I have long shared a desire with constituents to see a more transparent, accountable, and productive state legislature. For years, we have advocated together to make committee votes public, provide more advance notice before hearings or votes, and avoid end-of-session legislative logjams.
Each legislative session, the Senate must adopt Senate Rules, which govern the operation of the Senate, and the Senate also makes a proposal for Joint Rules, which govern the interactions between the House and the Senate.
Two sessions ago, the House and the Senate failed to agree to Joint Rules. Last session, the Senate made a progressive proposal for the Joint Rules, but unfortunately agreement eluded the two branches once again and Joint Rules were not adopted.
This session, the Senate again made a progressive proposal for the Joint Rules, and I wrote to you back in February summarizing the Senate’s rules proposals.
This time we had a breakthrough. The House and Senate agreed to Joint Rules that make significant strides towards a more transparent, productive, and accountable legislature.
We are already seeing the fruits of this labor. For two sessions in a row, I have included a provision in the rules stipulating that Indigenous leaders be provided the same privilege as state-elected officials and have their testimony taken out of turn during bill hearings. Watch as the Joint Committee on Education followed this rule recently and Indigenous Leaders were taken out of turn to testify on legislation I filed to ban racist Native American mascots at public schools.
Read on for more information on the Joint Rules that now govern the Legislature.
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This bipartisan effort reflects a shared commitment to enhancing transparency, improving legislative efficiency, and ensuring accessible and accountable lawmaking for the people of the Commonwealth. Among the reforms are longer public notice periods for hearings, mandatory committee hearing livestreaming and archiving, an earlier reporting deadline for joint committees, the recording and posting of committee votes, new requirements for bill summaries, and rules ensuring more timely public access to conference committee reports. The joint rules will be implemented by the Senate and the House following a final vote by both chambers on the conference report. Highlights of the agreement are below.
Joint Committee Reform
Senate and House committee members will vote only on bills filed in their branch after joint hearings, improving efficiency and the pace at which bills move through the legislative process. Money bills filed in the Senate, constitutional amendments filed in the House, and any matters not filed by a member of the General Court will continue to be voted on by all members of a joint committee.
Public Hearing Notice
Notice time for joint committee hearings will increase from 72 hours to 10 days, giving residents and stakeholders more time to prepare. Joint committees must also post a schedule of hearing dates within three weeks of committee appointments.
Reporting Deadline
To prevent legislative backlogs, joint committees will be required to report bills by the first Wednesday in December of the first year of session, unless otherwise provided for in a branch’s rules. House Chairs will follow the reporting deadline under House Rule 27. This requires bills to be reported no later than 60 days after they’re heard, and at the discretion of the Chair, an additional 30 days can be added to consider the bill. The previous deadline was the first Wednesday in February of the second year of session.
Committee Votes
All joint committee votes shall be recorded and posted on the General Court website.
Committee Participation
Members of the public will be able to participate remotely in joint committee hearings, as will members of the General Court, unless prohibited by the rules of their respective branch. Attendance of joint committee members will be taken at hearings and posted on the General Court website.
Conference Committees
The first conference committee meeting will be open to the public and media for greater transparency. A minimum of 24 hours of will be required between a conference committee report filing and a legislative vote, allowing more time for review by legislators and members of the public. If a conference committee report is filed after 8:00pm, it cannot be voted on until the second calendar day following the day on which it was filed.
Bill Summaries
Joint committees will be required to make a summary of each bill publicly available on the General Court website prior to its hearing.
Publicly Available Testimony
Joint committees will adopt rules making written testimony publicly available. Said rules will contain limitations on the sharing of testimony that includes sensitive personal information, obscene content, or information that may jeopardize the health, wellness or safety of the testifier or others.
Joint Rules Review
At the end of the two-year session, the Joint Committee on Rules will conduct a comprehensive review of the joint rules. As part of the review, it will conduct a public hearing and solicit testimony from the public and other interested parties.
Formal Sessions after July 31
Permits the Legislature to meet in formal session after July 31 in the second year of the legislative session to take up the following matters: reports of conference committees formed on or before July 31; appropriation bills filed after July 31; gubernatorial vetoes or amendments.
