The State House of Representatives met yesterday to debate its Rules for the 2011-2012 session.
Everybody said that what they wanted was more transparency.
To that end, the Republicans proposed that committee votes be posted on the Legislature’s webpage.
In opposition, Democratic Representative O’Flaherty argued that sufficient transparency is afforded by the current procedure, under which any member of the public can show up at any committee and ask to see the tally.
He also warned that posting the committee votes could cause the Legislature’s website to crash. (Sadly, BMG experience with that very delicate flower suggests that he may have a point there.)
The proposal was defeated. Maybe the roll call vote will be available on the website in a few days.
n/t
So squaring this with Doe v Reed, the state is obligated to provide all the tallies of every committee to KnowThyNeighbor, or maybe OpenMass.org, right?
No obligation to initiate contact with private groups, but if they post them online it would be much easier for any individual or group to access them.