Massachusetts legislature squashes set of transparency bills on July 7.

Thanks to a powerful campaign by Act on Mass, the Massachusetts legislature is once again being held accountable for obscuring the legislative process behind closed doors. Famous for writing an Open Meetings Law while exempting themselves from the law, and for 3 convicted felons in a row wielding one of the most powerful seats in Massachusetts government, the state House of Representatives just acted yet again to assert their power over the legislative process and shield themselves from the scrutiny and engagement of their constituents.

In a shameless move to delay the vote on House rules for months, and then sneak forward a vote with virtually no warning, the House quietly shot down proposals to increase transparency. Ironically, some of the proposals they shot down were to increase the mandated amount of time for announcing floor votes, from 24 hours to 48 and even 72 hours. In a giant fuck you to the people of the Commonwealth, the same legislature that exempted themselves from the Open Meetings Law rushed a vote to the floor with just 24 hours notice, including a window of only 3.5 hours for members to submit amendments.

As Ella McDonald, Communications Director for Act on Mass put it, “The roll calls today made it extremely clear which Representatives were willing to stand up for their constituents, and which deferred to the power of the Speaker.” It could not be more clear:

In fact, it’s so clear that it’s even tempting to run against some of the business-as-usual Democrats In Name Only, but we’d suggest doing so outside the corrupt Democratic Party:

For now, please join our call that this is simply unacceptable. Let’s put the State House on notice that this is the People’s House, not the Speaker’s House. Sign and share our petition to make it clear to House Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, and the entire state legislature just whose house they’re working in.