Bring Transparency to the State House

Under the golden dome of the Massachusetts State House, a rancorous band of Republican legislators has stalled all proceedings in the House of Representatives. They claim that they are doing so to protest a system in which the dominant Democratic Party abuses its power and limits transparency. These Republican legislators may be using less than praiseworthy tactics, and they may even be acting against their own interests—but they also have a point. The lack of transparency on Beacon Hill needs to be addressed.

The event that sparked the legislators’ protest is a microcosm of the State House’s transparency problem. In the House of Representatives, bills to be approved sit in a small metal box called “the can” that sits on the speaker’s podium. Until recently, any given legislator was free to approach “the can” and sift through its contents to inspect the bills for the day. Elsewise, a member seeking to read upcoming bills would need to go to the clerk’s office or request more information from party leadership.

The system drew ire when House Speaker Robert DeLeo, a Democrat from Winthrop, invoked an old State House rule permitting him to stipulate which legislators can see the contents of “the can.” He limited that right only to the leadership of both parties, claiming that too many rank-and-file legislators were going through the contents and mixing up papers. Five Republican legislators decided that it was unconscionable to limit a legislator’s access to bills on which he or she would be expected to vote, and thus began their protest.

That protest, unfortunately, is unlikely to bring any positive effect. Even the House Republican leadership has condemned it as obstructionist, and the bills being held up are routine bills affecting the day-to-day lives of constituents. State Representative Alice Peisch, a Democrat from Wellesley, strongly condemned the protest by alluding to the “gridlock” in Washington. In a state where the Republican Party is already such a small minority, these tactics are only likely to make the legislators involved seem petulant and out of touch.

That is a shame, because these Republican dissidents are right in their principle. The “can” and the tradition it represents are antiquated at best and insidious at worst. There is no reason why bills to be approved by a body of the Massachusetts government should not be easily accessible to both legislators and citizens. These bills should be logged in an accessible format online. This would solve both the transparency problem and the ridiculous problem of having to limit access to “the can” because papers are getting mixed up.

State House Republicans—as well as their Democratic colleagues—should make transparency a priority. Rather than holding up all business in a vital chamber of government, the protesters should begin raising public awareness about Massachusetts’ transparency problems and then begin working to fix them. Bills to be discussed or approved should be available online in an accessible format, as should records of deliberations and roll calls on individual bills. Such changes are feasible and would make the government a much better servant of the people.

Fortunately for Massachusetts residents, State Representative Dan Winslow, a Republican from Norfolk, has introduced a law to digitize the “can,” making all state House bills available online. Enacting such a law would be a positive step toward greater transparency in the Bay State, and Representative Winslow’s legislative approach should serve as an example to his protesting colleagues.