Mass. is the 4th Largest Bill Volume State Out of States that Follow a Two-Year Legislative Cycle
The Map of the Continental U.S. based on bills filed per session
The Massachusetts legislature is nearing an end to the first half of its 2023-2024 session. Each state follows a different session schedule, which affects the bill volume introduced in the legislatures. In this week’s blog, we will compare Massachusetts’ bill volumes from previous sessions to other states that are in the same legislative cycle.
Every state in the country has a legislature that reserves powers that are not given to the federal government. States have the power to decide if their legislature operates in a part-time or full-time schedule, with part-time legislatures only operating a few months out of the year. There are only ten states that operate in full-time sessions, including Massachusetts. States that operate on a full-time schedule often have larger staffs than part-time legislatures and are paid a higher salary. Four states - Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas - only meet during odd years and are not in session during even years. The other forty-six states meet annually, with some states beginning their two-year sessions in odd-numbered years and others in even-numbered years. For the purpose of this blog, we will be comparing Massachusetts to the 21 other states that utilize the odd-year calendar for their two-year sessions.
During the 2021-2022 session, the Massachusetts legislature introduced 8,626 bills. This was the fourth highest number of bills introduced during that session after New York (19,634), Illinois (10,123), and Minnesota (9,515). Alaska introduced the lowest number of bills during the legislative cycle, with only 690 bills. Other states like Delaware also introduced fewer than 1,000 bills during their legislative sessions.
Massachusetts Compared to Older Sessions
This large volume of bills is not uncommon for Massachusetts, which has a history of introducing some of the largest numbers of bills in the nation. The current trends suggest that in each session, the number of bills introduced in the Commonwealth increases. The only exception to this trend was during the 2013-2014 session, when the number of bills declined from the previous session. During the 2019-2020 session, the legislature introduced 8,218 bills and 7,723 during the 2017-2018 session. Compared to just a decade prior, the legislature had a 123% increase in bills introduced in the 2021-2022 session than the 2011-2012 session.
With the high number of bills introduced in Massachusetts, it can be hard keeping track of what is happening on Beacon Hill. MassTrac’s daily alerts will notify you when new bills, amendments, and bill texts are uploaded to our site so you can view the most up-to-date activity from the State House. With our search engine, you can narrow your queries to sponsors, category, and committee status to easily access legislative data that is important to you. MassTrac also provides a list of “big bills” from each session that includes a bill report with section-by-section summaries. These summaries explain each section in plain English and highlight important information that pertains to the bill. For more information, email us at info@instatrac.com and follow us on Instagram, Substack, Medium, Facebook, and Youtube!