A national think tank says the ACLU of Massachusetts is “grasping for relevance” with a settlement it secured in an argument that certain illegal immigrants should be granted temporary relief while working to obtain legal status.

Originally Published: January 18, 2025 at 4:03 PM EST

A bipartisan group of good-government advocates is pushing to overhaul the Massachusetts Legislature’s generous stipend system, which currently provides additional “leadership pay” to roughly three-quarters of the state’s 200 lawmakers, including some committee leaders whose panels do not consider bills or hold hearings.

A proposal filed this week by the Coalition to Reform our Legislature would drastically reduce the number of stipends on offer for legislators, and also link pay to performance, ensuring lawmakers receive additional pay only for positions that “involve significant work,” according to a summary proponents provided. It would reduce the amount spent on lawmaker pay by more than $500,000 a year, the summary said.

Currently, the Democratic leaders of the state House and Senate each have about $2 million in extra leadership pay to dole out among their party members for roles as high-profile as majority leader and as modest as vice chair of a committee. Critics of the system say it centralizes power in the hands of the Senate president and House speaker; those leaders effectively control the salaries of their colleagues, a power structure that discourages dissent.

Not all of those paid legislative leadership positions require much legislating. The Globe found last year that 12 of the Legislature’s committees — more than 20 percent — had not held a single hearing or considered a single bill during the legislative session. Committee leaders defended their records, arguing their panels were meant to support and advise.

No other full-time state legislature relied so heavily on leadership stipends to compensate its members or gave out as many stipends of such generous size, a Globe investigation found last year.

The amount of additional pay for leaders ranges widely, from $7,776 for committee vice chairs to $119,632 for top legislative leaders. The stipends come on top of legislators base pay of $82,044 and a stipend for travel and expenses that every lawmaker gets. That travel subsidy ranges from $22,431 and $29,908, depending on how far a lawmaker lives from the State House.

Jeanne Kempthorne, a former state ethics commissioner and federal prosecutor who is advocating for the measure, said the stipend system is “probably the most important feature of control of rank and file by leadership.”

“It makes it very, very hard for legislators to stand up to leadership, even when their constituents are super clear about what they want,” she said.

The proposal faces a steep uphill battle in a Legislature where the vast majority of lawmakers benefit from the leadership pay system — and where leadership would seem to have few incentives to change it either. For one thing, as of now, not a single lawmaker has agreed to put their name on the measure. Under the Massachusetts Constitution, citizens are empowered to file their own proposals with the Legislature, but those measures are not assigned to committees or considered at legislative hearings unless a current member of the Legislature is willing to take them up. Lawmakers can do that through a process known as filing a bill “by request,” which allows lawmakers to put forward a constituent’s idea for consideration without sponsoring it, which could signal a stronger endorsement.

Lawmakers traditionally sign and file those measures on behalf of constituents who ask, according to a state guide on the process. In this case, though, no one has been willing to put their name on the measure yet.

Jonathan Hecht, a former Democratic state representative from Watertown who is pushing for the change, said his group asked a handful of Democrats to put the measure forward so that it could get a hearing, but they declined.

The measure deserves “a careful look,” he argued.

“The fact that legislators are too scared to take the small step of helping a serious idea to get a public hearing tells you how undemocratic and frankly toxic a place the Legislature is,” Hecht said.

House and Senate leaders launched the current legislative session by promising greater transparency, Hecht noted. “My hope is that leadership will step up and send a signal of openness, saying, ‘Hey, let’s take a look at this.‘”

In response to inquiries from the Globe, neither the Senate President nor the House Speaker took a position on the measure or even whether it merits a hearing.

Separately, the coalition is also pushing a measure to create offices of legislative research and fiscal analysis. That proposal has been filed by State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier, a Pittsfield Democrat, at the request of the coalition.

Emma Platoff can be reached at emma.platoff@globe.com. Follow her @emmaplatoff.

And not to be overshadowed by all the hooping, Aiden Barker stopped by the Reggie Lewis Center for the MSTCA Division 1 state relays, where the St. John’s Prep won the boys crown and the Newton North girls ran away with the girls title.

And before we dive into tonight’s takeaways, visit our Wednesday roundups: Boys’ basketball | Girls’ basketball | Boys’ hockey | Girls’ hockey | Scoreboard

Burlington senior captain Savannah Scali gets her 1,000th on a driving layup. She’s the second player in program history to reach the mark, and was on the court as a sophomore when Aylvia Pena reached the mark in 2023.

Scali entered the game needing 4 points to reach the milestone and did so on a breakaway layup in the first half. After finishing with 17 in a 37-36 win over Wilmington, she is now 2 points behind Pena’s program record of 1,015.

With a 75-29 victory over Ashland, Dover-Sherborn coach Rick Grady won his 200th game. Grady, who led the Raiders to the 2019 Division 3 state championship, took over before the 2007-08 season as the program’s third coach after spending two seasons as an assistant under Chris DuBose, who was there for nearly 30 years.

“Our parents were very nice to recognize the 200th win, but it’s really the work of some great assistant coaches and players over the years,” Grady said.

The most interesting stat line of the night came from Seekonk junior Sienna Miranda, who recorded an unusual triple-double of 11 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 steals, adding 6 assists in a 37-21 win over Case.

The top scorer of the night was Norton senior Ethan Rodriguez, who exploded for 39 points and the Lancers needed every single one of them in a 66-65 road win over Blue Hills. Also hitting the 30-point mark were Norwood’s Alex Yukhymchak (31 in a 78-72 loss to Medfield), Franklin’s Caden Sullivan (30 in a 66-56 win over Milford), and St. Mary’s freshman Jake Fortier, who notched 30 points to help the Spartans (11-0) stay undefeated with a 72-56 win over Cathedral.

Peabody’s Ally Bettencourt controlled the boards with 15 rebounds (and 17 points) in a 66-22 win over Beverly, Apponeque’st CeCe Levrault nabbed nine steals in a 52-27 win over Somerset Berkley, and Foxborough’s Kailey Sullivan notched seven steals in a 64-36 win over Mansfield. Bishop Feehan’s Maddy Stell got hot from deep, hitting seven 3-pointers to finish with 25 points in a 75-63 win over Archbishop Williams.

Shifting to the ice, King Philip goalie Kiki Lynch made a remarkable 44 saves as the No. 19 Warriors beat Medfield, 2-1. Not far behind was Attleboro sophomore Jake Westwater, who made 37 saves to shut out North Attleborough, 1-0, marking the Bombardiers’ first win over their northern rival since 2010. Bedford’s Jake McGrath had a hat trick in a 9-1 win over Lowell and Somerset Berkly’s Nate Manosh turned away 25 shots to record his first career shutout in a 3-0 win over ORR/Fairhaven.

On Thursday, Greta Hammer became the first Gatorade Massachusetts Girls’ Cross-Country Player of the Year to be chosen from Needham.

The junior won the Division 1A meet in 18:13.91, finishing 43 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. She went on to win the Meet of Champions by 14 seconds while setting the course record, take second at the Nike Cross Northeast Regional, and finish 25th at the Nike Cross nationals. She set a personal-best time of 17:31.97 while winning the Bay State Conference championship.

“There’s no question in my mind that Greta Hammer was the most impressive athlete in the state this season,” said Newton North coach Joanna Mantel. “Speaking as a program that sees her multiple times throughout the season, she continually impressed me with her clear dominance on both fast, rolling courses as well as the toughest course in the state at Northfield Mountain.”

Hammer maintains a 3.94 GPA, volunteers as a member of School the World, and serves as a member of Needham’s Environmental and German clubs.

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Brendan Kurie can be reached at brendan.kurie@globe.com. Follow him on X @BrendanKurie.