MA is a “blue” state, yet we struggle to get our legislature to pass progressive legislation. Why?
Here we are, at the end of the MA legislative session, and we are struggling to get our legislators to override Charlie Baker’s changes to the the amendment that offers some of the protections of the ROE Act we’ve been advocating for TWO years. The ROE Act itself? Died in committee. The committee it ended up in, like so many other bills in other committees, never voted on it. Why? We don’t know. All we know is, despite the incredible popularity of the ROE Act, and the loud but minority opposition, the committee is not required to vote on the bills that work their way through the process.
Why did a bill on sensible police reform not gain a supermajority in our Democratic majority legislature, thus risking the influence of Charlie Baker’s red pen?
Why do some bills make it to the legislative floor and get a voted on with no record of how our legislators voted?
Why is it so difficult to track a bill?
It’s time to do something about the lack of transparency and non-user-friendly process in our legislature. It’s last minute, but there is a ZOOM meeting this evening with Indivisible Mass Coalition, and another on Thursday with Act on Mass.
The following info is from the Indivisible Outer Cape, the Indivisible Mass Coalition, and the group Act on MA. This campaign is meant to make our legislative process more transparent. There is a zoom call this evening, another on Thursday and more information coming via CCWfC. We are joining this campaign. These changes must be made at the beginning of the session, just a few weeks from now.
Ever wonder why the MA Legislature has not been able to pass popular & progressive legislation despite having a Democratic supermajority in the House & Senate?
Join our upcoming “Transparency is Power” Zoom call with Act On Mass on December 17th to learn how Cape Codders can make a difference!
Currently, the MA Legislature is one of the least transparent and ineffective in the country! With a Democratic supermajority, they still cannot pass important legislation in a timely manner. As constituents, we cannot see how our state representatives vote in committee, so even when a bill has a supermajority of co-sponsors it can be stuck in committees for years and then dies. Changes in the House rules would make it clearer what is happening and how our representatives are working for us, or not. The House is broken, but there are ways to begin fixing it.
The House approves its rules at the start of the two year session, so these changes need to happen in January 2021. For this reason, this is not something that we can put on the back burner.
Indivisibles are being invited to work with the group Act On Mass to fight to make our State House work for everyone. They have some common-sense rule changes to break the log-jam and get valuable legislation passed, but they need our help!
Their campaign has three simple goals:
1. Require more open votes in committees so we can know who votes for which bills.
2. Decrease the number of representatives needed to require a roll-call vote, from 16 to 8.
3. Have a 72 hour review period of bills to allow for the people and their representatives to digest them before a vote. These simple rule changes alone would make the work of the House more transparent and accountable to the people.
Act On Mass is looking for activists like us! They need Indivisibles in every district to begin applying the pressure needed right now, before the new session begins in January 2021. We are forming district teams now to attend virtual meetings with Representatives to get them to commit to voting for these changes in January. Act On Mass will organize alongside these teams to help us be more effective at persuading reluctant legislators who may not support them.
This will be the topic of the upcoming Indivisible Mass Coalition state-wide call on Tuesday, December 15th, at 7PM. REGISTER FOR THE IMC CALL HERE.
Join the Act On Mass Transparency is Power Campaign HERE!
***And Cape Codders can attend our own Act On Mass call on Thursday, December 17th, at 7PM! REGISTER FOR OUR ZOOM call next week to find out how we can work with Act On Mass to influence our State Reps!***
(If you see errors or omissions please contact CapeCodWomenforChange@gmail.com)
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