Big Bills Haven't Budged
The end of the 192nd formal session in Massachusetts is quickly approaching, yet many bills still have not been passed. As the legislators take a vacation in August, this has led to a surge of activity this month, with both chambers already taking up a number of bills in formal sessions. However 1,000 bills remain in the joint committee stage alone, and as such, it is unlikely that many of these will be brought before each body prior to the 31st. There are a number of “big bills” that InstaTrac highlights which have yet to be enacted this session. While all legislation is certainly important, these “big bills” are the pieces of legislation often with the most news coverage, client tracks, large expenditures, and cultural impact. The economic growth and relief bill, HB5007, has been the focus of the House this week, and debate will continue today on it. Although not all “big bills” have even made it to floor debate yet, and to better understand where the legislature is at with regard to these bills, we took a deeper look at their progress.
As just noted, many of our “big bills” often involve some sort of expenditure, and as a result must go through more committees than a non-expenditure related bill. This is the case for most of the big bills remaining in the legislature, as they are stuck in a Ways & Means Committee, either in the Senate or in the House. For some bills, like SB2695 (An Act relative to pharmaceutical access, costs, and transparency), they may be in Ways and Means after having a previous version of the bill go through the other chamber. However, while this is also the case for HB4262 (An Act enhancing the market review process), the majority of “big bills” remain in a Ways & Means committee since being referred from the Joint Committee they originated in.
In spite of this being the case, the legislature prioritizes state funding bills over issue-oriented ones. Recently filed bills, including HB4802, HB4996, HB4997, and today’s bill on the agenda, HB5007, have moved through the legislative process quickly in comparison to others. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as each of these “big bills” allows the state to provide needed public assistance and economic reform, but it also happens to be what benefits legislators the most politically.
More than focusing on an issue-oriented bill, when legislators can provide funding to their district, they can often be seen as quantitatively more successful. The Information, Privacy, & Security Act (SB2687/HB4514) is just one example of an issue-oriented “big bill” that has been put on the back burner. If passed, the legislation will create tighter restrictions on data brokering and allow Commonwealth residents to better protect their personal information. HB468 aims to prevent wage theft in Massachusetts and establish greater accountability in labor contracting. Each of these issue-oriented big bills still remain in Ways and Means committees, despite having been filed over a year before the other “big bills” and also been reported from joint committees months before. Many of these issue-oriented bills that receive significant media coverage die in committee and are resurrected again at the start of the next legislative session.
Although most “big bills” have moved out of the joint committee stage at this point, the legislature still is behind on a couple of matters of great importance. This is particularly true regarding two transportation bills, HB3706 and SB2436. Each of these bills was filed by Governor Baker, admittedly late in the session, for the Joint Committee on Transportation to take up. Hearings were held for them last January and December. The bills would both improve public safety, one pertaining to road improvements and the other to transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft. The Baker administration has similarly filed other “big bills” somewhat late in the legislative process, including SB2774, which was first referred to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing in March. Considering the Joint Rule 10 deadline for committees reporting bills out was in early February, the delays to these “big bills” are not necessarily the fault of the legislature, but they offer no solution.
The table above shows the number of bills still remaining in committee, sent to study, and that currently have an extension in order in each joint committee of the legislature (as of 06/27/22). While most bills should have been decided on by this point in the session, many “big bills” remain in the Judiciary, Revenue, Public Service, and Health Care Financing committees.
It should be noted that most of the delays with the passage of “big bills” are not just tied to complications with the Baker administration. Representatives and Senators have successfully moved legislation through both chambers, such as HB4891 and SB2842, which make historic investments in mental health and offshore wind energy for the Bay State. They have also helped move bills of economic interest, such as the sports wagering bill, SB2862, through each chamber, but all these “big bills” remain in conference committees. As discussed in our previous post, conference committees play a key role at this time of the session for working out differences between the House and Senate on very important legislation. These “big bills” are therefore most likely to be enacted the soonest, but with the other big bills that have already been enacted, this may involve a delay from the Baker administration or a need to override a gubernatorial veto.
Thus far into the 192nd legislative session only 89 total bills have been enacted. While the majority of these have been largely inconsequential, the “big bills” that the legislature has long been working on are now finally coming to fruition. Regardless of importance, staying up to date on the status of each bill can be challenging, but not with the help of InstaTrac! Our tracking service allows our clients to stay on top of whatever bills they want to, and for the “biggest bills,” we have even more coverage - from section-by-section summaries, to summaries of amendments, and even bill comparisons! For more information or to see a demo of our services, please reach out to info@instatrac.com.
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