Back in February, the MA House and MA Senate both passed sets of Joint Rules to govern how the Legislature operates.

But due to opposition to basic transparency measures from the MA House, the Conference Committee negotiating a final set of rules (behind closed doors) has yet to come to an agreement.

The transparency measures passed by the Senate are both essential and non-controversial:

• Publishing full committee roll call votes online
• Making testimony accessible to the public with appropriate redactions (as with any other public record)
• Extending the notice period for hearings to one week

All of these steps will help legislators do their own jobs better and strengthen the participatory nature of our democracy.

There's so much work to do this session, and the House needs to stop delaying the passage of Joint Rules.