Massachusetts has a democracy problem.
You would think that when your legislators vote, you would be able to know how they voted. They represent you, after all. But, most of the time you’d be out of luck, because there’s no record of how they voted. Why are we in the dark on all these votes?
The Massachusetts State House is broken. Year after year, we see popular, much-needed legislation die in our state legislature without any record of who voted against it.
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Education
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- We keep the State House honest by monitoring legislative proceedings and identifying when key bills are killed behind closed doors
- We publish our findings online so that constituents can more effectively take action for policies that they believe in
Organizing
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- We believe that casting a vote for an elected official is only the first step in a participatory democracy
- We also know that advocating for policies that our lives depend on is time consuming and daunting
- Act on Mass creates campaigns for constituents to organize in their communities, trains community members, and organizes alongside them
Advocacy
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- We are advocates for public disclosure, transparency in lawmaking, and a democracy that is responsive to the voices of the many
- We believe that a healthy democracy centers constituents and actively deemphasizes corporate interests
Our Campaigns:
1
The Every District Accountable pledge
Our coalition’s set of 5 transparency commitments that your legislator should make this year!
2
The Good Government Agenda
Our legislative agenda to pass bills to improve transparency and good governance on Beacon Hill.
3
Transparency on Tour
Our push to visit every Senate district in the state to talk to Bay Staters about transparency and accountability in our legislature.
4
Priority Bills
A collection of progressive bills that have languished by the legislature’s inaction that we track and report on.
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The Saturday Scoop
Frequently Asked Questions
Aren’t we a safe blue, progressive state?
Well, yes, on the national scale, Massachusetts is considered a progressive state and our communities are overwhelmingly left-leaning. In our state government, we have a democratic supermajority, meaning that even if the governor were to veto legislation, there are enough Democrats in both the House and Senate to be able to override that veto.
However, our democratic supermajority and our democratic governor have failed to pass legislation that is enshrined in the state party platform, like making their committee votes public, protecting residents from ICE, ending wage theft, and ensuring universal free healthcare. The single party rule in our state has only led to an increasing concentration of power among legislative leaders and a reduction of dissent and debate amongst our legislators to almost nothing.
But it’s not my legislator’s fault, right?
Many of our legislators are genuinely committed public servants who go to Beacon Hill to work on specific policy outcome and deliver for their constituents. At some point, however, all of them fall victim to the powers of structure on Beacon Hill that disempower them from making meaningful progress and force them into complying with the demands of leadership. At Act on Mass, we think that each of our elected officials can do more to change this system and fight for accountability.
Why are committee votes important?
Committees are where the bulk of legislating occurs, and they’re where the vast majority of bills go to die. Each of the thousands of bills that our government considers gets sent to a committee based on the relevant categories (i.e. a bill about schooling goes to the Committee on Education). The committee is required to hold a public hearing on each bill and then committee members vote on whether or not they think a bill should advance in the process. When these committee votes are taken in secret, through the loophole that allows legislators to avoid public votes, we have no record of who is killing bills or why.