STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Beacon Hill’s two most powerful Democrats are locked in an increasingly bitter tug-of-war over how bills live or die at the Statehouse.
Senate President Stan Rosenberg has launched a public battle to try to change the system, which he said gives the Massachusetts House too much power to kill bills — including those that begin in the Senate.
Rosenberg is pushing changes he said would give the Senate more power to debate and vote on bills that originate in the Senate.
At issue are the Legislature’s 25 joint committees charged with deciding which bills should be recommended for approval, which should be given an adverse report, and which should be sent along for further study.
Rosenberg said since representatives of the 160-member House have a numerical advantage on each joint committee over members of the 40-person Senate, the House essentially controls the flow of bills.
He said the problem has gotten worse in recent years and only about a third of bills that originate in the Senate ever get back to the Senate for debate.
“Both representatives and senators are elected to do the exact same job,” Rosenberg said. “We can’t do our job the way we’re supposed to if we can’t get our legislation back.”
Rosenberg wants Senate members of a joint committee to have the power to send bills that originated in the Senate back to the chamber to be debated and voted on. Under the change House members of joint committee would have the same authority over bills that originated in the House.
“House members vote on House bills, Senate members vote on Senate bills,” he said in a recent open letter.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo said Rosenberg’s proposal was “ill-advised, disruptive, and would be detrimental to the public interest,” in an op-ed he wrote in yesterday’s Boston Globe.
Speaking to reporters later in the day, DeLeo said the existing joint committee structure has served the state well.
“What we’ve had in Massachusetts has worked and has worked very well,” he said. “We’re looked upon in Massachusetts as one of the most productive states in terms of legislation.”
It’s unclear how the issue will be resolved.
Rosenberg said that if a committee charged with trying to hammer out a compromise fails to come up with a deal, the Senate may take action during a formal session on Wednesday.
One possibility would be for the Senate to break off and form separate committees — a change that could result in multiple public hearings for the same bill. Rosenberg said while he prefers keeping the joint committee structure, he said the vast majority of states have separate committees.
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker is trying to stay out of the fray.
Baker said he’s confident state lawmakers will continue to address critical issues facing the state — as they have since he took office in January — despite the ongoing brouhaha.
“Over that period of time, several pieces of really important legislation that were reasonably complicated have found their way through the branches back to my desk, so no, I’m not worried about it,” Baker said yesterday.
Meanwhile, a Massachusetts House panel is preparing to release its version of a proposed state budget.
Baker filed a $38 billion proposal with the Democratic-controlled Legislature last month that called for a 3 percent overall increase in spending. The administration said its plan would close a $1.8 billion gap between projected revenues and spending in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The House Ways and Means Committee has been reviewing Baker’s plan and is expected to make its recommendations to the full House today.
Baker’s plan called for level-funding many state agencies, meaning they would receive the same appropriation as in the current year with no adjustment for inflation or other added costs. The governor also hopes to squeeze some $761 million out of Medicaid without major changes in eligibility or benefits.
