Many Americans breathed a sigh of relief after the election, thankful that our complex state-run voting system was not broken. Democracy seems to have survived. Does that mean we can sit back and relax for the next four years? I don’t think so. At the state level, democracy needs work.
In 2009, a Sunlight Foundation study examined transparency in all 50 state legislatures. The study graded and ranked legislatures on their transparency rules and how closely those rules were followed. The Massachusetts Legislature flunked the exam, ranking fourth from the bottom. That was no surprise. The three most recent speakers of the House had resigned or been removed from office for fraud, corruption or ethics issues. In 2009, legislators chose Robert DeLeo as their new speaker. DeLeo began by setting a four-term (eight year) limit on the speakership.
When the Center for Public Integrity studied transparency six years later, Massachusetts had somewhat improved, earning a D+ grade overall with F’s in both public access to information and lobbying. That year DeLeo began his last term as speaker. By then he was convinced that experience and wisdom were more important than rotating leadership and encouraging new ideas.
Rather than step down, he proposed abolishing term limits. The legislators complied. At the end of this month, when the current legislative session ends, the gentleman from Winthrop will have held the speakership for 12 years.
However, the winds of change are blowing around the House with public demands for transparency and accountability growing louder. In January, when the Legislature votes on rules for its 2021-2022 session, representatives should heed these demands.
If you voted in the 2nd Hampshire or 1st Franklin districts of western Mass this fall, you may already have participated in a well-organized citizens’ campaign to change House rules. Question 4, a nonbinding referendum, asked whether you would instruct your representative to vote that all legislative committee votes should be posted on the House website within 48 hours. On average, 90% of voters said yes, sending a clear message to their representatives. A majority of states already post legislative committee votes on their websites. It’s time our House of Representatives joined them.
ACT on MASS, a grassroots group of energetic young activists, organized the signature drive to put Question 4 on the ballot. They are following up with a “Transparency is Power” campaign for two additional rule changes. One extends the minimum time between a bill’s introduction and the final vote from 24 to 72 hours. This would give representatives time to read bills carefully, talk with stakeholders and suggest amendments before voting. It would eliminate the practice of House Leadership introducing important legislation like the recent 129-page police reform bill and rushing it to an overnight vote.
This tactic has often been used in the last days of a session when House leadership introduced massive omnibus bills with unrelated deals and conditions buried in hundreds of pages of text and then proceeded to the final vote overnight.
The third proposed rules change would lower the threshold for getting roll call votes on the house floor to be publicly recorded from 16 state representatives to eight. Reducing the number of representatives it takes to get a roll call made public from 10% of House members to 5% conforms to United States Congress rules. It will also increase transparency and accountability.
As I write this, ACT on MASS is gathering constituents and preparing them for December Zoom meetings with their representatives about the three rules changes. At the strategy meeting for 1st Franklin district I realized that no matter how much I like my representative, she and her colleagues work in a system that undermines their ability to get things done and shuts the public out. Bills on important issues like climate change, energy policy, public school funding and immigrant rights are repeatedly killed or stalled in committees without explanation or accountability.
ACT on MASS believes that constituent power can change this. To learn more or attend a Zoom meeting with your representative go to the ACT on MASS Transparency Campaign website or Facebook page. Then contact friends and neighbors and get involved before January. Let’s start rebuilding democracy on Beacon Hill!
Elaine Ulman lives in Goshen.