Lawmaking in Massachusetts
The Legislative Process: Accessible to All
The workings of the legislature are accessible to you as a citizen of
Massachusetts. You are strongly encouraged to observe the proceedings
at the State House.
Observing a Committee Hearing
Call the House Clerk's office at (617) 722-2356 or the Senate Clerk's
office at (617) 722-1276 or check the newspapers for the schedules of
public hearings on legislative proposals. Most hearings occur during the
morning, Monday through Thursday, throughout the year, but especially
between February and June in the first annual session of the two-year
General Court.
Upon arrival at the State House, go to the Legislative Documents Division
(Room 428), where you can obtain a copy of the Daily List of Legislative
Committee Hearings. It contains a list of bills upon which testimony will
be heard on that day. Bills concerning the same general subject are usually
grouped together and heard at a single hearing.
Copies of bills under consideration may be secured ei ther in Room 428
or in the hearing room. Also available to you are Bulletins of Committee
Work, containing the names of the members of each committee, as well as
a listing and brief legislative history of all bills assigned to each
committee.
Most hearings are informal. Visitors are allowed to enter and leave the
hearing room at any time during the proceedings.
The Senate or House chairpersons conduct hearings on matters before joint
committees. Bills are generally discussed in the order of their appearance
in the Daily List. Customarily, the testimony of the proponents is presented
first, followed by that of the opponents. Legislators and constitutional
officers are permitted to speak out of turn.
The hearing ends following completion of testimony on the bills under
consideration. Later, the members meet in executive session to discuss
the bill as described in Part One of this publication.
Observing the House or Senate in Session
The House of Representatives and the Senate usually meet Monday through
Wednesday at 1:00pm informal session, and Thursday at 11:00 a.m. in an
informal session (without a calendar). Formal sessions of the House and
Senate are broadcast live on local television (Channel 44).
Public galleries for observing the activity within the chambers are located
on the fourth floor and visitors are permitted to enter and leave freely.
The presiding officers in each chamber are elected by the full membership
of the respective branches at the beginning of each biennial session of
the legislature.
The presiding officer in the House is the Speaker of the House; in the
Senate, the presiding officer is the Senate President. The presiding officer
first takes up matters which are not listed in the Calendar such as reconsideration
or enactment of bills, and adoption of resolutions and orders. The body
then proceeds to those matters listed in the Orders of the Day (the Calendar).
Informal or non-calendar sessions consider only non-controversial matters.
You may obtain the Calendar for the House or Senate sessions from the
Legislative Documents Division, Room 428. This document will enable you
to follow the proceedings of the legislative session.
The clerk of each branch reads each bill by title before any action is
taken on it. The clerk's staff records the proceedings of each session.
Any member desiring to debate a specific item on the Calendar calls out
"pass" when the item is read by the clerk. The item is then
"passed" for debate. Af ter all non-controversial items are
disposed of, the "passed" items are taken up.
Debate on a bill may occur during the second and third readings. The
clerk identifies the bill by title before debate is allowed to begin.
Following the conclusion of debate, a vote is taken.
When a vote is taken on a bill, the presiding officer in each branch
calls, "all those in favor, say 'aye'; opposed 'nay'." He or
she then interprets the consensus of the membership. A member doubting
that ruling may request a standing vote or a roll call. The latter is
ordered if at least twenty members of the House support it. In the Senate,
one-fifth of the members present must support the request for a roll call.
In the Senate, roll call votes are conducted orally. Each member's name
is read and the vote recorded, with the results tallied by the clerk.
An electronic voting system is used in the House. There, each representative
is assigned a desk with a roll call box, which is connected electronically
to the roll call boards* in the front of the House chamber. During the
vote, a member presses either a "yea" or a "nay" button
on his or her desk corresponding respectively to either a green or red
light beside the member's name on the roll call board. *The roll call
board on the left side of the chamber contains the names of the majority
membership, beginning with members of the leadership. The remaining party
members are listed below in alphabetical order continuing onto the board
on the right side of the chamber. Members of the minority party leaderhip
and their members follow.
When the vote is completed, a tally is shown at the top of the boards
beneath the number of the bill upon which the vote was taken. |
