{"id":2050,"date":"2025-06-23T17:47:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T21:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/?post_type=press&p=2050"},"modified":"2025-08-11T13:58:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:58:59","slug":"new-legislative-rules-increase-transparency-for-bay-staters-strengthen-accountability-for-lawmakers","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/press\/new-legislative-rules-increase-transparency-for-bay-staters-strengthen-accountability-for-lawmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"New Legislative Rules Increase Transparency for Bay Staters, Strengthen Accountability for Lawmakers"},"template":"","class_list":["post-2050","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"","featured_image":"","press_type":146,"authors":"","related_issues":[464],"related_work":false,"location":24},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"Boston, MA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Today, the Massachusetts House and Senate Conference Committee on Joint Rules advanced new legislative rules for the 2025-2026 session. These rules structure how lawmakers consider and vote on legislation, as well as how the public can provide feedback on bills.\r\n\r\n\u201cStrong legislative rules are critical to ensuring everyone gets a voice in the policies that impact their lives. From the very beginning of this process, Common Cause Massachusetts urged lawmakers to adopt more transparent, accessible rules for this session. The new rules announced today accomplish just that by increasing transparency for the public and accountability for lawmakers,\u201d\u00a0said Geoff Foster, Executive Director of Common Cause Massachusetts.\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cWe\u2019re excited to see the rules include more advanced public notice of hearings, publicly posted committee votes, and public access to written testimonies. We\u2019re grateful to House Majority Leader Moran and Senate Majority Leader Creem, who demonstrated strong transparency throughout the negotiation process making our political institutions more accessible to everyone.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe proposed new rules include:\r\n