Our Goals and Mission
Our Goals
By creating an accessible platform for submitting testimony on legislation in MA via a transparent archive of public testimony, we aim to achieve these goals:
Our Mission
Increase the transparency of the legislative process in Massachusetts
A core goal of the MAPLE platform (this website) is to increase the transparency of the legislative process in MA. In short, we want to know what information the Legislature considered when reaching a conclusion about a bill.
Today, there is no legal obligation for the Legislature to disclose what written testimony they receive and, in practice, such disclosure very rarely happens. As a result, it can be difficult to compare legislative outcomes to the interests and demands of constituents, which is an important tenant of accountability for legislators.
When you submit testimony via the MAPLE platform, you can publish it in a freely accesible online database (this website) so that all other stakeholders can read your perspective. We hope this will increase the overall transparency of the legislative process and lead to better policy outcomes, with greater alignment to the needs, values, and objectives of the population of Massachusetts. While you certainly do not have to submit testimony via this website, we hope you will. Every piece of testimony published to this site increases the transparency of the legislative process.
