It’s always been difficult to find out how House lawmakers vote on bills in committee, but under a set of rules scheduled for debate Wednesday it could become nearly impossible.

The House rules proposal, put forward by Rep. William Galvin of Canton, the chair of the Rules Committee, would not identify by name how individual members vote on committee bills. Instead, aggregate totals would be provided showing how many committee members voted for or against a bill or chose not to vote. In other words, votes on bills in committee would be anonymous. 

The legislative proposal is more sweeping than what was presented in a House rules report issued just last week by Galvin and Rep. Sarah Peake of Provincetown. Galvin and Peake recommended what they called a balanced and nuanced approach to disclosing how members vote on committee bills – identifying by name only those who vote against a bill and tallying aggregate numbers for those voting yes or choosing not to vote.

“A committee vote is reflective of a specific proposal at a moment in time during the committee process and policy-development stage of legislation,” the two lawmakers wrote in their report. “Support or opposition can and should change as the legislation is refined through the committee process and as members learn more about any given topic from colleagues, experts, and the public.”

The House rules would apply to only House committees. Joint rules, which apply to joint committees of the House and Senate, have been stuck in a conference committee made up of members of both branches for months. The two branches are split on making votes public, with the Senate favoring identifying how lawmakers vote on committee bills, while the House favors more limited disclosure.

Sen. Becca Rausch of Needham said in an op-ed published last year that greater disclosure is the right approach. “Committee votes matter; they dictate or influence the outcome of pending legislation, and frequently the committee vote is the only vote that will happen on a particular bill,” she said.

Reps. Erika Uyterhoeven of Somerville and Mike Connolly of Cambridge are pushing the same approach in the House. They have filed an amendment to the proposed House rules requiring all votes in committee to be treated like roll call votes on the House floor – meaning how each member voted would be publicly disclosed.

Uyterhoeven’s push for similar language in the joint rules was unsuccessful. At the time, she appealed to the House for more openness. “The opaque and cumbersome system begs the question, what do we have to hide, what do we have to lose, why do we resist making such simple changes, and, more importantly, why shouldn’t we hold ourselves to the highest standard?” Uyterhoeven asked.

BRUCE MOHL

FROM COMMONWEALTH

Endless options: With nearly $5 billion in federal money burning a hole in its pocket, Beacon Hill is awash with ideas for spending it.  It sounds like a lot of money — and it is — but a billion for this and a billion for that quickly adds up to more than what’s available, setting the stage for a high-stakes debate about what makes the most sense. Lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Baker will have to weigh how much money to spend immediately and how much to spend later, and whether to build one-time projects or create systemic changes. Read more.

Rules debate: The House is set to debate its rules and also take a vote on extending the chamber’s current emergency rules until October 1. The rules proposal contains a provision that would keep secret how individual lawmakers vote on legislation in committee, but the biggest objection to the rules filing was how late it came, giving lawmakers only four hours to file amendments. “This is exactly how one of the least transparent legislatures in the country operates,” tweeted Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven of Somerville. Read more.

OPINION

Plea to Healey: Bill Fried, Dr. Miriam Harris, and Jim Stewart of SIFMA-Now! call on Attorney General Maura Healey to announce she would not seek to prosecute anyone who sets up a supervised drug consumption site like the one being considered in Somerville. They say Healey’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion would make federal authorities think twice about filing charges against the operators of such a site. Read more.

FROM AROUND THE WEB

BEACON HILL

A bill being considered by the Legislature to help military spouses find work in Massachusetts could also improve the Barnes Air National Guard base’s standing with the Department of Defense, which is considering whether to give it new fighter jets. (MassLive)

The Boston Globe editorial board backs Gov. Charlie Baker’s plan to put some ARPA money into affordable housing. 

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

A Gloucester city employee files a complaint against the mayor for violating the city’s social media policies. (Gloucester Daily Times)

A developer is proposing to repurpose the castle-like Sheraton in Framingham into an assisted living center. (MetroWest Daily News)

Racist messages are left on lawn signs for two Holyoke candidates – for mayor and city council – who are Latino. (MassLive)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

St. Vincent Hospital will resume negotiations with striking nurses after the nurses visit parent company Tenet Healthcare’s headquarters in Dallas. (Telegram & Gazette) 

ELECTIONS

The Democrats running for Massachusetts governor are all pitching fundamental change, but its not clear that’s what voters are looking for. (Boston Globe) Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr said any opponent can build a campaign around three simple words — Transportation Climate Initiative.

Jim Lyons, the MassGOP Chairman, is pushing to get a voter ID policy on next year’s statewide ballot. The initiative would require voters in the state to present proof of identity at their polling place before being allowed to cast a ballot. (WBUR)

Eric Adams, a former police captain and the Brooklyn borough president, wins the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City. (New York Times)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Infrastructure upgrades? Arts and culture facelifts? New Bedford has more questions than answers when it comes to spending $64.7 million in ARPA relief money. (New Bedford Light)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

New testing by the state found toxic chemicals in many rivers and waterways. (Salem News)

ARTS/CULTURE

Some Fourth of July fun went too far in Brockton, where fireworks have been blamed for at least five fires. One such disaster was caused by fireworks thrown onto the roof of an apartment building, destroying the roof and resulting in water damage to the units. (Enterprise)

TRANSPORTATION

Make way for whales: boaters will need to slow to 10 knots or reroute around an area southwest of Martha’s Vineyard where rare North Atlantic right whales were detected, recently. The new “slow zone”, implemented by the federal government, will be in place until July 18. (WBUR)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

Mark Hession, a Catholic priest who served at churches across the state, will go to trial Oct. 5 for charges of rape, indecent assault and battery of a minor, and intimidation. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. (Herald News)

Members of the Rise of the Moors group that engaged in an hours-long standoff with police challenge the authority of the court and spar with the judge during their arraignments. (Boston Globe)

MEDIA

Nikole Hannah-Jones declines the tenure offer of the University of North Carolina and takes a job at Howard University, bringing with her a boatload of money. (NC Policy Watch)

Two Supreme Court justices urge the court to reconsider its landmark libel decision, New York Times v Sullivan. (New York Times)

PASSINGS

James “Jimmy” Cuticchia, an Andover fire lieutenant and union leader who fought fires for 34 years, died at 63 of cancer caused by years of smoke inhalation. (Eagle-Tribune)

Gerald Blakeley Jr., a pioneering developer of industrial parks along Route 128 who helped jumpstart the growth of Boston’s suburbs and mentored a generation of younger developers, dies at 100 at his Osterville home. (Boston Globe)