Mass. Senate approves emergency and final passage of sick-leave bank bills for two state employees

The Massachusetts Senate on Thursday advanced and enacted bills establishing sick-leave banks for two state employees, ordering the measures to third reading, adopting emergency preambles where required and passing them for enactment. The action covered a bill establishing a sick-leave bank for Nikita Galendra Patel, an employee of the Department of Correction (House No. 4427), and a separate sick-leave bank for Gregory Baker, an employee of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office (House No. 25660).

Senate procedures required a standing vote for emergency preambles. The presiding officer called for members voting in the affirmative to rise to be counted; the clerk recorded that two members voted in the affirmative and none in the negative for the emergency approval motions that were presented on both measures, and the emergency preambles were adopted. The clerk then announced the bills were passed and enacted and would be signed by the president and forwarded to the governor for consideration.

The measures were presented during routine third-reading business. The clerk read the titles and associated House numbers into the record; members then voted to pass the bills to be engrossed, to adopt emergency preambles where indicated, and to pass the bills for enactment. No floor debate or separate amendments on the sick-leave-bank language are recorded in the transcript. The transcript does not specify individual senators who moved or seconded the motions to adopt the emergency preambles beyond routine calls by the presiding officer and votes taken by the chamber.

Because the transcript records procedural steps rather than substantive debate, no additional legislative findings, dollar amounts or implementation details for the sick-leave banks were included in the floor record. The bills will become law if signed by the governor or otherwise enacted according to state procedure.