- You do this every day, Mike, this is your world.

But for a lot of people, they're surprised when they learn that these types of things are not already made public in a state like Massachusetts.

- Yeah, well, that's the thing.

A state like Massachusetts is one of the least transparent states in the country.

And I think that's something that people need to keep in mind.

Very little is made public in the Commonwealth.

The legislature, the courts, the governor's office, they all consider themselves exempt from the state's open meeting laws and open record laws.

So that is, you know, why these things just kind of don't apply to them and they can kind of write the rules on their own.

The law doesn't apply.

So, you know, a lot of that's done in the name of expediency, you know, roll calls do take a long time to go through and get everyone's vote on the tally board.

And, you know, politically speaking they expose lawmaker's votes to the public.

That's just never been popular with the rank and file.

They'd much rather all go yay and nay and not have their name attached to it.

But you know, the most important dynamic here is that really so few have signed on for this Act on Mass effort.

That group, they only have, at last count, 20 of the House 160 members, have signed their pledge.

So, you know, add that to the fact that the legislature actually has a pretty high approval rating.

It's 65% in Massachusetts, which is one of the highest in the country, not very popular state legislatures.

So, you know, there's probably still some appetite to make some reforms, especially since Mariano is new.

He's just taken over.

Now's the time to do it, at the beginning of the term.

But you know, House members not officially signed on still might want to open things up a little bit but this full blown effort is probably gonna go the way that all the other reform efforts have gone on Beacon Hill over the years