Bills in Extension: Legislative Inefficiency

It is clear that the Massachusetts State Legislature has been struggling to effectively pass some of the major legislative priorities in recent sessions. The 2023-2024 session saw the lowest number of roll call votes out of the past five sessions, in both the House and the Senate. In addition, there are a significant number of bills extended past the end of the formal session.  

Many crucial pieces of legislation were not passed before the formal session’s end on July 31st, 2024. One of these bills includes the economic development bill championed by Governor Maura Healey (D), HB4459. Healey called for a special session to finalize this bill, and put pressure on the state legislature’s overall disorganization. The state legislature has also been facing backlash from other key players in Massachusetts politics, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. 

All bills in the Massachusetts state legislature are required to be reported out of committee in April during the second year of the session. One of the designations for bills is known as an extension order. Extension orders indicate that more time is needed in committee to consider the piece of legislation. In the 2023-2024 session, 175 bills had extension orders filed in both the House and Senate, the highest number in the past 10 legislative sessions. This is a continued pattern over the past few sessions especially. The number of bills in extension past the end of a given session slowly started to increase with 52 in the 2019-2020 session and 90 in the 2021-2022 session. This is a staggering increase that has led many to consider why there has been such disorganization and inefficacy in the legislature as of late. 

In all likelihood, it is a combination of factors affecting the process of legislating in the Commonwealth, including a Democratic supermajority in both houses, the high percentage of veteran legislators, the House and Senate leadership, and the large number of leadership bonuses doled out to elected officials. 

Democratic Supermajority

One of the most commonly pointed to reasons for the Massachusetts Legislature’s overwhelming inefficiency is its large Democratic supermajority. Out of the 159 filled House of Representatives seats in the Commonwealth, 133, or almost 84%, are Democrats. This means that all party-line votes easily pass both a majority threshold and ⅔ majority threshold. The same is true for the Senate, where 36 out of 40 members are Democrats, totaling 90%. At first glance, this might appear like a utopia for cooperation and agreement. However, in reality, the lack of a strong and significant opposition party in the State Legislature is creating a lack of pressure and productive debate. In other words - politicians like winning elections and therefore, are actively productive when there’s competition. 

Experienced Legislators

Many of the top legislators in both houses are relatively experienced and have been serving for over a decade. Oftentimes, younger, less-experienced elected officials face more pressure from constituents to prove that their votes were worthwhile, leading these legislators to push for more action. When many of the legislators are repeats, as a whole the legislature is facing less external pressure to perform their duties and enact legislation that they campaigned on. 

Leadership

As mentioned above, there was a serious uptick in bills in extension past the end of the session during the 2019-2020 session and the two sessions that followed. The 2019-2020 session was the first session where Representative Ron Mariano (D-Quincy) presided over the House of Representatives as Speaker. As well, current Senate President Karen Spilka’s (D-Ashland) first term leading the Senate was in 2018, which also saw a massive increase in these bill extension orders. 

Legislative Leadership Stipends

The legislators in the Massachusetts State House write the laws surrounding their compensation. An interesting facet of this system is the amount of leadership pay stipends allocated to the elected officials. All members of the Senate and 109 representatives received these leadership stipends at varying amounts and for varying roles. They are based on committee assignments and leadership positions within the legislative bodies. At its face, it makes sense for leaders in the legislative process to have a higher compensation for their increased roles and responsibilities. However, many legislators are receiving them for committees or roles that have been mostly inactive this session, causing many to wonder if they are truly fair. It’s important to note that the leaders of the two houses make these committee assignments that grant this increase in pay, and some have reported that there may be a sense of indebtedness among the legislators receiving them, pushing them to fall in line with the party leadership. This curious system may be creating inefficiencies by disincentivizing legislators from criticizing and improving the process and leadership. It may also be discouraging legislators who might otherwise fall “out of line” on contentious issues.

To continue to follow the process of these bills in extension, and learn more about the makeup of our current legislature and its agendas, consider subscribing to MassTrac. MassTrac creates a timeline of every action taken on a bill, including extension orders, votes, and more! Email info@instatrac.com for more info and to start your free trial!