Friday, February 13, 2015
Senate Repubs Succeed in Senate Joint Rules Debate
Yesterday
the Senate Republican Caucus distributed the following press release:
Senate
Repubs Succeed in Senate Joint Rules Debate
Transparency,
Accountability Measures Now Head to House for Consideration
Boston-
Working in a bipartisan effort with Senate colleagues before and during today’s
Senate joint rules debate, the Senate Republican Caucus has secured additional
transparency and accountability measures that could ultimately govern the
current legislative session. Senate
Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), Assistant Minority Leader Robert
Hedlund (R-Weymouth), Assistant Minority Leader Richard Ross (R-Wrentham),
Senate Minority Whip Donald Humason (R-Westfield), Assistant Minority Whip Ryan
Fattman (R-Webster) and Vinny deMacedo (R-Plymouth) the Ranking Republican on
the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, offered a strong proposal of joint
rules, and while many weren’t accepted during today’s debate, several important
ones were. They include:- Requiring
a maximum of 30 days for all approved extension orders for a committee
that seeks to extend the reporting deadline of a bill;
- Requiring
that the Rules Committees establish regulations and proper distribution of
bills and legislative petitions;
- Directing
all committees to post roll call votes onto the General Court’s website;
- Requiring
all standing committees to provide committee members a minimum of 24 hours
to review polls prior to submitting their vote (rule may be suspended by a
majority vote by the members of the committee);
- Requiring
that at least one member of a conference committee is a member of the
minority party;
- Directing
all joint committees to hold a public oversight hearing during this
legislative session to determine if the agencies and programs under its
jurisdiction can achieve savings or operate in a more cost effective
manner;
- Requiring
that after the completion of an oversight hearing, a committee must report
back its findings and recommendations; and
- Allowing
all committee members the opportunity to issue a dissenting minority
report prior to the finalization of the report. The report will then be
posted on the General Court website.
“Today
we made major gains toward making the Massachusetts legislative process more
transparent and effective,” said Senator Tarr. “Hopefully we can carry those
gains to fruition in the remainder of the process of adopting them.”
Prior
to today’s session, the Senate Republican Caucus worked to have important provisions
included into the Senate’s joint rules report, which was also adopted today by the
members of the Senate. The caucus sent a
letter to Senator Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford), the chair of the Senate
Committee on Rules with a list of proposed rules for the committee to
consider. As a result, two of the rules
were incorporated into the committee’s report.
Those rules would:
- Require
all joint committee roll call votes to be posted to the General Court’s
website within 48 hours; and
- Require
one branch of the legislature to act within 60 days after the other branch
has referred a bill to a committee.
Unfortunately,
other measures offered by the caucus failed to garner the support necessary to
remain within the Senate’s joint rules package.
Those measures include:
- Expanding
the responsibilities of each legislative committee by requiring the
committee to consider the cost-effectiveness of all laws, administrative
regulations, and programs that fall under the committee’s purview and
recommend whether such measures should be continued, curtailed, or
eliminated;
- Extending
the duration of the local approval vote required to file a home-rule
petition to be valid for up to four years (authorization may be revoked,
rescinded, or modified following any duly constituted town meeting or vote
by a city council with the approval of the mayor); and
- Requiring
the House of Representatives and the Senate to consider and approve a
joint resolution declaring the minimum amount of local aid to be
distributed to the cities and towns of the Commonwealth in the upcoming
fiscal year by March 15th.
Now
the Senate’s package of joint rules will head to the House of Representatives
for further consideration.
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