Happy Valentine's Day,

In the spirit of love, some heart-themed highlights from this week of pushing for transparency on ol’ Beacon Hill. 

❤️ LOVE: State Auditor Diana DiZoglio taking her fight to undertake the People’s Audit to the next level. More than a year after 72% of Massachusetts voters approved a legislative audit, the audit has been stonewalled by legislative leaders and Attorney General Andrea Campbell. The latter parties claim that the audit is unconstitutional, but have blocked the question from proceeding to the Supreme Judicial Court—the only institution in the state that can rule on constitutionality. 

This week, Auditor DiZoglio filed a lawsuit directly with the SJC asking a single justice to a) compel legislative leaders to comply with her office’s documents requests and b) give permission for her office to appoint legal representation to pursue the question without the AG’s approval. Let’s hope the torrid tale of Beacon Hill leadership vs. government transparency has an enemies-to-lovers ending. 

❤️ LOVE: Youth activism! I was lucky this week to attend the Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition (MYCC)’s 2026 Advocacy Day at the state house. On a day that the Trump administration rolled back a crucial scientific finding behind our national climate policy, it was amazing to see 200 youth from around the state rallying, meeting with legislators, and pushing for better policy at the state level. As I said to a despairing friend: “the future is climate justice whether they like it or not.” 

MYCC also pushes for transparency in the state house, which they see as crucial to the fight for climate justice. One youth leader, Iselle Barrios, gave a rousing speech on the state house steps, noting the frustration of advocating for bills year after year only to see them die in committee with no explanation. She reminded us: “our legislators work for us, and we have a right to hold them accountable when they fail us.” Words to live by! 


❤️ LOVE: Lily’s Lowdown, our new intern column! Check it out below.

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State House Scoop

Roses are red, cash is green, budget process is starting—what does it mean? 

This week, we re-vamped last year’s budget review Scoop with new info for this year! Might be a review for some. 

On January 28th, Governor Healey’s office announced the filing of her $62.8 billion state budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2027 (H.2). 

Here’s how her office described the announcement in a press release: “Governor Healey Files Fiscal Year 2027 Budget That Controls Spending, Prioritizes Affordability and Continues Transformative Investments in Education, Transportation.” Unfortunately, I think it’s a pretty apt depiction of her general approach to her job: lead with the Republican framing, sprinkle in some populist language, and deploy Fair Share funding. 

A major question hanging over this year’s budget is federal funding. The state estimates that the “Big Beautiful Bill” will result in a $3.5 billion loss in federal funds for the state, with as many as 300,000 people expected to lose their insurance in the next decade. Possible further cuts and increased eligibility requirements for SNAP benefits (also known as food stamps) and other federally-funded assisted programs will place a higher burden on the state. Healey’s proposed budget trims down some services, including tightening eligibility on a popular safety net program, but does not include new revenue-raising measures. 

But don’t worry yet: the Governor’s proposal is just the first step in a lengthy process that will eat up a lot of energy in the legislature for the next few months. To get prepped for this budget season, let’s review the process—in all its un-transparent glory. 

1) Governor’s proposal: First, the Governor is allowed the first stab at setting policy and spending priorities via the budget proposal, which she has now done. For a closer analysis of Healey’s FY2027 proposal, check out our friends at Mass Budget. 

On top of earmarks, let’s remember that in our dysfunctional legislature, most actual lawmaking is now done by tacking “outside sections” onto giant appropriations bills like this one. Therefore, Healey’s budget includes not only budget stuff (attached to a dollar sign) but policy changes as well. For example, to offset some of the massive healthcare cuts, Governor Healey has proposed eliminating coverage of GLP-1 weight loss drugs under MassHealth and capping dental benefits at $1,000 annually—tucked into the language of the budget.

These policy add-ons mean that representatives, lobbyists, and corporate interest groups will be knocking down legislative leaders’ doors not just for cash money ($!) but to modify or outright remove Healey’s policy language or offer their own additions. 

2) House Ways & Means: Now the budget goes to the House Ways and Means committee, kicking off a “feeding frenzy.” Representatives will beg Chair Aaron Michlewitz to include their policy priorities and/or earmarks for their district in the House’s version of the budget or in final “consolidated amendments”—more on that later. 

You wouldn’t be surprised to know that maintaining this level of power over the state’s budget and lawmaking process is great for business—uh, I mean, campaign fundraising—for Mr. Michlewitz. He currently boasts the largest campaign account of any member of House or Senate, sitting pretty at $1.6 million in the bank, even after spending a record $410,541 in campaign cash last year. His last contested election? 2009. When the budget process wraps in July, we'll check back and see how many folks have conveniently just realized that he’s the best representative the 3rd Suffolk District has ever had! 

During this phase, legislators also host public hearings around the state, inviting state leaders and experts to comment on the budget. The first hearing was this week, where Ways & Means members asked questions of Healey and her team. The state’s constitutional officers including Secretary of State Galvin, AG Campbell, and Auditor DiZoglio were also invited to make the case for their office’s budgets (resulting in some fun quotes!) 

Typically, public comment is only opened at one hearing, allowing very limited input from members of the public on our state’s most important annual document. 

3) House budget “debate”: Once Rep. Michelwitz and Speaker Mariano finish drafting theirbudget in a smoky back room, it is voted out of House Ways & Means to be debated on and amended on the House floor. While this may seem like a more democratic step in the process, in reality it is still 100% controlled by leadership. Although any rank-and-file member can file an amendment, individual amendments no longer receive their own vote but are instead bundled together into massive “consolidated amendments”, written by leadership. These “consolidated amendments” may combine hundreds of amendments, all passed with a single vote.

Last year, for example, the House budget saw a record 1,655 amendments filed to it, which were selected or rejected by leadership and smushed into 7 consolidated amendments, with 7 votes which Democratic reps supported unanimously. So, good luck finding out how your representative really feels about any of those 1,655 amendments!

In-depth reporting by WBUR last year also revealed that members closest to leadership get the largest earmarks, regardless of the needs of their districts. On the other end, of the 40 members receiving the smallest earmarks, 18 were newly elected. Translation: new members hadn’t had time to properly suck up to the Speaker and Michlewitz. Call me crazy, but I don’t think districts should lose out on funding for electing a new representative! 

4) Senate Ways & Means: Once the House’s proposal is approved, it’s the Senate’s turn! A similar process of groveling goes on in Senate Ways & Means, where Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues and Senate President Karen Spilka decide whose priorities make it in the Senate budget. 

If history is any guide, we’ll be keeping an eye on the size of the earmarks directed to Senate leaders’ districts. Rodrigues and Spilka have faced criticism in the past for directing some of the largest total earmarks for pet projects in their own districts. 

And hey, if you’ve ever doubted my integrity as a watchdog, note that my own hometown of Natick is in Sen. President Spilka’s district and I still think this practice is messed up! 

5) Senate budget “debate”: Rinse, repeat on the floor of the Senate. The version handcrafted by Senate leadership is finally released to the full body for amendments and debate. In the Senate, amendments are “bundled” on the Senate floor (rather than a smoky backroom), amendment co-sponsorships appear to be considered by leadership, and debate is slightly more lively. This results in a process that almost appears collaborative compared to the House, but which still wouldn’t pass an AP Gov. “Healthy Democracy” checklist. 

6) Conference committee: Unsurprisingly, these two gargantuan processes result in utterly different versions of the budget being passed by the House and Senate. Did you think Mariano and Spilka would agree about the size of their personal earmarks? Thus, the budget passes to a “conference committee,” where House and Senate leaders handpick six (6!) members to duke out their competing priorities completely behind closed doors. The conference report is then sent to the House and Senate for a final yes or no vote.

7) Reunion with Governor: After all that, the finalized version of the budget is kicked back to Governor Healey, who has ten days to approve it, veto it, or submit line-item vetoes.

Phew! Right now we’re on the House Ways & Means stage of this process, which tends to last the longest. We’ll keep you posted as this progresses. 

Budget season also marks the beginning of a whole new era in the language of legisplaining. If you reach out to your representative with a policy question in the next few months, don’t be surprised to hear something along the lines of “Sorry, so busy with the budget, I’ll get back to you!” 

Friend, unless your legislator is named Aaron M. Michlewiz, Ronald J. Mariano, Michael J. Rodrigues, or Karen E. Spilka, the likelihood that they have anything meaningful to do with the budget—other than sweet-talking leadership and showing up to unanimously approve amendments—is pretty slim. Send a follow up email! Ask them how their committee work is going! Remember what Iselle said: they work for us. They're obligated to love you back. ❤️

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Introducing: Lily's Lowdown

Reps say: AI regulation for me and not for thee

Last week, we chatted about state leadership’s cozying up to the ever-expanding AI industry on the heels of an AI-generated ad for Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve’s. In an interesting turn of events, this week, the State House is moving at breakneck speed to advance a bill  that would prohibit candidates and PACs from intentionally distributing “materially deceptive audio or visual media.” 

On Tuesday, the Democratic reps on the Ways and Means committee voted unanimously to advance the bill. And believe it or not, more action in the way of AI regulation is yet to come. The House is planning to vote on a redraft of a bill first introduced by Minority Leader Brad Jones, which would require that election content produced with generative AI contain a disclosure that the media contains AI. Surely, one would think, the sluggish pace of the current State House would never be able to keep up with the rapidly shifting landscape of AI. But apparently, where there’s a will there’s a way.

What makes this newfound sense of urgency so astounding is that it is arising not from constituents' most pressing concerns about AI, including the environmental stress of data centerson residential communities. Nor is the Legislature taking effective steps to correct the gaping loophole in Massachusetts law that enables the creation of child pornography with generative AI. The commonwealth is one of just five states that has yet to criminalize the creation or possession of AI child pornography using photos of real children online, putting children in our state at risk. The AI election legislation was successfully pushed out of Ways and Means this week because of lawmakers’ personal stake in being re-elected (despite not doing a whole lot of effective lawmaking). The Shortsleeve campaign laid bare Massachusetts Democrats’ worst fear: that AI could fracture their iron grip on power in the commonwealth. 

How interesting that other bills that address urgent, pressing issues of the current moment, that aren’t explicitly linked to getting re-elected, are still collecting dust on the shelves of committees. Take the Safe Communities Act, for example, which was first introduced almost ten years ago, and despite the escalating attacks on communities by ICE, Massachusetts remains the only Democratic majority state with a 287(g) agreement, meaning that several local police departmentsacross the state aid federal authorities with immigration enforcement.    

In a joint statement provided to State House News Service, Ways and Means chair Aaron Michlewitz and House Speaker Ron Mariano write, “As artificial intelligence continues to reshape our economy and many aspects of our daily lives, lawmakers have a responsibility to ensure that AI does not further the spread of misinformation in our politics.” (My emphasis) 

Let's be clear: regulating AI in election media is good; indeed, our democratic infrastructure is better for it. The issue here is that constituents and activists have been sounding the alarm on AI regulation and a host of other issues that continue to be killed by the State House’s inertia. Their hold on power, apparently, is more important than the well-being of their constituents.

TELL YOUR LEGISLATOR: WE NEED AI REGULATION>>

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Immigration Spotlight

As the toll of the Trump administrations' violent immigration enforcement actions continue to be felt in Massachusetts and nationwide, we wanted to continue highlighting local stories of how this is impacting Bay Staters and share calls to action. 

Tell your legislator: co-sponsor the PROTECT Act (HD.5608) introduced by the Black & Latino Caucus. For more info, read last week's Scoop.

TELL YOUR REP: CO-SPONSOR PROTECT ACT>>

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We're reading this week

Some other stories from local and regional news: 

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Missed a Scoop or two? You can find a full archive of all past Saturday Scoops on our blog.

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Take Action

Act on Mass is hiring! - Online Media and Digital Organizing Internship

The time has come to bring new friends aboard the Act on Mass team — we’re hiring an intern to help with our website, social media, and digital communications this semester! The internship is fully virtual and comes with a small stipend.

If you know any savvy folks that might be interested, please send them our way. You can access the job posting here. 

Applicants should send a resume to the Executive Director, Scotia Hille: scotia@actonmass.org. No cover letters.

INTERN WITH ACT ON MASS>>

Want to get involved in this year’s election cycle but not sure where to start? Want to learn about and advocate for movement candidates in your area? Apply for Act on Mass’ Endorsement Committee!

CHECK OUT AOM'S ENDORSEMENT COMMITTEE>>

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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy Valentine's Day with loved ones.

In solidarity,

Scotia

Scotia Hille (she/her)

Executive Director, Act on Mass