affirm these priorities by voting to make the House a more transparent institution."

"'What we’re trying to do is have community voices heard, but that’s not possible if we don’t know what’s happening and we’re not certain that bills are having time to be carefully considered by representatives,' \[Sakina] Cotton told GBH News. 'What these amendments would do would make the work of organizations more effective and possible.'"

"The lack of these basic transparency measures which are common across the nation and in the State Senate results in Massachusetts lagging in effectively legislating and passing just policies."

"Emma Ryan, an organizer with Sunrise Boston and a leader on the People’s House campaign, explained Sunrise’s motivation to join the campaign: 'How are we as constituents supposed to effectively advocate for the bold actions we need the State House to take on climate, immigration, transit, policing, and so much more if we are consistently being kept in the dark?'"

"The promise of greater transparency is reason enough to pursue a constitutional amendment; we should all know what our government is up to. But the amendment could have a wider effect than that — encouraging the Legislature to pass important legislation that too often withers in darkness."

"Could this be the year Massachusetts state representatives open themselves up to more scrutiny? Constituents seeking an early hint could look to a recent meeting of the legislative committee debating just that — when lawmakers voted to conduct discussions about their internal transparency rules out of the view of the press and public."

"If 351 cities and towns can adopt budgets, engage in policy debates, hire and evaluate staff, and create local laws — all while meeting the rightly rigorous standards of the Commonwealth’s Open Meeting Law — there is no valid reason why our state colleagues cannot do the same."

"Murphy, a junior, said that without a roll call vote, it’s difficult to know which representatives to hold accountable for climate justice bills dying in committee. 'Not knowing where our reps stand makes it impossible to put pressure on them to work towards climate justice, especially since they can easily say they support something, and then in the back room just go and vote against it,' Murphy said. 'We wouldn’t know because there’s no public record of committee votes … unless roll call is demanded.'"

"'It’s shocking that many of the arguments against the amendment blamed constituents for our lack of understanding of how the State House functions when that’s precisely what we are asking for: to stop being shut out of the legislative process. This vote was a blatant signal that representatives care more about power than their constituents,' said Ryan Daulton, a Campaign Manager with Act on Mass."