In order to increase transparency and accountability in the Massachusetts Legislature, our coalition has filed legislation to 1. establish offices of research and fiscal analysis and 2. reform legislative stipends.
As filed in the Massachusetts Senate
“A proposal filed this week by the Coalition to Reform our Legislature would drastically reduce the number of stipends on offer for legislators, and also link pay to performance, ensuring lawmakers receive additional pay only for positions that ‘involve significant work,’ according to a summary proponents provided.
Jeanne Kempthorne, a former state ethics commissioner and federal prosecutor who is advocating for the measure, said the stipend system is ‘probably the most important feature of control of rank and file by leadership.’
Jonathan Hecht, a former Democratic state representative from Watertown who is pushing for the change, said his group asked a handful of Democrats to put the measure forward so that it could get a hearing, but they declined.
‘The fact that legislators are too scared to take the small step of helping a serious idea to get a public hearing tells you how undemocratic and frankly toxic a place the Legislature is,’ Hecht said.”