Jonathan Cohn, “Rather than a defense of their productivity, the Legislature’s reliance on omnibus bills should be an indictment,” CommonWealth Beacon, October 13, 2026.
IN A RECENT piece for CommonWealth Beacon, Massachusetts Senate counsel James DiTullio defends the Legislature’s productivity against statistics that show Beacon Hill passing far fewer bills than other states. He points out that Massachusetts is one of just seven states that allow omnibus bills covering multiple issues, a structure that he says reduces the number of bills in comparison to the vast majority of states, which only permit single-issue legislation.
But his piece ignores the way that such statistics can be artificially padded at the same time that they are artificially limited in comparison to other states, and raises questions about the way that Beacon Hill’s lawmaking norms evade transparency and accountability.
Given our paternalistic home rule system, in which Beacon Hill acts as a gatekeeper for cities and towns seeking to pass their own laws, many of the bills signed into law end up being home rule petitions. The first bill signed into law this year was approving a charter change for Malden, and the most recent was about Natick’s deputy police chief. Why does Beacon Hill need a role in either?
The total count is also bloated by administrative matters like sick leave banks, in which state employees are able to benefit from unused sick leave from their colleagues.
Last year, for example, there were 20 sick leave banks and 61 home rule petitions signed into law out of a total of 101 new laws. Of the 231 bills signed into law this year, 200 were home rule petitions and 6 are sick leave banks. If we were to look at laws of statewide import, the national statistics DiTullio rails against would be even worse.
But DiTullio is correct that the Massachusetts General Court’s embrace of omnibus bills and policymaking through budgets and supplemental budgets makes simple bill tallies an imperfect yardstick. It was through last year’s budget, for instance, that Beacon Hill passed a new immigrant legal defense fund and banned tenant-paid broker’s fees, both significant wins. Bills can also be subsumed into thematic omnibus bills— say, for example, the PROTECT Act, which combined a number of important provisions from other standalone bills.
However, you would never know this from the Legislature’s website. It records many of those individual bills as dead for the session, to be mourned today and to rise like a phoenix from the ashes in January. Indeed, understanding which bills have become law in the Legislature through budgets and omnibuses requires expensive paid subscriptions to companies specializing in bill tracking. Pity the poor engaged constituent, or even legislator, simply trying to understand what’s going on.
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