Cohasset Democrats Support Transparency on Beacon Hill
Act On Mass is an organization focused on increasing transparency on Beacon Hill. Critical legislation, such as same-day voter registration, comprehensive climate legislation, and protections for immigrant families have been held up for years (8 to 16!) and because of the lack of transparent rules, it's unclear why. Act On Mass' current campaign, "Transparency is Power" is requesting legislators to support 3 rules changes:
That all votes held in legislative committees are publicly disclosed
That bills are made public for 72 hours prior to a final vote
That the threshold for a vote to be publicly recorded in the House of Representatives is reduced from 16 to 8 state representatives
Many organizations have endorsed this campaign, including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, MA AFL-CIO, Indivisible Mass Coalition, Sierra Club, March For Our Lives MA and the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Learn more about the campaign here.
We, as the Cohasset DTC, voted to endorse this campaign and call on our local representatives to support these rule changes at the vote in July*.
**UPDATE: Speaker Mariano announced that the rules vote is moving to July (normally held in January). He is ordering a specific review of the House rules over the next 6 months with the intention to rewrite the rules to make the legislature more transparent and open to the public. This is likely a result of the pressure put on him and other representatives and is a good thing BUT we must remain diligent and ensure that this campaign does not lose traction.