Joint Committee Chaos
The Joint Rule 10 deadline for this legislative session was set for February 2, 2022, by when (in theory) all legislation must be acted for further consideration on the House and Senate floors. The committee process in the Massachusetts legislature is notoriously elusive, but our data (as of February 11) reveals some interesting patterns.
Percentage of Bills Reported Out
Bills are generally given one of four determinations: reported favorably, either intact or as amended, to be later debated by the House or Senate; reported unfavorably, which also releases the bill for debate; given an extension order, meaning the committee has more time to determine its merit; or accompanying a study order, effectively killing the bill. Additionally, they can be discharged to a different committee. Bills that are discharged are often covered by more than one policy area.
The Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets reports out the most bills of all of the committees, with an 83.3% rate. In second place is the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government at 73.6%, and the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs in third with 73.6%.
In contrast, the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Recovery only reported out 2.2% of its bills. The Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management only advanced 2.8% of their bills, and the Joint Committee on Higher Education reported out slightly more (10.8%).
The average percentage of bills reported out was 34.66%. Although this means that approximately a third of all bills move forward in some fashion through the legislative process, the type of this legislation can vary.
For example, the committees with the three highest rates of bills reported out often have less controversial legislation than others. While this is not the case for all legislation in these committees, many bills arrive as well established local matters and administrative efforts that simply need a rubber stamp of legislative approval for implementation.
Percentage of Bills Sent to Study
When legislation is included in a study order, it theoretically means that legislators will review the legislation and consider it for later implementation. In reality, however, being “sent to study” means the bill is killed for the session, leaving advocates back at square one for the next legislative cycle.
The Joint Committee on the Judiciary sends almost three of every four bills it considers (73.4%) to study, the most of any committee. The Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet, & Cybersecurity and the Joint Committee on Election Laws are close behind at 70.1% and 68%, respectively.
The three committees with the lowest percentage of bills sent to study are the Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets (0%); the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs (14.4%); and the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development (16.7%).
The average percentage of bills sent to study was 41.56%. This is of particular concern considering that nearly 7% more bills died at the committee stage than were reported out, and in total this makes up almost half of the over 6,600 bills considered in the dataset.
Percentage of Bills with Extension Orders
An extension order is given to legislation that a committee deems important for further deliberation past the February 2nd Joint Rule 10 deadline. In general, extension orders are given to sustain the life of some bills. Those that make it to extension orders are often divisive or related to a subject with many different proposals. Most extension orders expire in March or April of 2022, but some bills have been extended to as late as May of this year.
The committee with the highest percentage of bills included in an extension order was the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Recovery, with a total of 66.7% referred bills held for later decision. The Joint Committee on Higher Education came in a far second with only 35.5%, followed by the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management with 34.3%.
By contrast, the committees with the lowest percentage of bills with extension orders were Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets; Municipalities and Regional Government; Public Health**; Cannabis Policy; Community Development and Small Business; Election Laws; and Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity with 0% each. However, Public Health had 43% of its bills without any action at all.
The average percentage of bills with extension orders was 15.01%. Somewhat alluded to above, the trend of bills of given extension orders is largely dependent on their makeup. Funding for mental health and higher education programs have been a priority for many legislators this session, so it follows that this legislation was not rushed for the February 2nd deadline.
Percentage of Bills Remaining in Committee with No Specified Further Action
Bills remaining in committee with no specified further action are still in committee for two possible reasons. The first is that despite missing the deadline, the committee still needs to take a vote on these bills or did so very recently, so the results aren’t yet available to the public. The second and more common reason is that some of these bills are in the redrafting process, meaning that multiple bills will be combined into a comprehensive legislative package for the House and Senate to consider.
The Joint Committee on Public Health kept nearly half (43.7%) of their bills remaining in committee with no specified further action. The Joint Committees on Education (20.7%) and Election Laws (18.6%) follow suit.
The committees with the lowest percentage of bills remaining in committee with no specified further action were Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development; COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management; and Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Recovery, all with 0%.
The average percentage of bills remaining in committee with no specified further action was 9%. However, when not including the three highest committees in this category, the average drops to 7%. Often, a comprehensive redrafted bill would be preferable to present at the next stage of the legislative process. Unfortunately, many interest groups must wait longer to see if their priorities will be included this session.
Interested in what might happen to bills in extension orders or that are otherwise unreported? InstaTrac can help! If you don’t currently have an MassTrac subscription, reach out for a free trial! Email info@instatrac.com for more information.
*Excludes the Joint Committees on Export Development; Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion; Ways and Means; Health Care Financing; and Rules. Only legislation with assigned bill numbers were considered for the purpose of this study, so legislation with only a listed docket number was excluded (under 0.006% of all bills).**NOTE: 43% of bills in the Joint Committee on Public Health had no action in its entirety. The statuses of these bills have yet to be updated as of February 11, 2022.