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Mass. Democrats promised a more efficient, transparent Legislature. So far, it's been a lot of jabs and ‘bravado.'
Asked how he'd categorize his interactions with Senate leaders, House Speaker Ron Mariano said recently that he wouldn't 'even attempt to try.'
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'There's always a healthy tension, but that's on everything. That's from the simplest bill to the rules,' the Quincy Democrat said.
Pressed if that means House and Senate leaders have a good, working relationship, Mariano offered 'yeah,' before adding: 'I don't think much has changed, to be honest with you.'
Statewide, there is no shortage of demands on lawmakers. Advocates and everyday voters are pressing lawmakers to offer concrete responses to the Trump administration's
its first offering, a
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Legislators have simultaneously faced pressure to be more transparent, in part after voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot question
in November
Lawmakers in the coming weeks also must agree on their
'For them to pass
[six] bills in five months when we're facing a crisis of unprecedented levels from the federal administration, it boggles the mind,' said Scotia Hille, executive director of Act on Mass, a progressive advocacy organization.
Hille said she was encouraged initially when legislative leaders said they'd usher
'But with five months in the rearview,' she said, 'it seems more like bravado and just another development in this epic battle between the House and Senate.'
The public jabbing has indeed continued. When the House voted last month to replenish the budget of the health insurance agency for state employees
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'We are glad that the House decided to take action on this bill, which was filed five weeks ago,' she said in a statement.
The same day, Spilka took a second swipe
at the House after she said Senator Jacob Oliveira was blocked from testifying remotely at a joint House-Senate hearing, a decision based on a House rule that requires committee members to participate in person. Oliveira, a Ludlow Democrat, was meeting with childcare providers in his district at the time, Spilka's office said.
'The notion that one branch's rules can bind the operations of joint committees is without merit,' she charged.
In a statement Thursday to the Globe, a spokesperson for Spilka said the two chambers have an 'amicable relationship,' noting that 'differences in policy areas are a natural and healthy part of the legislative process in any bicameral legislature.'
'While policy differences are to be expected, leaders on both sides engage in good faith to deliver results for Massachusetts,' said Gray Milkowski, Spilka's spokesperson.
Mariano and Spilka both vowed in the winter to
But the Senate and House remain divided on several details. Following a public meeting last month of the panel negotiating a final rules package, Senate Majority Leader Cynthia S. Creem and House Majority Leader Michael Moran engaged in a lengthy session with reporters during which they openly disagreed, particularly over the House's push to keep 'attendance' records for committees.
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Creem, a Newton Democrat, said she didn't understand why it was important. Moran charged that Senate members often miss hearings, noting that the Senate chair of one committee
last month for
the committee he oversees
'There's no reason to this. I don't know whether it's a grudge or what it is,' Creem said of the push to track attendance. She later added that, despite the naked disagreement, she and Moran, a Brighton Democrat, actually 'have a nice personal relationship.'
'It may not look like that,' she said, 'but no, we do.'
Advocates for various causes said they, too, are looking to Beacon Hill for urgent help.
Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts, for example, is bracing for impact if a federal budget reconciliation bill now moving through the US Senate slashes funding for Planned Parenthood or Medicaid. While the state budget currently under negotiation could dedicate $2 million to Planned Parenthood, a loss of more than $14 million in federal funding is at stake, according to a Planned Parenthood spokesperson.
The MIRA coalition, which represents New England groups advocating for immigrants and refugees, is feeling similarly threatened by the Trump administration, which has been actively cracking down on immigrants across the country, including
The group lobbied for $10 million in the state budget to back a legal defense fund to help immigrants pay for lawyers in immigration court. The House included $5 million in its budget plan, which state lawmakers are still negotiating.
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'It's an intense moment and everyone has so many asks of the Legislature,' Sarang Sekhavat, MIRA's chief of staff, said. 'It gets difficult asking for anything, but not only is this important, it's the moral thing to do.'
Some lawmakers said the underlying tensions in the building are, in fact, less intense than in past years. There is irritation and exasperation among legislators, but 'not outright animosity,' said one lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity between the two chambers. But still, without visible efforts of collaboration, the lawmaker said important debates are still being held up.
'We didn't learn our lesson from bad relations of last session and the bad press that followed,' the lawmaker said.
When it comes to budget talks, Michlewitz's Senate counterpart, Michael Rodrigues, brushed off the idea that inter-chamber disputes are holding up negotiations, which usually stretch into the summer. Massachusetts hasn't opened the fiscal year that begins in July
with a budget in place
'The House passed a very responsible budget balance that reflects the priority of its members, we in the Senate will pass an equally balanced and responsible budget reflecting the priorities of the Senate members,' he said. 'And we'll sit down at the conference table and we'll get it done. I'm confident of that.'
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at
