Published March 30, 2011

The beautiful Beacon Hill dome (JackieASutherland/Flickr)

Yesterday the MetroWest Daily News published an editorial criticizing the slow pace of action on Beacon Hill — a phenomenon the paper says is all-too-common.

The Legislature is off to its usual somnambulant start…

… There have been few public hearings and even fewer significant votes…

The editorial argues that months into the session, the Legislature could have achieved tangible progress on the number of pressing issues, like: reforms to the patronage-ridden Probation Department; municipal health care reform; and budget decisions on local aid levels.

Veteran legislators excuse these months of apparent inaction by saying there are seasons in every legislative session. This is the time when legislation is germinating, in the dark, below the surface.

It’s true that many State House leaders have outlined their positions and preferences on a number of issues (which branch should oversee that Probation Department, for one). But the Daily News — like so many political watchers — is impatient at the pace of actual legislative sausage-making.

It seems, though, that a relative thaw is underway:

• Yesterday, two legislators filed a bill to replace the state’s existing Children in Need of Services system.
• Today the Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on the various bills revamping Probation.
• Also today the House takes up a $325 million supplemental spending plan. (Update: It passed).
• And somewhat related, elsewhere in the building the Governor’s Council today confirmed four nominees to the Parole Board, replacing those who resigned amid controversy in January.

Ironically, $50 million of the supplemental spending plan covers snow removal after this brutal winter. I think the Daily News would argue that Beacon Hill is just now digging itself out.

(Of course, we may see more snow Friday.)