House rules need change

Please contact your representative and tell them to support rules that provide more transparency into the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Bills with broad support languish in committee rooms for years. There is no public visibility into the committee discussions or votes that keep these bills from ever seeing a House vote. Most House votes are not recorded. The State House rules provide citizens far less visibility into the behavior of representatives than the Open Meeting laws that govern our town boards. A local school committee member has far more accountability than a state representative.

At each legislative session, state representatives create a set of rules that do not guarantee transparency. How can citizens participate in their democratic government when elected officials keep secrets?

Concerned citizens formed the organizing group ActOnMass.org to demand transparency. For the new session, Act on Mass has three requests:

Make all committee votes public

: Require that bills are made public for 72 hours prior to a final vote

Lower the current threshold of votes required to have a recorded roll call vote from 16 to 8 representatives

In a January meeting with constituents and Act On Mass volunteers, Rep. James Arciero of Westford, Littleton and Chelmsford, repeatedly declined to commit his vote for these three specific reforms.

Contact your representatives to let them know that transparency is a priority for you. See ActOnMass.org for help locating your representative and how to take action.

— Pete Ditmars

Westford