Representative Don Humason



FOURTEEN DAYS Westfield Evening News column By State Representative Don Humason, Jr. July 17, 2010 By the time this column appears in print in the Saturday edition of the Westfield Evening News on July 17 legislators will be down to fourteen days in which to conclude all formal business before the Massachusetts House and Senate. Our joint rules say that in the second year of the two-year legislative session formal sessions will conclude on July 31. This year July 31 falls on a Saturday. I fully expect that legislators should be at the State House conducting the peoples’ business right up until midnight on that day. Beside the obvious that it is our job to conduct state business right up until the statutory deadline, I also believe it would be a shame for any legislator to have to return to his district and say that some piece of timely filed local option legislation needed by that community did not get past because time ran out. We’ve had plenty of time since this session began in January of 2009. Believe me, as busy as things are in the state capitol they are not that busy. I continue to be critical of the House and Senate leadership for procrastinating on so many key pieces of legislation over the two years and then trying to jam them through the legislative process in the last few weeks of the session. The process was intended by the Founders such as John Adams to be slow and methodical. As a Massachusetts legislator I have seen too many examples of how rushed legislation is bad legislation. Believing as I do in transparency in government I know that when bills are hurried they are often filled with mistakes and drafting errors that need to be corrected at a later date. Those laws that are rushed through tend to have unintended consequences that were unexpected or unforeseen for lack of proper vetting. And too often a bill that is rushed is done so intentionally so that legislators, the public, and the press won’t have time to adequately review it. In such a case it is my default position to vote no. I would rather cast a nay vote against a possibly good piece of legislation than cast a yay vote for a possibly bad piece of legislation members haven’t had enough time to read. Now that the FY 2011 state budget has been signed into law by the Governor, there is talk of the House potentially taking up overrides of some of the items the Governor vetoed. Overrides can not be done on a voice vote. There must be a recorded roll call. Therefore those votes must be taken during formal session. They can’t be done during the informal sessions which will continue during the months following July 31. There are several bills that are still in conference committees. If the six members never agree on the bill and it doesn’t get out of conference then it will never be voted on by the full legislature. Some of those bills are well known, like the expanded gaming issue. Casinos in the Commonwealth are literally only days away from being killed for another term. Why? Because the House and Senate versions of the gambling bill are very different from each other. The Governor agrees more with the Senate language than the House language. If the legislature doesn’t pass the bill by early next week the Governor, who has 10 days to review any passed legislation before he has to sign it, can veto the bill and the legislature won’t be able to meet to override his vetoes. From my point of view it is the legislative leadership’s fault for waiting so long to pass the gambling bill and giving the Governor such power. There are other bills still stuck in conference. The pandemic bill, passed last year by both branches during the height of the flu outbreak, has never been hammered out and passed. The Criminal Offender Records Information (CORI) reform legislation is still in committee. Another bill pertaining to kayak safety remains unconferenced and unpassed. This past week I received calls and emails from people in Westfield in support of an expanded bottle bill law, overrides of some of Deval Patrick’s budget vetoes, and a bill backed by the bicycling community changing the speed in thickly settled urban neighborhoods to 25 miles per hour. As the clock winds down on the formal session individuals, lobbyists, and advocacy groups call the State House to urge their representatives and senators to pass bills that have been languishing in committee. In every two-year session there are more than 6,000 bills that are filed. Most never become law. Stay tuned. * * * Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of the Westfield Evening News. Representative Don Humason and his Chief of Staff Sarah Latour may be reached at their Westfield District office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, 568-1366. Email address: Rep.DonaldHumason@Hou.state.ma.us Website: www.donhumason.org * * * Please feel free to forward this column to your family, friends, and associates. If you do not wish to receive an email copy of my Saturday Westfield Evening News column, please reply and let me know. I will then take you off the list. Sorry for any inconvenience. * * *
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FOURTEEN DAYS

Westfield Evening News column
By State Representative
Don Humason, Jr.
July 17, 2010

By the time this column appears in print in the Saturday edition of the Westfield Evening News on July 17 legislators will be down to fourteen days in which to conclude all formal business before the Massachusetts House and Senate. Our joint rules say that in the second year of the two-year legislative session formal sessions will conclude on July 31.

This year July 31 falls on a Saturday. I fully expect that legislators should be at the State House conducting the peoples’ business right up until midnight on that day. Beside the obvious that it is our job to conduct state business right up until the statutory deadline, I also believe it would be a shame for any legislator to have to return to his district and say that some piece of timely filed local option legislation needed by that community did not get past because time ran out.

We’ve had plenty of time since this session began in January of 2009. Believe me, as busy as things are in the state capitol they are not that busy.

I continue to be critical of the House and Senate leadership for procrastinating on so many key pieces of legislation over the two years and then trying to jam them through the legislative process in the last few weeks of the session. The process was intended by the Founders such as John Adams to be slow and methodical.

As a Massachusetts legislator I have seen too many examples of how rushed legislation is bad legislation. Believing as I do in transparency in government I know that when bills are hurried they are often filled with mistakes and drafting errors that need to be corrected at a later date. Those laws that are rushed through tend to have unintended consequences that were unexpected or unforeseen for lack of proper vetting. And too often a bill that is rushed is done so intentionally so that legislators, the public, and the press won’t have time to adequately review it.

In such a case it is my default position to vote no. I would rather cast a nay vote against a possibly good piece of legislation than cast a yay vote for a possibly bad piece of legislation members haven’t had enough time to read.

Now that the FY 2011 state budget has been signed into law by the Governor, there is talk of the House potentially taking up overrides of some of the items the Governor vetoed. Overrides can not be done on a voice vote. There must be a recorded roll call. Therefore those votes must be taken during formal session. They can’t be done during the informal sessions which will continue during the months following July 31.

There are several bills that are still in conference committees. If the six members never agree on the bill and it doesn’t get out of conference then it will never be voted on by the full legislature.

Some of those bills are well known, like the expanded gaming issue. Casinos in the Commonwealth are literally only days away from being killed for another term. Why? Because the House and Senate versions of the gambling bill are very different from each other. The Governor agrees more with the Senate language than the House language. If the legislature doesn’t pass the bill by early next week the Governor, who has 10 days to review any passed legislation before he has to sign it, can veto the bill and the legislature won’t be able to meet to override his vetoes. From my point of view it is the legislative leadership’s fault for waiting so long to pass the gambling bill and giving the Governor such power.

There are other bills still stuck in conference. The pandemic bill, passed last year by both branches during the height of the flu outbreak, has never been hammered out and passed. The Criminal Offender Records Information (CORI) reform legislation is still in committee. Another bill pertaining to kayak safety remains unconferenced and unpassed.

This past week I received calls and emails from people in Westfield in support of an expanded bottle bill law, overrides of some of Deval Patrick’s budget vetoes, and a bill backed by the bicycling community changing the speed in thickly settled urban neighborhoods to 25 miles per hour.

As the clock winds down on the formal session individuals, lobbyists, and advocacy groups call the State House to urge their representatives and senators to pass bills that have been languishing in committee. In every two-year session there are more than 6,000 bills that are filed. Most never become law. Stay tuned.

* * *

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of the Westfield Evening News. Representative Don Humason and his Chief of Staff Sarah Latour may be reached at their Westfield District office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, 568-1366. Email address: Rep.DonaldHumason@Hou.state.ma.us Website: www.donhumason.org

* * * Please feel free to forward this column to your family, friends, and associates. If you do not wish to receive an email copy of my Saturday Westfield Evening News column, please reply and let me know. I will then take you off the list. Sorry for any inconvenience. * * *