Finally, some wintry weather to remind us it is January, after all!
Another sure sign it’s January, yesterday was the legislature’s bill filing deadline–a hard deadline imposed on reps, senators, and advocates to have their bills written, rewritten, and formally filed for the 2-year session.
Well, unless you’re in leadership, that is. Leadership and the chair of Ways & Means draft, redraft, water down, add, subtract, and combine bills into whatever they want them to be, at any point in the legislative session.
Many legislatures (including congress) don’t have any deadline to file bills at all–legislators can file bills whenever needs arise.
And that’s not the only way MA is an outlier; if you’re reading this Scoop, you likely already know that the MA State House doesn’t publish rep’s committee votes. But how exactly does that compare to similar states?
Well, in Connecticut, the legislature publishes “hundreds of pages” of committee testimony and meeting minutes, as well as summaries of committee votes listing each member by name and how they voted.
New Hampshire requires executive sessions of committees to be open to the public, where people can see how legislators cast their votes in person or via zoom.
And Rhode Island, too, publishes committee testimony and votes on the legislature’s website, name by name.
Ah, Massachusetts exceptionalism.
State House Scoop
House panel confirms Scarsdale, still holding out on 2nd Essex race
Well folks, the dog and pony show is finally over — well, at least partially. The special House committee has concluded their investigation of the certified recounts in the 1st Middlesex district. After holding a hearing last Friday, the special committee released a partial report stating there was no fraud in the conduct of the election, and confirmed Democrat Margaret Scarsdale as the certified winner of the election. Better late than never!
Meanwhile, the committee has remained tight-lipped on their review of the 2nd Essex race, where incumbent Lenny Mirra was bested by Democrat Kristin Kassner by one vote. In the interim, Speaker Mariano has allowed Mirra to remain in the seat, where he has been legislating up a storm, even filing 17 bills before yesterday’s filing deadline. So glad that Speaker Mariano is using his power to *checks notes* keep an incumbent Republican in office despite losing reelection to a Democrat.
Thousands of bills were filed with the clerk’s office on Friday. Here are a few that caught our attention:
- Open Meeting Law: HD.2204: Open Meeting Law (OML) is a basic good governance measure that permits the public to attend meetings of government bodies (think: school board and city council meetings). Designed to promote transparency and accountability, OML measures apply to the vast majority of state legislatures, but not (drumroll) Massachusetts. Then-Mayor of Salem (and current Lieutenant Governor) Kim Driscoll summed it up brilliantly in a 2021 opinion piece for the Globe: “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.”
- Healey’s $1B package: As her first legislative move as Governor, Maura Healey introduced a $987 million “immediate needs” bond bill to the legislature this week. Nearly half the funding would be earmarked for MassWorks, the largest state program to support housing production. She also filed a second bill to borrow an additional $400 million in funding for Chapter 90, the program to maintain roads and bridges. Good, but not quite good enough: the proposal comes in at two thirds of what municipalities are asking for.
- Nurse to patient ratio: HD.2491/SD.1660 would limit the amount of patients assigned to nurses at a time. A higher nurse-to-patient ratio increases patient safety and creates more desirable working conditions for nurses, who are currently in short supply across the state. Healthcare workers in Massachusetts have advocated for some form of this policy for years, most recently on the ballot as question 1 in 2018. The referendum was successfully opposed by the hospital lobby (click on the "data" tab to see what I mean) who seemed happy to spend millions on a campaign rather than adequate staffing for their patients.
- Repealing 62f: HD.1517/SD.791 would repeal 62f, the Reagan-era tax rebate law that caps the state’s tax revenue, and requires anything over the threshold to be returned to taxpayers in the proportion they paid in. This law was triggered this past year, causing the state to lose billions of dollars in revenue that could have gone towards schools, transportation, infrastructure, and other public goods. Instead? Millionaires received checks for $22,000 in the mail, while the lowest-income taxpayers received $9.
- Here a tax cut, there a tax cut, everywhere a tax cut: Last session, the legislature’s economic development bill full of permanent tax cuts was shelved when the “discovery” of the 62f rebate requirement threw Beacon Hill into eleventh hour chaos. This session, many of those same tax cuts have been filed by Democrats and Republicans alike, including cuts for renters, parents, elderly homeowners, and, last but not least (in fact, perhaps the most): the super wealthy.
Take Action
Meet with your legislator about Public Committee Votes
Are you interested in meeting with your legislator to urge them to vote for Public Committee Votes? Sign up to join the People’s House Campaign and we’ll connect you with your district team, or get you set up with all the resources you need if there’s not already a team in place!
Join the MYCC Lobby Week for Public Committee Votes + Climate Priorities
The Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition (MYCC) is organizing a Youth-led Lobby Week 2/6/23 - 2/10/23. Over 115 young people are slated to attend over 25 legislator meetings to advocate for key climate legislation and *drumroll* transparency measures like public committee votes! The agenda will include virtual lobby trainings on Monday afternoon, virtual deep dives on policy priorities Monday night, an in person lobby day at the State House on Tuesday, and then virtual meetings for those who can’t make it in person for the remainder of the week. If you're interested in participating in Lobby Week, complete the RSVP form as soon as you can!
RSVP FOR THE MYCC LOBBY WEEK >>
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That’s all for now. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and stay warm out there!
Until next time,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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