It’s time to open up our notoriously opaque Legislature
Beacon Hill’s closed-door ways leave the public in the dark
MASSACHUSETTS MIGHT call itself a model of progressive governance focused on different opinions and voices, but if you take a closer look under the hood, you’ll find something far more dysfunctional. Our Legislature is less transparent than any other in the country.
A one-party stranglehold has created a culture where Democratic leadership makes the rules, doles out the power, and punishes anyone who steps out of line. Bills are written behind closed doors. Votes are hidden from the public.
Committee work is barely conducted, Republicans are kept at arm’s length with little to no input or information, and the few meetings that do occur often take place without public notice or records. If this were happening in Texas or Florida, the national media would be in hysterics. But because it’s happening in Democrat-run Massachusetts, the watchdogs go silent.
This isn’t about ideology. It’s about the process. It’s about democracy. And right now, Massachusetts residents — Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike — are being cheated.
As a member of the steering committee of the Coalition to Reform Our Legislature, I am committed to reforming our state Legislature and raising awareness of the barriers interfering with its effectiveness. The coalition is made up of residents from across the ideological spectrum who believe that the people of Massachusetts deserve a Legislature that is effective, accountable, transparent, and responsive to the will of the people.
Following inaction by the Massachusetts Legislature, the coalition held a “People’s Hearing” earlier this summer on two important bills to strengthen our democracy.
One bill would establish an independent, nonpartisan legislative research bureau, which would allow lawmakers to receive unbiased analysis of bills instead of relying on lobbyists or political leadership to explain and push legislation. The second bill would fix the corrupt stipend scheme, where lawmakers pocket thousands of dollars in extra pay to “chair” committees that never meet. It would also require basic accountability: public records, attendance, and proof of actual work. Unsurprisingly, Beacon Hill leadership wants nothing to do with either idea. That has prompted the filing of an initiative petition to take the stipend pay issue directly voters on the 2026 state ballot.
Just getting these proposals filed as bills on Beacon Hill took months of back-channel negotiation because lawmakers were afraid of being punished for even touching them.
One lawmaker said she might help now that she’s in leadership and harder to punish, but that’s not insulated lawmakers from such a fate in the past, such as former Speaker Robert DeLeo sidelining Rep. Russell Holmes as vice chair of a committee after he spoke out in favor of more decentralized power in the House.
However, there is hope. The Massachusetts House and Senate recently adopted joint rules for the 2025-2026 legislative session, the first time they have done so since 2019. Following the adoption of these new rules, the Legislature will begin making committee votes available for viewing online, hearings will become livestreamed, and the public will receive a 10-day notice before joint committee hearings.
This is just the start; our state Legislature has a long way to go.
Let’s also not forget: Leadership controls staff hiring and determines which bills move forward. They control who gets a raise and who gets iced out. It’s political patronage dressed up as public service, and while legislators get stipends and perks, basic services across the state are underfunded, bills go unread, and your voice gets drowned out.
This is how democracies erode, not in one dramatic moment, but in years of quiet dealmaking behind closed doors. It’s not a democratically run Legislature that operates on Beacon Hill. It’s a machine, and if Massachusetts voters don’t demand change, it’s only going to get worse.
Jennifer Nassour is a member of the steering committee of the Coalition to Reform Our Legislature. She is a former chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party and currently serves as the party’s finance chair. She is a member of the board of MassINC, the nonpartisan civic organization that publishes CommonWealth Beacon.