Transparency breakthrough? Mass. House, Senate boast of deal on new operating rules
" We heard loud and clear that the people want us in the Legislature to move bills more efficiently, more transparently and give more access to the public," Senate President Karen E. Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, said during a news conference at the State House on Monday.
'And that's exactly what these rules deliver. They are a great set of rules,' the Ashland Democrat said.
The product of months of painstaking negotiations between senior House and Senate leaders, the operating rules still need a floor vote in each chamber. That could come as soon as this week.
Here's a quick look at what's in the proposal:
Public hearings of joint legislative committees must be announced 10 days in advance, up from the current three days, and those committees will be required to produce a complete schedule of hearings within three weeks of committee appointments. All committee votes are to be publicly posted online.
Once bills are in committee and get a hearing, Senate and House committee members will vote only on bills filed in their respective chambers. That has been the practice so far this session, and the change has given senators (who are outnumbered on joint committees) a greater ability to advance legislation without necessarily getting buy-in from representatives.
Bills filed by someone other than a member of the Legislature (the governor, for example), so-called money bills that get filed in the Senate, and amendments to the Constitution filed in the House will continue to be voted on by both House and Senate committee members.
Joint committees will be required under the proposed rules accord to act on legislation no later than the first Wednesday of December of the first year of the two-year session, moving the bill-reporting deadline about two months earlier than its current place on the calendar on the first Wednesday in February of the second year of the session. Under House rules, committees must act on bills filed in the House no later than 60 days after the bill's hearing, with an additional 30-day extension available at the discretion of the chair.
The proposed joint rules agreement would also allow the Legislature to meet in formal sessions after its traditional end date of July 31 in the second year of the session, but only to take up reports from conference committees formed on or before July 31, appropriations bills filed after July 31, and gubernatorial vetoes or amendments.
House and Senate leaders faced stiff criticism last year after they left a slew of bills on the table after that self-imposed July 31 deadline.
" Neither one of us liked the way it ended [on] July 31 of last year,' state House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, said. '... We just knew it was time to make this thing work. And we did."
While lawmakers boasted of their cooperation on the new rules and their optimism that it would improve the flow of legislation, one big-ticket item is still hanging out there.
House and Senate negotiators are still trying to reach an agreement on a roughly $61.5 billion state budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1.
It's been more than a decade since the Legislature has passed an on-time spending plan. On Monday, Mariano said he was optimistic that this year might be the year lawmakers break that streak.
" We're hopeful that there's a chance we may have a budget to the governor by the end of this month," Mariano said.
Spilka offered a similar sentiment.
" The parties are very close and they're working really hard," she said.
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MIAMI (AP) — When Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno visits Colombia this week as part of a three-nation tour of Latin America, it'll be something of a homecoming. Ohio's first Latino senator was born in the Colombian capital of Bogota, and even as he was chasing the American dream in the Buckeye state, he kept close tabs on the country through older brothers who are heavyweights in politics and business back home. In an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the trip, Moreno expressed deep concern about the country's direction under left-wing President Gustavo Petro and suggested U.S. sanctions, higher tariffs or other retaliatory action might be needed to steer it straight. The recent criminal conviction of former President Alvaro Uribe, a conservative icon, was an attempt to 'silence' the man who saved Colombia from guerrilla violence, Moreno said. 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But he said more cooperation is needed, and he'd like to see Mexico allow the DEA to participate in judicial wiretaps like it has for decades in Colombia and allow it to bring back a plane used in bilateral investigations that López Obrador grounded. 'The corruption becomes so pervasive, that if it's left unchecked, it's kind of like treating cancer,' said Moreno. 'Mexico has to just come to the realization that it does not have the resources to completely wipe out the drug cartels. And it's only going to be by asking the U.S. for help that we can actually accomplish that.' Plans to tour the Panama Canal From Mexico, Moreno heads to Panama, where he'll tour the Panama Canal with Trump's new ambassador to the country, Kevin Marino Cabrera. In March, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate struck a deal that would've handed control of two ports on either end of the U.S.-built canal to American investment firm BlackRock Inc. 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Despite their different upbringings, the two have made common cause in seeking to uphold the tradition of bilateral U.S. support for Colombia, for decades Washington's staunchest ally in the region. It's a task made harder by deepening polarization in both countries. The recent sentencing of Uribe to 12 years of house arrest in a long-running witness tampering case has jolted the nation's politics with nine months to go before decisive presidential elections. The former president is barred from running but remains a powerful leader, and Moreno said his absence from the campaign trail could alter the playing field. He also worries that surging cocaine production could once again lead to a 'narcotization' of a bilateral relationship that should be about trade, investment and mutual prosperity. 'We want Colombia to be strong, we want Colombia to be healthy, we want Colombia to be prosperous and secure, and I think the people of Colombia want the exact same thing,' he added. 'So, the question is, how do we get there?' ___ Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.
The Hill
33 minutes ago
- The Hill
Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno pushes Trump's agenda on drugs and trade in Colombia homecoming
MIAMI (AP) — When Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno visits Colombia this week as part of a three-nation tour of Latin America, it'll be something of a homecoming. Ohio's first Latino senator was born in the Colombian capital of Bogota, and even as he was chasing the American dream in the Buckeye state, he kept close tabs on the country through older brothers who are heavyweights in politics and business back home. In an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the trip, Moreno expressed deep concern about the country's direction under left-wing President Gustavo Petro and suggested U.S. sanctions, higher tariffs or other retaliatory action might be needed to steer it straight. The recent criminal conviction of former President Alvaro Uribe, a conservative icon, was an attempt to 'silence' the man who saved Colombia from guerrilla violence, Moreno said. Meanwhile, record cocaine production has left the United States less secure — and Colombia vulnerable to being decertified by the White House for failing to cooperate in the war on drugs. 'The purpose of the trip is to understand all the dynamics before any decision is made,' said Moreno, who will meet with both Petro and Uribe, as well as business leaders and local officials, during the visit. 'But there's nothing that's taken off the table at this point and there's nothing that's directly being contemplated.' Elected with Trump's support Moreno, a luxury car dealer from Cleveland, defeated incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown last year with the help of Donald Trump's endorsement and $441 million in political ad spending — the most in U.S. Senate race history. He became Ohio's senior senator on practically his first day in office after his close friend JD Vance resigned the Senate to become vice president. In Congress, he's mimicked Trump's rhetoric to attack top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer as a 'miserable old man out of a Dickens novel,' called on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and threatened to subpoena California officials over their response to anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. On Latin America, he's been similarly outspoken, slamming Petro on social media as a 'socialist dictator' and accusing Mexico of being on the path to becoming a 'narco state.' Such comments barely register in blue-collar Ohio, but they've garnered attention in Latin America, where Moreno has emerged as an interlocutor for conservatives in the region seeking favor with the Trump administration. That despite the fact he hasn't lived in the region for decades, speaks Spanish with an American accent and doesn't sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 'He's somebody to watch,' said Michael Shifter, the former president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. 'He's one of the most loyal Trump supporters in the senate and given his background in Latin America he could be influential on policy.' Moreno, 58, starts his first congressional delegation to Latin America on Monday for two days of meetings in Mexico City with officials including President Claudia Sheinbaum. He'll be accompanied by Terrance Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, who is making his first overseas trip since being confirmed by the Senate last month to head the premier federal narcotics agency. Seeking cooperation with Mexico on fentanyl Moreno, in the pre-trip interview, said that Sheinbaum has done more to combat the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. than her predecessor and mentor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who he described as a 'total disaster.' But he said more cooperation is needed, and he'd like to see Mexico allow the DEA to participate in judicial wiretaps like it has for decades in Colombia and allow it to bring back a plane used in bilateral investigations that López Obrador grounded. 'The corruption becomes so pervasive, that if it's left unchecked, it's kind of like treating cancer,' said Moreno. 'Mexico has to just come to the realization that it does not have the resources to completely wipe out the drug cartels. And it's only going to be by asking the U.S. for help that we can actually accomplish that.' Plans to tour the Panama Canal From Mexico, Moreno heads to Panama, where he'll tour the Panama Canal with Trump's new ambassador to the country, Kevin Marino Cabrera. In March, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate struck a deal that would've handed control of two ports on either end of the U.S.-built canal to American investment firm BlackRock Inc. The deal was heralded by Trump, who had threatened to take back the canal to curb Chinese influence. However, the deal has since drawn scrutiny from antitrust authorities in Beijing and last month the seller said it was seeking to add a strategic partner from mainland China — reportedly state-owned shipping company Cosco — to the deal. 'Cosco you might as well say is the actual communist party,' said Moreno. 'There's no scenario in which Cosco can be part of the Panamanian ports.' 'We want Colombia to be strong' On the final leg of the tour in Colombia, Moreno will be joined by another Colombian American senator: Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona. In contrast to Moreno, who was born into privilege and counts among his siblings a former ambassador to the U.S., Gallego and his three sisters were raised by an immigrant single mother on a secretary's paycheck. 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San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Texas Legislature to take another swing at redistricting vote as Democrats extend their walkout
Texas Republicans will again try to convene the state Legislature Monday for a vote on redrawing congressional maps in their party's favor, an effort that already sparked a national political brawl and prompted Democratic lawmakers to leave the state to deny Republicans the quorum they need. The Republican majority is seeking to redraw five U.S. House districts at President Donald Trump's urging as he tries to avoid a replay of the 2018 midterms. Those elections installed a new Democratic majority in the U.S. House that stymied the president's agenda and twice impeached him. Now, Democratic-controlled states including California, New York and Illinois are threatening to retaliate against Texas and Trump by proposing their own redistricting, putting the nation on the brink of a tit-for-tat overhaul of congressional boundaries that are typically redrawn only once a decade. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he'll call lawmakers back to the Statehouse again and again until enough Democrats show up to reach the 100-member threshold required to vote on the bill. Democratic leaders in other states are planning out their retaliatory redistricting plans if Abbott succeeds. 'Texas, knock it off. We'll knock it off. Let's get back to governing,' said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on 'Fox News Sunday.' As for the Democratic lawmakers who bolted from Texas — some of whom have been appearing alongside the likes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker at news conferences — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking the state's Supreme Court to remove some of them from office or give them a 48-hour warning to return. 'If they show back up in the state of Texas, they will be arrested and taken to the Capitol," said Abbott on 'Fox News Sunday.' When pressed about blue states' threats to retaliate — such as Newsom's proposal to effectiveely cut five GOP-held seats in California — Abbott argued that many had already squeezed the juice out of their gerrymandering and would be hard-pressed to push it further. Democratic leaders say Abbott's plans are nothing more than a power grab. 'They know that they're going to lose in 2026 the Congress, and so they're trying to steal seats,' Pritzker said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' Past attempts by Texas Democrats to halt votes by leaving the state were typically unsuccessful, and several of the blue states face more hurdles to redistricting than Texas does. California, for example, has an independent commission that runs redistricting after each decade's census. Changes require approval from both voters and state lawmakers, who have said they plan to call a special election in November to set the process in motion.
