The Massachusetts House of Representatives took a page out of Nancy Pelosi’s book when an amendment to H2015,  proposed by Geoff Diehl (R-Whitman),  was rejected by a landslide (38 Yeas, 115 Nays).  The rule would have required at least 24 hours notice between the release of a bill from executive session and its consideration on the House floor.  Justify this one if you can.

These bills are often times lengthy and full of “legalese”.    What is the big rush?  The rule even had a special clause to deal with emergencies (I.e., with a 2/3 majority the rule could be waived) so there really was no good reason to shoot it down.  Call your State Rep. and ask them how they voted on this one.  If they voted no, ask them to defend it.  Post it here…we’d all love a good laugh.

Note – another amendment to the same bill, also aimed at providing more time to understand lengthy and complicated documents, was also shot down by a similar margin.  This one would have increased the time to read and understand budget amendments.  This one, to me, is almost worse than the one aimed at new bills.  This one focuses on what we’ve all heard referred to as “pork barrel spending” and “pet projects”.  These types of amendments are generally 30 pages or more, and are aimed at spending more of our money, yet legislators are only afforded 30 minutes to read and understand them.  30 minutes!  SHENANIGANS!