Kudos to House Speaker Ronald Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, and all of our state legislators for negotiating and passing S.2545. This updates the Joint Legislative Rules to increase efficiency, transparency, and public access of the legislative process over the course of the two-year session.
Highlights - Public Access & Efficiency
Hearings
- Increasing from 3 days to 10 days notice of upcoming bill hearings.
- Committees must summarize bills before the bill's hearing and post the summaries on the General Court website.
- Members of the public are allowed to participate in hearings remotely.
- Lawmakers can participate in hearings remotely "unless prohibited by the rules of their respective branch." At this time, senators can continue their remote participation, while House leadership can require its members to attend.
- Joint committees are to adopt rules about making written testimony available to the public.
Joint Committee Reports/Votes
- Joint committees must report out bills by the first Wed. in Dec. of the first session year. (vs. first Wed. in Feb. of the second year unless rules of the applicable branch require otherwise).
- House Chairs of Joint Committees are also required to report out on bills within 60 days of a hearing, though 30-day (or longer) extensions are possible. (vs. no deadline) per House Rule 27.
- Conference committee reports must be released at least 24 hours before a vote.
- Votes of the joint committees shall be recorded and posted on the General Court website.
- Committee members will vote only on bills filed in their respective branch, which has been the practice so far this session. This at least gives senators (outnumbered on joint committees) a greater chance to advance legislation without necessarily need buy-in from representatives.
Other
- Formal sessions continue past July 31 during even years with allowance to consider certain conference committee reports, spending bills, and governor's amendments/vetoes. (vs. no extension without suspending the rules).
- Conference committee meetings will be open to the public, and General Court members, unless prohibited by the rules of their respective branch.
Could these changes result in more bills on CLM's Legislative Agenda advancing this session verses last? We hope so and we thank you for continuing to advocate with us.
Background: the House and Senate had been operating under 2019-era policies extended on what was supposed to be a temporary basis. They did not come to this agreement until June 2025.