Showdown in the Beacon Hill corral

The Massachusetts Legislature is putting the “diss” into dysfunction.

A fiscal 2024 budget that’s 26 days and counting late; a tax reform package that’s been mired in disagreement for a year; disputes over committee control and now a stalemate over gun reforms.

All within a body with Democratic super-majorities.

Speaker Ron Mariano, a strong gun control advocate, is blaming the Senate for his inability to ram through a House-written bill without public hearings or a debate.

“We remain disappointed that the Senate delayed our intended review of this gun violence legislation by insisting on its referral to the Public Safety Committee,” Mariano said in a statement sent to lawmakers at 8:42 p.m. Monday night.

It has all the earmarks of a face-saving maneuver by a legislative leader who apparently was too far out ahead of his own members.

The normal process, until recent years, has been for the House and Senate to write their own bills and hold joint committee hearings to receive public input. Bills are then redrafted, go before each branch for debate and possible amendments with a joint conference committee appointed to craft a final measure for approval.

But nothing has been normal for the last few sessions, where the two branches can’t even agree on joint rules on how to operate. The dysfunction of the Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee is the standard at which the branches now appear to be the new normal.

The House bill was crafted by the Judiciary Committee, concerned about meeting the guidelines laid out by the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision. The Senate has traditionally handled firearms legislation through the Public Safety Committee.

Mariano’s initial insistence at pushing something through before the Legislature’s August recess — before the Senate has crafted it own bill or before any public hearing — should be seen as a reflection of the inter-branch power struggle.

But as Politico reports it appears Mariano may have overplayed his hand among his own members.

“Privately — and perhaps more crucially to the speaker’s vote count in a chamber where major bills tend not to move without a veto-proof majority — Democratic representatives have been raising concerns that Mariano would try to bring the bill to a vote without a public hearing. Mariano never publicly outlined a path through the stalemate with the Senate, telling reporters only that he had “three to four” options.”

The delay allows gun rights advocates more time to lobby against any measure but the reality in Massachusetts is that the biggest threat to the measure comes from potential constitutional challenges.

The softly spoken question in all of this — budget, taxes and guns — is where is Governor Maura Healey? The best answer may be something all good basketball players do, she’s quietly working the refs.

A Democratic lock on the executive branch and the Legislature is not a sign of peace, love and understanding. Just ask former Governor Deval Patrick.

The “Big Three” that held regular meetings under former Governor Charlie Baker have been far less public in those sessions — and Healey is not offering up her call logs, emails and schedules to reporters hoping to sniff out what’s taking place behind the scenes. It is a fair bet that Cabinet secretaries are in more active conversations with lawmakers.

Make no mistake, inter-branch rivalries are real and historic. When asked, Mariano downplayed a question about his relationship with Senate President Karen Spilka.

But if you have to ask…