It’s no secret that the Legislature is on a winter recess during which controversial business will not be debated or voted on in formal session.
But now there’s news that consideration of certain issues between now and the beginning of January might very well be shrouded in secrecy.
According to today’s Boston Globe, Governor Patrick met with House Speaker DeLeo and Senate President Murray yesterday and got an agreement that certain important legislative issues will be taken up by the Legislature early in January. Speaker DeLeo also reportedly promised to hold a House caucus session over the next few weeks to discuss a pending education reform bill.
I think it’s important that we take action on the education reform bill and other pending matters sooner rather than later, and I give credit to legislative leaders for wanting to move forward. There are millions of federal “Race to the Top” dollars on the line, and Massachusetts needs to act quickly to take advantage of them.
I also think it’s important that we oppose the Governor’s efforts to expand his so-called “9C Authority” to make budget cuts. The Governor is using the threat of deeper cuts in front-line social services to justify cutting local aid. But this isn’t a fair choice, because the Governor hasn’t cut back administrative bureaucracy first. Aside from the fact that cities and towns depend on local aid to survive, we should not be considering local aid cuts to save social services so long as waste and duplication at the administrative level are allowed to persist.
But these debates and others like them should take place in front of the public, not in a closed-door members-only caucus.
The very purpose for having a legislature in the first place is to provide a public forum for the thoughtful discussion of differing viewpoints on political issues. It’s a place for policy questions to be asked and answered, for proposals of change to be considered, and for positions to be taken by elected officials. It’s important for those discussions all to take place in full light of day for reasons of public accountability and for the sake of including citizens and their viewpoints in the process.
I still believe the best course of action would be for the Legislature to come back into session between now and the end of December to debate education reform, proposals to help balance our budget, criminal justice reforms, and other pending matters. There’s too much at stake for us to allow these issues to lie dormant until January, or to remain just the subject of closed-door policy meetings at the State House.
What do you think? Please post a comment below to join the discussion.
