The Massachusetts Legislature's slow start typically leads to that frantic end of session rush every two years. NEPM’s Carrie Healy hears that the state Senate is expected to hold formal session this week, more than a month after the new session began. They still need to set the rules for this session. And there's been a push by Senate Republicans to make the lawmaking process more transparent, and to give lawmakers more bill review time. Colin Young the deputy editor at the State House News Service says some of these changes could speed up the process of lawmaking and give the public more insight into the laws.
Colin A. Young, SHNS: They definitely could. There are some interesting ideas over on the Senate side, you know, and some that speak directly to giving members of the public a better view into the Legislative process. One idea that the Senate has put out there is to require that lawmakers, when they file a bill, also file a comprehensive bill summary alongside it. And so, someone [from the public] could be interested in a bill and be able to read in plain English what it actually does, rather than, you know, what statutory citations are written in there, [with] all the legalese that's in the actual legislation.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: I'll note here that in the House, lawmakers have not yet agreed to transparency reforms or joint rule changes yet either. Staying with the Senate…this week, lawmakers are likely to take up the $425 million shelter supplemental budget passed by the House last week. Is that bill on a glide path through there?
If it's on a glide path, it's definitely a bumpy one. You know, it feels sort of inevitable because the emergency assistance shelter program is out of money right now, so the state does need to fund that program.
But the big question is going to be, what else in addition to that money, will be in that bill. This is the Legislature's opportunity to really roll up its sleeves and tinker with shelter policy that the governor has to execute. So, while I do think a bill will pass (will get to the governor to put some more money into the system) we're not going to get to that point without a lot of debate over things like security measures at shelter sites [with] another debate, likely around residency requirements, cooperation with federal immigration enforcement authorities and all sorts of issues.
So, I think it is bound for the governor's desk, but it isn't exactly a smooth path to getting there.
Speaking of federal policy, it's been a little more than a week since certain data sets from the U.S. Census Bureau were erased from that website at the request of the of the Office of Personnel Management. The data presumably contained gender ideology references. The Director of Economic Research at the UMass Donahue Institute, Dr. Mark Melnik, said that access to this data is 'essential.’ He explained that it provides a firm understanding of what's happening in a community, and it guides public policy. It might be too soon to know how this will ultimately impact state lawmakers. But what are they saying?
You know, I haven't heard from lawmakers on this one yet. But... I went immediately to the importance of census data right now to Massachusetts, as policymakers try to figure out exactly what the impact of the new surtax on wealthy households is. So much of that debate has been around who is coming and going from Massachusetts, who are we attracting to this state and who is leaving and for what reasons? And that granular census data is where policy makers can get those answers.
Finally, Colin, state officials have invited current and former living presidents to the Commonwealth in April for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. That's for the [commemoration of the] battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19th, 1775, and adjacently less than two weeks ago, by executive order, President Donald Trump reinstated the 1776 commission. That was something he created during his first term in office to ‘promote patriotic education.’ Are we likely to see the 250th celebrations of the nation get overshadowed by the President and his commission?
You know, it definitely could make for sort of an awkward mix, right? Um, this is something Massachusetts officials have been preparing for years. And a big part of it has been sort of framing Massachusetts, as the start of the revolution, the start of America. We also know that a lot of the Massachusetts officials don't agree with President Trump on really much at all, so I definitely could see some interesting situations around the messaging of these two things, the commission and the message that it's trying to promote, and then the message that Massachusetts would maybe rather focus on for these 250th anniversary celebrations.
The big question, I think, is going to be whether Trump will come to Massachusetts in April for the 250th of the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
