Press Room

The Massachusetts House of Representatives today passed Joint Rules and House Rules, which will govern legislative operations for the 2025-2026 legislative session. The rules passed today include reforms that are designed to make the lawmaking process more efficient and more accessible to the public.

“These critical reforms are representative of the House’s strong commitment to the pursuit of a more accessible and efficient Legislature that is responsive to the concerns of our constituents,” said House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano (D-Quincy). “We remain focused on the all-important responsibility of bettering the General Court as an institution, a goal that I know so many of my colleagues are committed to. I want to thank Leader Moran and Chairman Galvin for working diligently to produce these reforms.”

“There are many things in our rules package that align closely with the Senate proposals,” said Representative Michael J. Moran (D-Boston), Majority Leader. “Under both plans, House members will be voting on House bills and Senators on Senate bills. The House went even further to alleviate the logjam of bills at the end of the session by requiring that bills be voted out of committee in a timely manner after a public hearing. And our constituents will know exactly how the members of a committee handle the bill process when we post hearing attendance and committee votes online. These are meaningful reforms and I’m very hopeful that for the first time since 2019 we will come to an agreement on Joint Rules.”

“Recognizing that there are ways we can make the legislative process more efficient, I am proud of this Rules package as proposed under the leadership of Speaker Mariano and Leader Moran,” said Representative William C. Galvin (D-Canton), Chair of the Temporary House committee on House Rules. “The reforms included in both the operating Rules of the House as well as in the Joint Rules to govern both branches will help streamline legislative work in the current session, as well as provide the public with a greater understanding of where bills stand in the process.”

Joint Rules Reforms

Joint Rules govern the legislative process, joint committees, and interactions between the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Joint Rules approved today include the following reforms:

Joint committees structure and process

·       Hearings will be conducted jointly on all House and Senate bills, with the administrative responsibility of conducting hearings being shared equally between the two branches.

·       House staff will prepare materials related to bills filed in the House for House members on the joint committees, and Senate staff will do the same for Senate bills.

·       After a bill is heard by the joint committee, the House or Senate Chair may unilaterally poll members of the committee from their respective branch on a bill filed in that branch.

Summaries and other materials

·       Joint committees will be required to produce plain-language summaries of all bills in time for their hearings, which will be posted to the General Court’s website.

·       For favorable reports, committees must also provide a document showing changes made by the committee to the underlying bill, if applicable, and any changes made to existing law.

·       Testimony will be made publicly available, and the manner in which testimony will be available will be determined by committees via their own committee rules.

Hearing attendance and committee votes

·       Members of a joint committee cannot participate remotely and must be physically present in the hearing room. Remote participation is reserved for members of the public only.

·       How each individual member votes on polls conducted by the committees will be posted on the General Court’s website, along with the relevant hearing attendance of the member voting on the poll.

Bill reporting

·       Committees must make final report not later than 60 days after a matter is heard by the committee, but Chairs may request an additional 30 days, at their discretion.

·       Additional extensions must be approved by the branch seeking the extension.

·       Bills cannot be extended beyond the third Wednesday in March of the second annual session.

·       Any bill not acted upon will be ordered to a study, by default.

Conference committees

·       Requires all conference committees to file summaries with reports.

Formal lawmaking

·       Extends the time allowed for formal sessions in the first year of session to the third Wednesday in December.

·       The second year of formal session will end on July 31, but the House and Senate may return to a formal session for: reports of conference committees formed by July 31, appropriation bills filed after July 31, and gubernatorial actions related to conference reports (vetoes or bills returned with amendments).

House Rules Reforms

House Rules govern operations within the House of Representatives, including House Committees. Some of the reforms included in the House Rules are:

Summaries and other materials

·       Require, to the extent practicable, summaries of bills to be posted online before the House takes them up for a vote. The committee chair of the relevant subject matter would be responsible for producing the summary.

Hearing attendance and committee votes

·       Members cannot participate remotely and must be physically present in the hearing room. Remote participation is reserved for members of the public only.

·       How each individual member votes on polls conducted by the committees will be posted on the General Court’s website, along with the relevant hearing attendance of the member voting on the poll.

·       A 72-hour notice for hearings will be required for House committees.

Voting

·       Members of the House will continue to be required to be physically present to cast their votes, unless the Member has active reserve military duty, a serious health condition, or limitations related to a member’s pregnancy, including pregnancy loss.

·       Expands remote voting option for Members for up to 20 weeks of parental leave.

House operations

·       The Committee on Operations, Facilities and Security will appoint the House Business Manager and provide oversight.

·       The Committee on Operations, Facilities and Security, upon receipt of the recommendation of the State Auditor, shall provide that an outside, independent financial audit of the House’s financial accounts be conducted for each fiscal year.

·       Requires the House to contract with an outside, independent Equal Employment Opportunity Officer.

The House Rules package passed the House of Representatives 128-23. The Joint Rules package, having passed the House of Representatives 128-23, now moves to the Senate for further consideration.