Massachusetts Artists Leaders Coalition

Artists leaders and artist-run groups addressing policy issues that affect artists in Massachusetts

Update & How to Watch the Budget Overrides & End of the Legislative Session

As mentioned in  prior MALC posts, the end of the two year Legislative session is July 31st and all pending matters before the Senate and House need to be taken up (the budget overrides and pending key legislation).

Please see MALC’s blog post on what vetoes need to be overridden and how to advocate:
http://artistsunderthedome.org/malc/news/reminder-please-advocate-override-governors-vetoes/

To see the list of legislation the legislature is trying to pass and to better understand what the formal legislative session is, see this MALC blog post:
http://artistsunderthedome.org/malc/legislation/formal-legislative-session-ends-july-31/

And as a result of this, this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) the Legislature is slated to have two days of “formal sessions”.  The State House, by law, needs to remain open to the public when either the Senate or House is in formal session (the State House is closed on the weekends). This also means if the debate goes into the late evening or early morning, the State House will be open to allow members of the public to watch the debates in person. You can go and watch the sessions in person if you so choose to do so!

Many advocates and lobbyists will be up at the State House this weekend trying to meet with House and Senate members, officials and/or their staff to advocate for their budget amendment(s) and pending legislation.

If you can’t be at the State House in person to observe, you can watch the sessions via live stream on the “the House Cam and the Senate Cam”. (Click on the session name. Adobe Flash Player required.):
https://malegislature.gov/Events

To find out the time of the House formal sessions, and to watch them (just click on the session link):
https://malegislature.gov/Events/HouseSessions  (so far the House is set for Sat July 30 at 10am for a formal session)

To find out the time of the Senate formal sessions, and to watch it (just click on the session link): https://malegislature.gov/Events/SenateSessions  (so far the Senate has yet to post when its formal session(s) will occur)