Instead of attempting to assemble all stockholders to the meeting of the General Court the government decided on having each town elect two representatives to send in their stead.

The General Court became a de facto bicameral legislature by virtue of the distinction between delegates elected by towns and the Council of Assistants.

The assistants acted as magistrates and counselors of jurisprudence, however when in session they served as a sort of upper house.

This General Court removed any feudal restraints on the population and codified a Bill of Rights and powers of a judiciary.

The General Court also enshrined the Laws of Moses as legal code under the discretion of local magistrates creating a theocratic quasi-democratic state.

[13] By votes of the General Court in the 1630s, the system of government changed to have an elected governor and to restrict the list of "freemen" to those affiliated with certain Puritan churches.

In 1634, after complaint the charter was not being followed, a compromise resulted in recomposition of the General Court as two deputies elected by freemen in each town.

In October 1650 the General Court took exception to the book The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption by William Pynchon.

They regarded it as containing many errors and heresies and decided to make their views very plain by having the book burnt on Boston Common.

[14] With the collapse of the Dominion of New England in the Glorious Revolution in 1689 The Assistants convened an assembly of delegates from each town to reform the General Court.

The Plymouth Colony, along with the District of Maine and the islands off Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket were to be an extension of Massachusetts and thus under the authority of the General Court.

The King had full control of maritime affairs and acted as an executive, through the Royal Governor, to enforce commercial law.

Even the Governor's reserve power to dissolve the General Court was ineffective because a new assembly had to be elected the following year.

With political disorder Thomas Gage, then the Royal Governor, cancelled the new elections for the General Court and in 1774 the assembly was essentially dissolved.

With the war still ongoing, demands for government reform resulted in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1778, but the text proposed by the legislature failed in a statewide voter referendum.

The speaker of the House has historically been quite powerful, exerting significant influence over all aspects of state government.

There are 26 of these committees, each responsible for studying the bills which pertain to specific policy areas, taxation, education, health care, insurance, and others.

The standing committees schedule public hearings for the individual bills, which afford citizens, legislators and lobbyists the opportunity to express their views.

Committee members meet at a later time in executive session to review the public testimony and discuss the merits of each bill before making their recommendations to the full membership of the House or Senate.

The Health Care Financing Committee is required to provide an estimated cost of the bill, when making their report.

Adverse reports ("ought not to pass") are also referred to the Committee on Steering and Policy in the Senate or placed without debate in the Orders of the Day for the next session of the House.

That committee examines technical points, as well as the legality and constitutionality of the measure, and ensures that it does not duplicate or contradict existing law.

Should that occur, it is sent to the Legislative Engrossing Division where it is typed on special parchment in accordance with the General Laws.

If the legislature has concluded its yearly session, and the governor does not sign the bill within ten days, it dies.