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CLT UPDATE
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Mass. House to pass new rules for
legislating
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
|
Never let a crisis
go to waste – that’s a rule to live by at the State House
just like everywhere else, and so now the Legislature is
about to enact – drum roll, please – “Temporary Emergency
Rules for the Operation of the House of Representatives.”
The first draft
making the rounds Tuesday on Beacon Hill included these
provisions to even further reduce representative government
at the state level:
No more roll call
votes unless 25% of the members call for one, which
basically means no roll call votes, because of the 160 reps,
only 31 are Republicans.
(Late Tuesday the
leadership blinked and withdrew its unprecedented proposal
to basically eliminate roll calls. They went back to the old
10% rule — 16 members have to demand a roll call vote.)
You will only be
allowed to speak on a bill if you notify the chair of your
intentions before 10 a.m., and you have to say whether
you’re in favor or not of the legislation, after which “the
monitors for each division shall transmit the lists to the
Speaker and the Minority Leader.”
In other words,
like Santa Claus, the leadership will be making a list and
checking it twice, they’re gonna find out who’s naughty or
nice....
North Korea’s got
nothing on these proposed new rules. Next thing you know,
Speaker DeLeo will be getting his own sealed train, running
along the Blue Line from Winthrop every morning.
He’s the Supreme
Leader, don’t you know. One man, one vote, one time.
These North
Korean-like reforms were included in an 11-page
“CONFIDENTIAL & PRIVILEGED POLICY DEVELOPMENT” document
which went out to members Tuesday. These proposals were
included in an early draft, and after some unexpected
pushback, the leadership was saying that they might come up
with a revised version before the vote this morning.
But this initial
draft is really pathetic, even by the current standards of
the General Court.
Look, we all
understand, it’s been quite some time since there’s been
much dissent, or even thought, in the Legislature. I mean,
these solons have been into “social distancing” for a very
long time. Even before this panic, they were quarantining
themselves – “in the district.” ...
So maybe these
“temporary emergency rules,” officially abolishing even the
façade of democracy here in the Cradle of Liberty, aren’t
that big a deal. The solons were doing nothing even before
the lockdown. And in the midst of this dreary soap opera,
they couldn’t even be bothered to fix the election laws to
allow opposition candidates onto the primary ballot.
It was left to the
courts to act like responsible adults.
And now the
legislators sit by and watch Tall Deval, and Marty, and
Curtatone with their daily calls to prayers, all of them
even worse ham actors than Andrew Cuomo.
So it’s kind of a
moot point to ban roll-call votes when there were hardly any
anyway. Same thing with stifling debate — what debate?
None of the sheep
are going to say “baahhhh” if it’s going cost them their
“chair” — and the $15,000 or whatever that comes with it.
But at least there
was always a chance, however remote, that an insurrection
might break out.
Somewhere, maybe,
Kim Jong Un is smiling. He’s in quarantine too, you know.
Just like the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, Gov.
Charlie Parker says he’s just as frustrated as you are. I
doubt. He’s still getting paid.
As for the House leadership, tough luck on abolishing roll
calls. Better luck next pandemic.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 38, 2020
Proposed House rules change a tad Orwellian
By Howie Carr
With most members
urged to participate remotely and under temporary emergency
rules that leadership hopes will be adopted Wednesday,
formal House sessions could become scripted affairs with the
speaker recognizing members from pre-arranged "support" and
"oppose" lists.
The historic
adoption of the temporary rules -- which might be imperiled
by objections from Republican members -- is intended to
allow the House to resume legislating while adhering to
principles of social distancing by allowing representatives
to participate and vote by phone conference, including
specific provisions for a remote annual budget session.
House Speaker
Robert DeLeo, Rules Committee Chairman Rep. William Galvin
and other House leaders presented the proposed rules package
to Democrats during a caucus conference call early Tuesday
afternoon and heard at least some pushback from Democrats.
Rep. Kate Hogan, who has been among the group leading the
House's COVID-19 response efforts, said later Tuesday
afternoon that she and House leadership "continue to work
with the Democratic caucus to craft the rules for moving
forward in the pandemic." ...
The House has said
its plan is to adopt the rules during an informal session
Wednesday -- a vote that will require the acquiescence of
all members -- before convening the first formal session in
nearly two months Thursday.
But House Minority
Leader Brad Jones told the News Service on Tuesday that his
caucus will not go along with the adoption of the rules as
proposed by DeLeo and his leadership team.
"Based on the
concerns I have, and based on the concerns I've heard from
other members of my caucus, the order as presented moving
forward is a big problem," Jones said. "Which obviously
means we wouldn't let it go forward."
If the Republicans
do delay adoption of rules, it could delay a planned vote on
a bill (H 4593) that Republican Gov. Charlie Baker filed and
said is needed to "protect the state's budgetary and cash
balances during the ongoing emergency" and "to relieve
pressure on the taxpayers of Massachusetts." DeLeo told
representatives to plan for a vote on that bill during a
formal session Thursday.
The minority
leader said Republican concerns -- he mentioned a 10 a.m.
deadline to sign up to debate, a limit on how many times a
member can be recognized, and a change to the threshold
needed to get a roll call vote -- "have to be addressed, or
we're not going to be able to come to some consensus on an
order that allows us to proceed remotely."
"We need to
structure this in a way that achieves the goal, which is
allowing us to get it done, being fair to the membership,"
Jones said. "But then recognize that we do it in a way that
doesn't inspire members, or necessitate members to say 'the
only way I can really feel like I can participate is by
being there.' "
Asked to respond
to Jones' comments, Hogan told the News Service in a
statement that "you would have to ask him why the
Republicans are failing to move the Governor's agenda
forward in regard to the RANs item." The bill she referenced
has been in the Democrat-controlled Ways and Means Committee
since March 27 and Democrats must vote to release it before
the rest of the House could consider it....
Jones said the 10
a.m. deadline to register for debate will prove challenging
for some members along with the limit to one chance at oral
arguments.
"So if you ask a
question that nobody answers, you can't revisit the fact and
say nobody answered my question," Jones said. "You're sort
of just done at that point."
For voice votes
that the presiding officer cannot determine the outcome of
based on the sound of voices coming through speakers, the
division monitors would get a count of those voting in the
affirmative and in the negative from their division and
report that to the speaker.
"A Member
participating remotely who does not notify their respective
division monitor of their desire to vote in the negative
shall be deemed to have voted in the affirmative," the rules
say.
For roll call
votes, each division monitor will call the roll for their
division in alphabetical order, record the votes on a form,
sign the form and hand it in to the House clerk. The clerk
will then put each representative's vote into the House's
roll call machine, and alert the speaker when all votes are
in. The speaker will then close the vote, announce the
result and display the tally on the House Chamber's two
voting boards.
The proposal from
House leadership would also raise the threshold to secure a
roll call vote from 10 to 25 percent (another way to put it:
15 members to 40 members, according to Jones) of the House
members participating.
"That's obviously
more challenging because you can't actually see people,"
Jones said. "That's a huge problem." ...
The House's
proposal also waives a section of the standing rules that
gives members of the press the right to observe sessions
from the reporters' gallery, though it is unclear whether
the House intends to bar reporters from observing remote
sessions from the chamber....
When it comes to
the fiscal year 2021 budget, the rules package would require
that the House Ways and Means Committee report the fiscal
year 2021 budget out by July 1, 2020, which is the first day
of the new fiscal year....
On Tuesday
morning, an official from the Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education said the department has "had some
informal discussions" with the House and Senate Ways and
Means Committees, and raised the possibility of a joint
budget proposal coming from both the House and Senate
committees, rather than individual versions from each
branch.
Hogan deferred
questions about the eventual fiscal year 2021 budget process
to the Ways and Means Committee.
"Rules and orders
were put into place so there will be flexibility," Hogan
said of the provisions incuded in the proposed emergency
rules. "So that when House Ways and Means and the speaker's
office decide on how and when they are going to move forward
in discussions with chairs and members, that we will be able
to have the rules and the order necessary to move forward
with it." ...
The Senate is
still working on coming up with its own plan for remote
participation and the House could take that leap first, if
the temporary rules are approved. Exactly how
legislating-from-home works remains to be seen.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Mass. House Ready to Try Legislating From Home
GOP Balks at Ground Rules for Remote Sessions
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
We have been
expecting the House and Senate to come up with schemes
to run the commonwealth remotely. Today the House
released its plan, its adoption to be voted on tomorrow
(Wednesday). As I understand after listening to
state Rep Marc Lombardo on Howie Carr's radio program
this afternoon, these new rules will establish how the
House will be run not "temporarily" as implied to get
the Legislature through the pandemic lockdown and house
arrest — but through
at least the remainder of the year, the rest of this
legislative session until January.
The fix is in, when you read
the details. As I was preparing my thoughts for this Update I
found Howie Carr's column already published. It lays it out better
than I can without further digestion. The informal session vote
will occur tomorrow. It can be derailed by one vote and just might
be.
Already House "leadership" has
acceded to one forced change — its rule for
what is required to attain a roll call vote. More amendments
may be accepted before tomorrow's vote by a handful of legislators,
enough to satisfy the Republican minority. Watch this power grab
closely, very closely. It will be how the House is run for
the rest of 2020 — and perhaps beyond.
This pandemic crisis may provide the opportunity to impose a new way of
governing with even less accountability or consequences.
READ THE PROPOSED NEW LEGISLATIVE PARADIGM HERE
Draft of April 27, 2020
Temporary Emergency House Rules
|
 |
 |
|
Chip Ford
Executive Director |
|
|
|
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 38, 2020
Proposed House rules change a tad Orwellian
By Howie Carr
Never let a crisis go to waste – that’s a rule to live by at
the State House just like everywhere else, and so now the
Legislature is about to enact – drum roll, please –
“Temporary Emergency Rules for the Operation of the House of
Representatives.”
The first draft making the rounds Tuesday on Beacon Hill
included these provisions to even further reduce
representative government at the state level:
No more roll call votes unless 25% of the members call for
one, which basically means no roll call votes, because of
the 160 reps, only 31 are Republicans.
(Late Tuesday the leadership blinked and withdrew its
unprecedented proposal to basically eliminate roll calls.
They went back to the old 10% rule — 16 members have to
demand a roll call vote.)
You will only be allowed to speak on a bill if you notify
the chair of your intentions before 10 a.m., and you have to
say whether you’re in favor or not of the legislation, after
which “the monitors for each division shall transmit the
lists to the Speaker and the Minority Leader.”
In other words, like Santa Claus, the leadership will be
making a list and checking it twice, they’re gonna find out
who’s naughty or nice.
On any bill, you are only permitted to speak once, if you’re
not one of the teacher’s pets, I mean, “chairs,” unless you
have “unanimous consent.”
In other words, as George Orwell would put it, all animals
are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
North Korea’s got nothing on these proposed new rules. Next
thing you know, Speaker DeLeo will be getting his own sealed
train, running along the Blue Line from Winthrop every
morning.
He’s the Supreme Leader, don’t you know. One man, one vote,
one time.
These North Korean-like reforms were included in an 11-page
“CONFIDENTIAL & PRIVILEGED POLICY DEVELOPMENT” document
which went out to members Tuesday. These proposals were
included in an early draft, and after some unexpected
pushback, the leadership was saying that they might come up
with a revised version before the vote this morning.
But this initial draft is really pathetic, even by the
current standards of the General Court.
Look, we all understand, it’s been quite some time since
there’s been much dissent, or even thought, in the
Legislature. I mean, these solons have been into “social
distancing” for a very long time. Even before this panic,
they were quarantining themselves – “in the district.”
Once the hacks started handing themselves yearly
transportation allowances, they didn’t even have to pretend
to drive into Boston every day to collect their per diems.
No need for any more of those aptly named “cheat sheets.”
Never deep, the legislative talent pool is so shallow now
it’s almost dried up. At the same time, their salaries are
through the roof. It’s like a furniture store, they have so
many “chairs.” Outside of the courthouses and UMass, there
aren’t many easier ways to make $100,000 a year.
But even for the ham-and-eggers, it’s tiresome work, taking
orders from the septuagenarian bosses of the House — DeLeo
is 70, his majority leader Ron Mariano is 73. Neither was
ever in the Mensa Caucus, but hey, in the kingdom of the
blind, the one-eyed man shall lead.
So maybe these “temporary emergency rules,” officially
abolishing even the façade of democracy here in the Cradle
of Liberty, aren’t that big a deal. The solons were doing
nothing even before the lockdown. And in the midst of this
dreary soap opera, they couldn’t even be bothered to fix the
election laws to allow opposition candidates onto the
primary ballot.
It was left to the courts to act like responsible adults.
And now the legislators sit by and watch Tall Deval, and
Marty, and Curtatone with their daily calls to prayers, all
of them even worse ham actors than Andrew Cuomo.
So it’s kind of a moot point to ban roll-call votes when
there were hardly any anyway. Same thing with stifling
debate — what debate?
None of the sheep are going to say “baahhhh” if it’s going
cost them their “chair” — and the $15,000 or whatever that
comes with it.
But at least there was always a chance, however remote, that
an insurrection might break out.
Somewhere, maybe, Kim Jong Un is smiling. He’s in quarantine
too, you know. Just like the Massachusetts House of
Representatives.
Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Parker says he’s just as frustrated
as you are. I doubt. He’s still getting paid.
As for the House leadership, tough luck on abolishing roll
calls. Better luck next pandemic.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Mass. House Ready to Try Legislating From Home
GOP Balks at Ground Rules for Remote Sessions
By Colin A. Young and Chris Van Buskirk
With most members urged to participate remotely and under
temporary emergency rules that leadership hopes will be
adopted Wednesday, formal House sessions could become
scripted affairs with the speaker recognizing members from
pre-arranged "support" and "oppose" lists.
The historic adoption of the temporary rules -- which might
be imperiled by objections from Republican members -- is
intended to allow the House to resume legislating while
adhering to principles of social distancing by allowing
representatives to participate and vote by phone conference,
including specific provisions for a remote annual budget
session.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Rules Committee Chairman Rep.
William Galvin and other House leaders presented the
proposed rules package to Democrats during a caucus
conference call early Tuesday afternoon and heard at least
some pushback from Democrats. Rep. Kate Hogan, who has been
among the group leading the House's COVID-19 response
efforts, said later Tuesday afternoon that she and House
leadership "continue to work with the Democratic caucus to
craft the rules for moving forward in the pandemic."
One representative said Tuesday afternoon that members were
expecting an updated version of the emergency rules proposal
would be released around 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The House has said its plan is to adopt the rules during an
informal session Wednesday -- a vote that will require the
acquiescence of all members -- before convening the first
formal session in nearly two months Thursday.
But House Minority Leader Brad Jones told the News Service
on Tuesday that his caucus will not go along with the
adoption of the rules as proposed by DeLeo and his
leadership team.
"Based on the concerns I have, and based on the concerns
I've heard from other members of my caucus, the order as
presented moving forward is a big problem," Jones said.
"Which obviously means we wouldn't let it go forward."
If the Republicans do delay adoption of rules, it could
delay a planned vote on a bill (H 4593) that Republican Gov.
Charlie Baker filed and said is needed to "protect the
state's budgetary and cash balances during the ongoing
emergency" and "to relieve pressure on the taxpayers of
Massachusetts." DeLeo told representatives to plan for a
vote on that bill during a formal session Thursday.
The minority leader said Republican concerns -- he mentioned
a 10 a.m. deadline to sign up to debate, a limit on how many
times a member can be recognized, and a change to the
threshold needed to get a roll call vote -- "have to be
addressed, or we're not going to be able to come to some
consensus on an order that allows us to proceed remotely."
"We need to structure this in a way that achieves the goal,
which is allowing us to get it done, being fair to the
membership," Jones said. "But then recognize that we do it
in a way that doesn't inspire members, or necessitate
members to say 'the only way I can really feel like I can
participate is by being there.' "
Asked to respond to Jones' comments, Hogan told the News
Service in a statement that "you would have to ask him why
the Republicans are failing to move the Governor's agenda
forward in regard to the RANs item." The bill she referenced
has been in the Democrat-controlled Ways and Means Committee
since March 27 and Democrats must vote to release it before
the rest of the House could consider it.
How It Would Work
A draft of the 11-page rules package begins with a
declaration "that a state of emergency exists within the
House of Representatives" and that the temporary rules are
to remain in effect until the House adopts an order
declaring its state of emergency to be over or until the end
of the session next January.
The keys to the House's plan are the eight representatives
tapped by DeLeo, in consultation with the minority leader,
to serve as division monitors. The House floor is divided
into four sections of seats, or divisions. Two monitors are
supposed be appointed for each division and their roles
typically involve distributing information to colleagues and
counting how many people in their division rise for standing
votes.
Here's roughly how a session would work under the proposed
rules: By 5 p.m. Friday the week before a planned formal
session, the speaker would email all representatives with
specific instructions for remote access. All bills on the
agenda for a formal session must be made available to
representatives and the public by noon the day before the
session, and representatives would have until 5 p.m. that
same day to file amendments with the House clerk.
Any member who wishes to speak in favor of or in opposition
to any bill or amendment must notify their division monitor
by 10 a.m. on the day of a formal session -- which, under
the rules, could not begin earlier than 10 a.m. -- with the
bill or amendment they want to address and whether they
support or oppose it.
Each division monitor would then compile the "support" and
"oppose" lists in the order that they heard from their
colleagues and submit their lists to the speaker. In
consultation with the minority leader, the speaker would
then assemble master "support" and "oppose" lists, which
would be emailed to all representatives before the session.
Those master lists "shall be the order in which members are
recognized during the debate," the rules declare, and the
speaker is instructed to try to alternate between speakers
in support and those opposed to the topic under
consideration.
"There are rules that we've set up in order to preserve all
of the ways that we do business, but also recognizing that
we're doing business over a conference line," Hogan told the
News Service on Tuesday. "In order to do it in this fashion
... we're going to need people to have a little bit of
patience in the way that they're able to speak but all of
the representatives will be able to speak."
Jones said the 10 a.m. deadline to register for debate will
prove challenging for some members along with the limit to
one chance at oral arguments.
"So if you ask a question that nobody answers, you can't
revisit the fact and say nobody answered my question," Jones
said. "You're sort of just done at that point."
For voice votes that the presiding officer cannot determine
the outcome of based on the sound of voices coming through
speakers, the division monitors would get a count of those
voting in the affirmative and in the negative from their
division and report that to the speaker.
"A Member participating remotely who does not notify their
respective division monitor of their desire to vote in the
negative shall be deemed to have voted in the affirmative,"
the rules say.
For roll call votes, each division monitor will call the
roll for their division in alphabetical order, record the
votes on a form, sign the form and hand it in to the House
clerk. The clerk will then put each representative's vote
into the House's roll call machine, and alert the speaker
when all votes are in. The speaker will then close the vote,
announce the result and display the tally on the House
Chamber's two voting boards.
The proposal from House leadership would also raise the
threshold to secure a roll call vote from 10 to 25 percent
(another way to put it: 15 members to 40 members, according
to Jones) of the House members participating.
"That's obviously more challenging because you can't
actually see people," Jones said. "That's a huge problem."
Rep. Mike Connolly, a Democrat, echoed Jones' concern about
the threshold for a roll call vote after Tuesday's caucus.
"In today's House Democratic Caucus, I expressed my strong
desire to have the proposed Emergency Rule 7(c) be revised
so as to maintain the current threshold of 10% whenever a
Member wishes to ask for a call of the yeas and nays," he
said. Connolly said remote voting is "a remarkable and
unprecedented step and totally necessary in response to this
ongoing public health emergency" but said he is "deeply
concerned" about raising the threshold for a roll call vote.
DeLeo was not made available after Tuesday's caucus to
respond to the concerns raised by Jones or Connolly.
After the caucus, Connolly said there was a "very good
dialogue" and that he was "hopeful changes will be made to
the proposal, particularly with respect to the roll call
threshold."
If members are participating remotely, the House's temporary
rules would require a roll call vote for any bill to be
enacted.
Under the rules, the member presiding as speaker must be
physically present in the House Chamber. The minority
leader, Ways and Means Committee chair, ranking Republican
on Ways and Means, the chair and ranking Republican of any
committee reporting a bill to the House, and the speaker's
hand-picked division monitors are also allowed to be present
in the House Chamber.
"All other members are strongly encouraged to participate
remotely in a formal session," the rules state. Others, like
court officers and clerks, will be allowed on the floor if
the speaker and minority leader agree they are essential to
the House's operation.
Rep. Paul Donato, who said he plans to preside over
Thursday's session, said a legislator cannot be barred from
entering the chamber Thursday. However, anyone on the floor
must wear a face mask pursuant to an advisory DeLeo sent out
earlier this month.
Anyone physically present during a formal session must also
adhere to social distancing guidelines by keeping "a 6-foot
buffer zone between any Members, officers and employees
physically present in the House Chamber." Any
representative, officer or employee who does not keep their
distance "shall be removed from the House Chamber" under the
rules.
Members of the public will have to watch the session on the
House's livestream since the State House has been closed to
the public since March 17.
The House's proposal also waives a section of the standing
rules that gives members of the press the right to observe
sessions from the reporters' gallery, though it is unclear
whether the House intends to bar reporters from observing
remote sessions from the chamber.
The Budget Process
When it comes to the fiscal year 2021 budget, the rules
package would require that the House Ways and Means
Committee report the fiscal year 2021 budget out by July 1,
2020, which is the first day of the new fiscal year. The
rules package also includes much of the language that is
typically adopted as part of an order governing budget
debate, like specific instructions for a consolidated
amendment process.
On Tuesday morning, an official from the Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education said the department has
"had some informal discussions" with the House and Senate
Ways and Means Committees, and raised the possibility of a
joint budget proposal coming from both the House and Senate
committees, rather than individual versions from each
branch.
Hogan deferred questions about the eventual fiscal year 2021
budget process to the Ways and Means Committee.
"Rules and orders were put into place so there will be
flexibility," Hogan said of the provisions incuded in the
proposed emergency rules. "So that when House Ways and Means
and the speaker's office decide on how and when they are
going to move forward in discussions with chairs and
members, that we will be able to have the rules and the
order necessary to move forward with it."
Weeks of Development
The House's COVID-19 working group met for the first time on
March 12 and started to look for a solution that could bring
back recorded voting and debate. Hogan said the group was
driven by three guiding principles: security and health of
the House and its members, the ability to have uniform
access to remote formal sessions, and security and
reliability of the process in order to consider and adopt
legislation.
The working group considered a number of different methods
for conducting legislative business during the pandemic and
looked to other states like Pennsylvania, New York, and New
Jersey for ideas. The conference call system proved to be
the safest in the eyes of Hogan and other members of the
working group, she said.
"When we realized that each member has a phone each, each
member is able to communicate by phone and we felt that if
we were able to use the phone as a means by which we
communicated, it would provide everyone a voice," Hogan
said.
Off-the-shelf systems like Zoom, Hogan said, have not been
extensively tested under the pressure the Legislature faces.
Using them for the first time could prove to be difficult
and dangerous in terms of cybersecurity, Hogan said.
The Senate is still working on coming up with its own plan
for remote participation and the House could take that leap
first, if the temporary rules are approved. Exactly how
legislating-from-home works remains to be seen.
"I don't think it's going to be weird but it's going to
certainly be different and going to require at least the
indulgence, not only of the members, but those of us who are
in the background trying to put these things together,"
Donato said Monday. "Whoever is going to be there from the
speaker's office, and then whoever's there from the from the
clerk's office, we're going to need some, at least, guidance
in the beginning." |
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
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