Norman Daoust, “How our state Legislature has failed us,” Cambridge Day, September 3, 2024.

How has our state Legislature failed us? Let us count the ways.

Failed to include the local option transfer fee, the tenant opportunity-to-buy policy and a rent control local option in the Affordable Homes Act.

Failed to pass an economic development package, clean-energy siting bill and halt on gas infrastructure expansion; a bill to allow supervised drug-consumption sites; and a ban on the sale of cellphone location data.

Failed to include voter access reform to delink a municipal census from voter registration in the state budget (even though it passed in the Senate).

Never made it out of committee: same-day voter registration; Make Polluters Pay legislation; and Medicare for All in Massachusetts.

Failed to pass bills out of conference committee so they could be voted on by the entire body: hospital oversight (given the Steward hospital fiasco, how could they fail to bring this to a vote?); a climate bill; drug pricing bill; a Raise-the-Age juvenile for possession of a firearm; and a Plastics Reduction Act.

Stuck in Ways and Means are a moratorium on construction of prisons and jails and expanding the public-records law called the Sunlight Act to cover the governor and state Legislature.

It’s guaranteed that other bills you care about also were never passed.

By effectively taking the final five months of the legislative session off, the likelihood of additional bills passing is minimized.

If you believe our state Legislature has failed you, contact the speaker of the house and president of the Senate as well as your state representative and senator and let them know the bills you want passed.

Norman Daoust, Raymond Street, Cambridge

Jason Brown, “Missed Opportunities: Why the Legislature Should Reconvene,” West Roxbury Bulletin, August 22, 2024.

To the Editor:

Like many Commonwealth voters, I was hopeful the new Democratic trifecta would lead to significant legislative progress this year. However, when comparing the General Court’s legislative session to the productive ones in Michigan and Minnesota, it’s hard not to feel disappointed.

The Legislature struggled to pass bills that had broad support in the last session. The SAPHE 2.0 bill, which would strengthen public health infrastructure, passed both chambers unanimously in 2022 before being vetoed by our former Republican governor. Similarly, a moratorium on new prison and jail construction had wide support, but met a similar veto. It would have made sense for the Legislature to prioritize these bills at the start of this session. Instead, the prison moratorium has yet to see a vote, and SAPHE 2.0 remains stuck in conference committee, with clear support only from the Senate.

The Legislature’s complacency and over-centralization of power require deep cultural change. But in the near term, the General Court should do something simple: reconvene and finish their work. The economic development bill and robust climate legislation, especially with environmental justice at their core, can’t wait. The environment won’t wait, and neither should the Legislature.

Charlo Maurer, “LETTER: State Legislature Should Go Back Into Session and Pass Multiple Bills,” Watertown News, August 19, 2024.

I was excited this year for our state to finally have a Democratic governing trifecta, with a Democrat leading in all three offices of Governor, Senate, and the House. However, this trifecta has been much less productive in passing legislature than I expected.

As has become the norm on Beacon Hill, the House and Senate ran out the clock on many important priorities, adjourning on the morning of August 1st with a long list of unfinished business. After the hottest summer on record, they didn’t manage to pass a climate bill. Several other bills, among them economic development bills and bills to address the Steward crisis, are stuck in potentially dead-end negotiations, and that’s not to mention all the common-sense bills that never even made it that far.

As of August 11, more than 90% of the bills signed into law this session were home rule petitions, bills about specific individuals, or budgets, which are required. We’ve seen a striking decline in basic deliberation and accountability in the Legislature, with both chambers taking fewer than half the recorded votes they did just a few sessions ago.

The economic development bill, which needs a recorded vote to pass, has important policy components, such as keeping high school seniors out of adult prisons and strengthening our public health infrastructure, and we shouldn’t have to wait until next year to start all over again.

Given Republican opposition, passing climate legislation will also require legislators to come back. Mother Nature doesn’t wait, and neither should the Legislature. Every month and every year, we break new heat records, and it is irresponsible for the Legislature to go a full session without passing meaningful climate legislation. We need a clear plan for transitioning away from fossil fuels and putting gas in the past, and we need a just transition that centers environmental justice and ensures that the communities who have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution don’t continue to suffer from pollution and lack of opportunity. Massachusetts has impressive climate goals, but goals won’t mean much if we don’t pass legislation to help us meet them.

Another important bill is the prison building moratorium which passed the House and Senate with wide support, but was vetoed by our previous Governor, a Republican. That roadblock no longer exists, and given the broad support, it should be easy to bring forward.

The formal legislative session ended at the end of July, and the Legislature will not be back in session until next January. We deserve more of a time commitment from our elected officials. Going back into session will mean the Legislature will do what it is supposed to: deliberate, legislative, and vote.

Sincerely,
Charlo Maurer
Watertown Resident

Published in The Dedham Times (August 15, 2024)

Author: John Kyriakis, Dedham

The Massachusetts Legislature ended its formal session on July 31. It was a remarkably unproductive session. Since 2005, there has been a near 50% drop in the number of laws passed in the second year of each session, culminating in a dismal 253 bills enacted in this session. A substantial percentage of these (192) were home rule petitions—legislation filed by cities and towns to address local, not statewide issues (Examples include changing the name “Board of Selectmen” to “Select Board.”) Massachusetts’ Legislature is now fourth from the bottom in productivity. Coincident with this plummeting productivity, since 2005, the number of recorded votes (as opposed to voice votes) has dropped by close to 80%. Inasmuch as conference committee proceedings and votes are kept secret, the Legislature continues to be depressingly non-transparent.

It wasn’t all bad. The Legislature did pass the Parentage Act, which expands parentage statutes to be inclusive to LGBTQ+ families and families formed through assisted reproduction. A gun safety bill was also finally passed. This new law tightens red flag and ghost gun provisions along with other important safety matters. Moreover, the Fair Share Amendment (passed in 2022 by the voters) continues to deliver, providing important support for child care, early childhood education, K-12 education and community college education.

It was heartening also to see passage of the Affordable Homes Act, a critically needed housing bond bill that includes provisions permitting accessory dwelling units, eviction record sealing provisions, and foreclosure mediation. However, the legislature caved to the real estate lobby and failed to include a voluntary real estate transfer fee. This fee would help local communities fund the construction of affordable housing. The Affordable Homes Act did approve $5.1 billion in bond authorizations. However, a bond bill is analogous to a to-do list or a restaurant menu. It merely allocates a lump sum and lists possible spending ideas, or priorities. It does not mandate timely spending on those priorities. Nor does it indicate where or when the money will be spent.

Most disappointing, however, was the lack of action on a climate bill. This year was the hottest on record, and will be the coldest year of the rest of our lives. Climate change is an existential threat. The still very real possibility of a second Trump administration raises the grim specter of a renewed push to abolish national climate legislation. Even if Vice President Harris wins in November, the Supreme Court’s nullification of the Chevron doctrine threatens the ability of federal agencies to competently monitor and regulate the industries that produce greenhouse gases. Moreover, as indicated in their 2024 platform, a Republican majority in either house of the US Congress would be expected to stall both existing and future federal climate-friendly legislation. Accordingly, bold, and immediate local action on climate change is critically needed. Given that environmental justice communities bear the brunt of the adverse effects of climate change, it is particularly distressing that the suffering of the state’s poorest communities will continue to be ignored.

The lack of productivity of the Massachusetts Legislature is particularly galling insofar as the Democratic Party has a legislative trifecta—veto-proof majorities in both houses, and a Democratic governor. The Legislature’s highly centralized power structure in which leadership rewards members with higher pay and committee chairmanships in exchange for loyalty, combined with the fact that many legislators run unopposed, has created a situation in which complacency and the status quo rule the day, and the Statehouse is beholden to well-funded interests rather than to the voters.

In the end, however, the voters and local advocates have the power to shake up this sclerotic system. Perhaps we should consider making state elections into real contests by nominating multiple candidates at both the primary and general election level. A ranked choice voting system would also be a welcome addition. There’s nothing like a rival chomping at your heels to motivate real action.

Jonathan Cohn, “Beacon Hill’s two-bosses problem (Letter),” Boston Globe, August 10, 2024.

When talking about the dysfunction and over-centralization of the Massachusetts State House, I often describe the building as having a “two-bosses problem.” In most jobs, the person who decides whether to hire and fire you and the person who controls your pay are the same person: what we call a boss. However, in the Legislature, there’s a split: The people who hire and fire you are your constituents, who can exert that power every election, and the people who decide your pay are the legislative leadership, who can dole out the perks with chairs, vice chairs, and other positions (something that’s been sharply detailed in Globe reporting).

Massachusetts is notorious for having among the least competitive elections in the country (in recent years, we’ve ranked dead last), and most legislators will skate by uncontested year after year, never having to meaningfully defend a record to their constituents. Next month’s primary is but the latest example. Whether through more competitive elections or more vocal advocacy, the collective boss of “we the people” needs to do more to remind legislators whom they ultimately serve.

Jonathan Cohn

Policy director

Progressive Mass

Boston