Legislators’ vital work veiled from public’s eye

Massachusetts, the birthplace of American democracy, is one of fewer than 20 states with virtually no requirements that legislators discuss government business in public, according to a Globe review of open government data compiled by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. This state is one of about 10 in which the public does not have even limited rights to view legislators’ records.

“It puts it among a handful of states who are at the absolute bottom of the barrel,’’ said Charles N. Davis, a journalism professor at the University of Missouri who researches open-government laws. “If you’re in the business of trying to self-govern, if you’re a citizen, if you’re an activist, if you’re someone who is trying to affect the outcome of legislation, it’s nearly impossible because you’re literally shut out of the process.’’

A lack of public access is a common complaint in state capitals from Juneau to Atlanta.

Since the recent conviction of the former House Speaker, Salvatore F. DiMasi, on corruption charges, Senate President Therese Murray and Speaker Robert A. DeLeo have argued that transparency is a top priority and that the Legislature is more open than ever.

Still, Massachusetts lawmakers depend on closed doors at nearly every stage in deciding which laws to pass and which taxes to increase. Records on everything from the number of aides legislators employ to which special interests they meet with or even how some members vote in their committees are off limits. Leaders can call “joint caucuses’’ of Democrats and Republicans, allowing the entire House or Senate to meet in private.

During this year’s budget deliberations, lawmakers in the House and Senate did collect public testimony. And they held floor debates for several days before passing separate budget plans in each chamber. But the critical decisions at the beginning, when the budget is being crafted, and those at the end, that meld the plans, were made out of public view.

By the time lawmakers vote on the floor, it is often no more than a formality, rubber stamping what a few leaders have agreed upon in private.