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House Speaker Ronald Mariano and Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz talk to reporters after a Democratic caucus Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (Sam Doran/SHNS)
State House News Service
In the House's first major test of transparency in the new session, a powerful Democrat on Thursday defended the branch taking up a $425 million spending package that was not vetted through a public hearing process while Beacon Hill leaders have yet to make committee assignments.
The House on Thursday approved the $425 million to replenish the cash-starved shelter family shelter system, while passing changes to tighten eligibility and shrink the system's size.
Lawmakers passed the bill 126-26, nearly along party lines, after Democrats shot down Republican-led efforts that would have broadened criminal background checks for shelter residents, allowed ICE into shelters to remove undocumented immigrants, and slashed the appropriation amount while reforms are implemented.
The House did incorporate one of the Republicans' 15 proposals: a Minority Leader Brad Jones amendment that imposes a "competitive bidding process" on any expenditure for the emergency assistance (EA) program. Similarly, last March, the one successful Republican amendment to another shelter mini-budget was a Jones measure requiring the shelter system's food provisions be subject to competitive bidding.
The 194th General Court convened on New Year's Day, as House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka emphasized their priority of boosting transparency. But 36 days later, with the state's emergency assistance family shelter system out of money and lawmakers still slowly getting organized for new business, representatives on Thursday embarked on a debate over a bill providing more funding and a series of eligibility restrictions to clamp down on ballooning costs. They did so without a formal option for public input.
Temporary House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz, asked whether the process to bring the EA shelter supp to the floor was transparent, told reporters about exchanges between lawmakers and the governor's team.
"I mean, we tried to create without a rule structure, I think we tried to create as much of a transparent process as we could through the question-and-answer letters that went back and forth between our office and the administration," he said.
"I think it's very clear what questions we had immediately out there that we would have asked at any normal hearing process," Michlewitz said Thursday afternoon before formal debate started. "And I think we got, you know, most of the answers. We didn't get all of the answers we wanted, but we got most of the answers, and I think we're still working with the administration to try to get all those answers."
Michlewitz sent a two-page letter filled with questions about the EA shelter system and costs to Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus and Administration & Finance Secretary Matt Gorzkowicz on Jan. 22. Days later, the secretaries replied with a seven-page letter with 16 pages of attachments.
A public hearing would have given a forum to more stakeholders, interest groups and citizens to weigh in on a topic that has generated widespread public debate for months.
The House bill is based on a spending bill filed by Gov. Maura Healey. The House referred the bill for review by the Temporary Ways and Means Committee, which holds extensive public hearings on the governor's annual budget filing and also leads an annual public hearing on state tax collections.
Michlewitz and Mariano bristled at reporters' questions Thursday about the pace of diving into new business this session, particularly the lack of committee assignments.
"I would say this is the quickest bill of this magnitude that we've done in a session in a long time, so I disagree with the premise that we're off to a slow start," said Michlewitz, who said taking up a $425 million spending bill in the first week of February is "much more faster than we've done in previous sessions."
The bill is emerging in early February in large part because the Legislature in its annual fiscal 2025 budget did not provide enough funding to operate the family shelter system for a full year.
Mariano attributed the lack of committee assignments so far to the EA shelter crisis.
"We had this issue dumped in our lap that needed immediate attention because the program was running out of money, so we had to deal with that," Mariano said. "And then along right behind it came significant rules changes in the program, which cost an awful lot of time for Ways and Means to investigate the changes. And here we are now, and we're trying to catch up."
Mariano said representatives are working on committee assignments and rules reforms.
The Senate on Wednesday plans to take up its internal and joint rules packages, which Democrats unveiled Thursday to move up a major bill reporting deadline, speed the flow of bills from joint committees, and require bill sponsors to provide summaries of their proposals that will be made publicly available online.
Mariano, asked whether the summary provision is feasible or a good step for enhancing transparency, paused and gave a bemused look. As Mariano clarified the Senate proposal, he said, "So I filed 40 bills, I gotta do 40 summaries?"
"It reminds me of my school days," Mariano, a former teacher, said. "Gonna go back grading papers, reading. I don't know. It's an interesting concept. It's something we'll talk about."
The Quincy Democrat also didn't seem on board with Senate Democrats' plan to move the deadline for joint committees to report on bills to the first Wednesday in December in the first year of the session.
"We were concerned about that -- that it does take away power from the chairmen who work the bills and make improvements and talk to more people than if we have the deadline earlier," Mariano said. "So we wanted to encourage more fact-finding on the problems with the bills, and who they're benefitting and who they're hurting."
He demurred when asked his preferred date for the Joint Rule 10 deadline, which currently falls in early February in the second year of the session.
"Well I don't know," Mariano said. "I'm not going to tell you my negotiating position."
House and Senate Democrats couldn't agree on transparency reforms and joint rules changes in each of the last two sessions.
