Legislative Transparency on Ballot in 20 Districts

In addition to the statewide ballot questions, the ballot in 20 state Representative districts will have a non-binding ballot question on making the legislative process more transparent.

The question reads:  “Shall the representative for this district be instructed to vote in favor of changes to the applicable House of Representative rules to make each legislator’s vote in that body’s Legislative committees publicly available on the Legislature’s website?”  The referendum is sponsored by Act on Mass, an advocacy group for transparency. 

This is a non-binding ballot question, but the results will let state Representatives know if their constituents support the change in the legislature’s rules.

The question will be on the ballot in these Representative districts:   1^st and 8^th Essex; 12^th and 19^th Worcester; 4^th Barnstable; 2^nd Berkshire; 2^nd Franklin; 8^th and 12^th Hampden; 4^th, 14^th, 25^th, 33^rd, 34^th and 35^th Middlesex; 3^rd Norfolk; 3^rd Plymouth; and 12^th, 13^th and 15^th Suffolk.