Audit of The Massachusetts General Court Overview of Audited Entity

This section describes the makeup and responsibilities of The Massachusetts General Court.

Legislature

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature known as the Massachusetts General Court (General Court; Legislature), consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives (House), which has been configured in this form since the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.⁹ The Massachusetts General Court comprises 200 members elected to two-year terms by the people of the Commonwealth.¹⁰ This performance audit period covers calendar years 2021 and 2022, during which the 192nd Massachusetts General Court convened.

Senate

The Senate is composed of 40 members elected by the voters and is led by the President of the Senate, who is elected by the members of the Senate.¹¹ The Senate members adopt rules governing proceedings of the Senate¹² (Senate Rules) during the legislative session,¹³ and a second set of rules adopted in concurrence with the House governing joint or concurrent proceedings or proceedings applicable to the Massachusetts General Court as a whole.¹⁴ References to the Senate Rules and the Joint Rules in this report, which were reviewed during the course of this performance audit, refer to the Senate Rules and the Joint Rules of the 192nd Massachusetts General Court (see Appendix C).¹⁵

Members of the Senate serve on committees established by the Senate¹⁶ and serve together with members of the House on committees established jointly by the Senate and House (Joint Committees).¹⁷ The default power to appoint members of the Senate to committees and to nominate members to committee chair positions, as well as to nominate members to leadership positions, resides with the President.¹⁸

House

The House is composed of 160 members elected by the voters and is led by the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members of the House.¹⁹ The House members adopt rules governing proceedings of the House²⁰ during the legislative session, and the Joint Rules adopted in concurrence with the Senate.²¹ References to the House Rules in this report, which were reviewed during the course of the performance audit, refer to the House Rules of the 192nd Massachusetts General Court (see Appendix C).²²

Members of the House serve on committees established by the House²³ and together with members of the Senate on Joint Committees.²⁴ The default power to appoint members of the House to committees, to committee chair positions, as well as to House leadership positions, resides with the Speaker.²⁵

Legislative Process and the Role of Committees

According to the Senate and House Rules, and information from the Massachusetts General Court website, standard legislative process begins with a petition for proposed legislation, together with the accompanying bill, which is filed with the Senate clerk when filed by a member of the Senate,²⁶ and with the House clerk when filed by a member of the House.²⁷ Petitions may also be filed jointly.²⁸ The petition may be sponsored by the filing legislator (and may have multiple co-sponsors)²⁹ or filed “by request” of a member of the general public.³⁰ Once filed, the petition is to be referred to a committee generally based on the subject matter of the proposed legislation.³¹

A committee holds a public hearing to allow testimony to be presented by the general public, government officials, and other stakeholders.³² After the hearing, the committee is to vote and issue a report recommending whether each bill “ought to pass” (reported favorably), “ought not to pass” (reported adversely), or be given a study order.³³ Prior to issuance of the report, bills that are reported favorably may have undergone changes or been redrafted in their entirety by the committee.³⁴ For the vast majority of bills given a study order, no further action takes place for the duration of the legislative session.³⁵

According to the Senate and House Rules, specific committees are intended to help determine legislative proceedings and initiate legislation. The Senate Committee on Steering and Policy is tasked with assisting the Senate in identifying matters for consideration by the Massachusetts General Court and the prioritization of such matters; the House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling is tasked with performing similar duties for the House.³⁶ The Committees on Ways and Means take up all bills involving public monies or otherwise affecting state finances and may originate legislative recommendations for the General Appropriations Act.³⁷

Expenditures

The Massachusetts General Court expended $70,637,907 in fiscal year 2021 and $73,954,069 in fiscal year 2022. The table below outlines the amounts expended by each chamber as well as the additional amounts expended jointly during fiscal years 2021 and 2022.

Massachusetts General Court Expenditures Posted in CTHRU³⁸

Department	Fiscal Year 2021	Fiscal Year 2022	Total*
Senate	$    21,444,329	$    21,905,231	$    43,349,560
House	$    43,328,015	$    45,487,557	$    88,815,573
Joint Legislative	$      5,865,562	$      6,561,281	$    12,426,844
Total*	$    70,637,907	$    73,954,069	$  144,591,977

*  Discrepancies in totals are due to rounding.

9.      See Article I of Section I of Chapter I of Part the Second of the Massachusetts Constitution.

10.      See Article CI, as amended, and Article LXXXII, as amended, of the Massachusetts Constitution.

11.      See Article VII of Section II of Chapter I of Part the Second of the Massachusetts Constitution; Senate Rule 4A.

12.     For the purposes of this audit report, Senate Rules refer to rules governing the proceedings of the Senate.

13.     According to the website of the National Conference of State Legislatures, a legislative session denotes a “period during which the legislature meets.” See  https://www.ncsl.org/resources/details/glossary-of-legislative-terms (last accessed August 4, 2024).

14.      The Rules pages of the Massachusetts General Court website state, “Each of these legislative bodies are governed by the Constitution, General Laws, the various court and sundry rulings, and its own set of rules (the House Rules and the Senate Rules) adopted by each chamber and a second set of rules adopted, in concurrence, known as the Joint Rules of the Senate and House of Representatives.” Massachusetts General Court, Rules, https://malegislature.gov/Laws/Rules/Joint (last accessed July 18, 2024).

15.      Senate Rules and Joint Rules of the 192nd General Court were obtained through the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), since rules for past legislative sessions were not immediately apparent from the information available on the General Court website.

16.      See Senate Rule 12. Also, for the purposes of this audit report, Senate Committees refer to committees established by the Senate.

17.      See Joint Rule 1. Also, for the purposes of this audit report, Joint Committees refer to committees established jointly by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

18.      See Senate Rules 12, 13. Minority party committee members are appointed and minority party leadership positions are nominated by the Senate Minority Leader. Nominations are subject to ratification by majority vote of the respective parties’ caucuses. See id.

19.      See Article X of Section III of Chapter I of Part the Second of the Massachusetts Constitution.

20.     For purposes of this audit report, House Rules refer to rules governing proceedings of the House of Representatives.

21.     See footnote 14.

22.      House Rules of the 192nd General Court were obtained through the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) since rules for past legislative sessions are not apparent from the information available on the General Court website.

23.     See House Rule 17. Also, for the purposes of this audit report, House Committees refer to committees established by the House of Representatives.

24.      See Joint Rule 1.

25.      See House Rules 18, 18A. Minority party committee members and leadership positions are appointed by the House Minority Leader. Appointments are subject to ratification by majority vote of the respective parties’ caucuses. See id.

26.      See Senate Rule 20.

27.      See House Rule 24. Certain legislation must be filed in the House first, including the General Appropriations Act. See Article VII of Section III of Chapter I of Part the Second of the Massachusetts Constitution.

28.      See Joint Rule 6A.

29.      See Senate Rule 27D; House Rule 24.

30.      Article XIX of Part the First of the Massachusetts Constitution. Legislation may also be filed by the Governor and other parties; this report is limited to the Legislature.

31.      See Joint Rule 3A.

32.      See Joint Rule 1D.

33.      See Joint Rule 10A, Joint Rule 13iii.

34.      See MassBar Association “The Legislative Process,” https://www.massbar.org/advocacy/legislative-activities/the-legislative-process (last accessed July 1, 2024).

35.    See id.

36.    See Senate Rule 12B; House Rule 7A.

37.    See Senate Rules 27, 27A; House Rules 30, 33.

38.      CTHRU is the Commonwealth’s financial records platform for statewide spending, payroll, revenue, and other data, administered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth. We were unable to verify this information due to the Massachusetts General Court’s refusal to participate in the audit.

 

Date published:	October 21, 2024