Amendment #9 to H68

Harmonizing Joint Committee Rules

Ms. Uyterhoeven of Somerville moves to amend the order amend the order in proposed rule 1D, in lines 140 to 192 inclusive, by striking out the text contained in those lines and inserting in place thereof the following:-

All meetings of joint standing committees, and special joint committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, shall be open to the public, and any person shall be permitted to attend any such meeting unless such committee convenes in executive session, as provided herein. All joint standing committees shall determine a schedule for committee hearings to be held from the beginning of the first annual session through the fourth Wednesday in June in said session. These committee schedules shall be submitted to the Clerk of the House who shall cause them to be published on the official website for the General Court. Establishment of such schedules shall not preclude joint standing committees from scheduling additional hearings or meetings as needed. No executive session shall be held except upon extraordinary circumstances and only after the committee has first convened in an open session for which notice has been given, the presiding officer has stated the purpose of the executive session, a majority of the committee members present has voted to go into executive session, the vote of each member has been recorded on a roll call vote, and the presiding officer has stated before the executive session if the committee will reconvene after the executive session. The records of all such roll calls shall be kept in the offices of the committee for the duration of the General Court during which said vote was recorded, and shall be available for public inspection upon reasonable notice and during regular office hours.

Committees shall provide to members of the committee either the text or comprehensive summaries of the bills or other forms of legislative matters prior to the beginning of an executive session or poll. Any recorded votes on a favorable or adverse report on an individual bill, taken by roll call or electronic poll of each member, shall be posted on the website of the General Court. All joint standing committees, and special joint committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, shall notify the Sergeant-at-Arms of the time, place and agenda of all public hearings and executive sessions not less than 1 week prior to the time of such meetings. If public testimony is being solicited, agendas shall include an electronic mail address and physical mail address for the submission of testimony and shall inform the public that testimony received may be made publicly available. The Sergeant-at-Arms shall notify the clerk, who shall inform all members electronically and publish such information on the official website of the General Court whenever practicable.

Any such public testimony received by the committee that is readily capable of being reproduced shall be made available to the public upon request; provided, however, that the committee may redact such public testimony that includes sensitive personal information or information that may jeopardize the health, wellness or safety of an individual. If expert testimony is being solicited by the committee, the committee shall make reasonable efforts to promote the diversity of expert witness panels.

Nothing contained in this rule shall prohibit a joint standing committee or special joint committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives from taking appropriate action including, but not limited to, the exclusion of a person from a committee meeting in order to prevent the disruption of or interference with committee proceedings. All meetings of joint standing committees, and special joint committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, shall be limited to no more than 50 bills to be discussed in a hearing, unless it can be determined that all of the bills being considered are of the same subject matter. The 1 week requirement shall be suspended in an emergency only after all reasonable efforts have been made to contact all committee members and upon a recorded vote of at least a majority of the members of each branch appointed to the committee, but not less than two-thirds of the members of each branch voting.

A meeting of a committee may be recorded by a person in attendance by means of a recorder or any other means of audio/visual reproduction except when a meeting is held in executive session; provided, that a person seeking to record a meeting of a committee notifies the Chairs of the committee prior to commencing such recording; and provided further that during such recording there is no interference with the conduct of the meeting.

The Chairs of each committee shall preserve decorum and order during each committee hearing. Persons attending hearings shall be required to refrain from the use of cellular telephones, beepers and pagers. The use of visual aids including, without limitation, posters, displays, or charts shall be permitted only upon approval of the Chairs.

And further moves to amend the order in proposed rule 4, in lines 328 to 349 inclusive, by striking out the text contained in those lines and inserting in place thereof the following:-

Favorable reports, and adverse reports on subjects of legislation other than petitions, by joint committees shall be made to the branch in which the matter was originally introduced, unless the committee decides otherwise under its own rules and, except that reports on money bills shall be made to the House and if adverse reports on matters other than petitions which are accompanied by money bills are accepted by the House, this shall constitute final rejection. Adverse reports by joint committees on petitions shall be made to the branch in which the petition was originally introduced, except that such adverse reports on petitions accompanied by proposed money bills shall be made to the House; and, if accepted by the branch in which they are made, shall be considered as a final rejection. When a report is made from any committee to either branch, and the subject-matter of the report is subsequently referred to a joint committee, such committee, except for the committee on Health Care Financing, shall report its action to the branch in which the reference originated. [See also Joint Rule 5.]

A vote of a joint standing committee to give legislation a favorable or adverse report, shall be conducted by a roll call upon request of 2 committee members present at the committee meeting. Such votes shall be recorded on appropriate forms that show all votes for and against the particular committee action. The records of all such roll calls shall be kept in the offices of the committee for the duration of the General Court during which said vote was recorded, and shall be available for public inspection upon reasonable notice and during regular office hours and shall be posted on the website of the General Court.