on 
on 
on 
on 
on 
on 
on 
on 
Massachusetts citizens are permitted and encouraged to take an active role in the lawmaking process of the state legislature.
A bill goes through a pretty extensive process before it becomes law. First, it is filed. Then it is sent to a committee, such as the transportation committee, for study and review. There are 22 such committees in the Massachusetts House and Senate.
After a bill has been reviewed, the committee holds a public hearing on the bill. The process seems pretty logical and straightforward, but when the Judiciary Committee decided to hear testimony on 227 bills, it was neither logical nor straightforward. The State House News Service reports:
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JULY 14, 2009.....Outraged attendees of a Tuesday Judiciary Committee hearing are fuming over the committee's decision to hear 227 bills - many of them controversial - in a single day, forcing committee leaders to cut off testimony from speakers on a range of topics, from gun violence, to sexual assault and a bill to add gender identity to the state's non-discrimination statute.
More than a few eyebrows were raised during a marathon hearing Tuesday when the Senate chair of the committee, Cynthia Creem (D-Newton), cut off Secretary of Public Safety Kevin Burke and asked him to hurry his testimony on an administration-backed bill aimed at preventing gun violence....
Frustration was visible throughout usually spacious Gardner Auditorium, which was packed to capacity, with an overflow crowd into the hallway. A state trooper and two park rangers stood watch at the door. Advocates for various bills privately questioned why the committee would schedule so many contentious bills for one hearing, and some said they would have to leave without testifying because of the long waits.discusses it in executive session, and recommends it (or not). Committees can also give a bill a study order, a recommendation for "further study," (often a way of killing a bill). The committee has a limited amount of time before it must report on the bill.
In spite of the poor quality of testimony, many of these bills will go to the floor of the legislature to be read and voted on. They may be amended or voted up or down. If there's a disagreement between branches of the state legislature, a joint committee may be formed to hammer out the differences. Personally, I don't know if testimony makes a practical difference in legislation, but don't people deserve to be able to speak, even if they have no right to be heard?
--Mb
