Mass. Lawmakers Set to Temporarily Extend Remote Access for Public Meetings to 2027
Two weeks before policies governing remote access for public meetings in Massachusetts were set to expire on March 31, the Massachusetts House and Senate took action. On Monday, March 17, lawmakers temporarily extended public access laws surrounding these meetings to June 30, 2027.
The latest extension of the public meeting policies — some of which were first implemented through an executive order issued by former Gov. Charlie Baker as COVID-19 triggered a global pandemic — could be on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk on Thursday, March 20.
On Monday, Senate President Karen Spilka said that the extension for the policies might not be the last time the topic of remote meetings arises during the current legislative session.
“I have heard loud and clear from my colleagues, and the communities we represent, that hybrid meetings have increased access, engagement, and transparency in local government, and I look forward to the Senate passing this extension to June 2027 on Thursday, and then working in our chamber to enact a permanent hybrid meeting law,” she stated.
According to an NBC10 Boston report, the House Ways and Means Committee had advanced a bill, H 62, that would retain language that gives public bodies flexibility to hold meetings virtually or in hybrid formats. It also permits measures to reduce the number of people necessary for a quorum at a town meeting and allow representative town meetings to continue with remote participation. The bill passed the House on Monday, while the Senate ordered a third reading, a motion that indicates the governing body has initially approved the bill.
Healey has proposed her own plan to permanently maintain the option for hybrid public meetings as part of a local option tax bill she submitted in January. The House Ways and Means Committee created a new extension bill as a report in part on an unrelated spending bill, H 55, that Healey filed to spend approximately $1.3 billion in extra income from the state’s surtax on high earners.
