The total pay for the Legislature’s top Democrats hit $224,000 a year as of Wednesday, thanks to Gov. Maura Healey’s approval of an 11 percent increase in the base salaries for lawmakers, the Globe reports. But legislative leaders are still not happy, whining about the ‘persistent negative’ media coverage of Beacon Hill doings, the Herald reports. … And yet the leaders appear to confirm, or at least acknowledge, that there may be room for improvements at the State House, with promises of reforms tied to transparency and “efficiency.” … 

Btw – The ultimate reform: a constitutional amendment making the Legislature a part-time body. Massachusetts is one of only ten states with full-time legislatures – and I’d argue Beacon Hill’s full-time status is one of the main reasons for the chronic delays in getting budgets and bills passed. They’re under no strong deadline pressure to reach compromises. They can afford to call bluffs. They have time. They can … procrastinate. 

Here’s how McLean Hospital (yes, McLean Hospital, a source Google provided, I swear) describes the ‘p’ word: “Experts define procrastination as a self-defeating behavior pattern marked by short-term benefits and long-term costs. Many of us know it as putting off things that we need to get done, no matter the level of difficulty behind the task.” … ‘Self-defeating behavior pattern’? Pretty much sums up our Legislature. Give them time to proscrastinate and they will. Such as procrastinating till the very end to pass 100 bills.