Mass. House schedules multiple local bills, validates Bourne election and adjourns to Wednesday

The House convened for a procedural floor session in which the clerk read recommendations from the Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling and the chamber took a string of procedural steps on local bills and personnel waivers.

The clerk read a list of measures the committee recommended for scheduling, including a Senate bill establishing residency requirements for the offices of mayor, city councilor and school committee in the city of Brockton (Senate No. 2957); a bill related to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (House No. 729); a bill addressing noncompetition agreements in the Commonwealth (House No. 2118); and local governance measures for Salem, Concord, North Attleboro and other municipalities. Several items were noted as having local approval.

The chair moved to suspend Rule 7(a); the motion was approved by voice vote. Following that action the chair ordered several bills to second and third reading as the clerk announced their titles and numbers.

In a notable floor action, the House moved to pass House 4763, “An Act validating the results of the annual election held in the town of Bourne on 05/20/2025.” The chair reported the passage to be enacted after the voice vote, stating that more than two-thirds of members voted in favor.

For a measure carrying an emergency preamble, the Constitution-required separate recorded vote was held: the chair called those in favor to rise and announced division counts: First Division 1, Second Division 2, Third Division 0, Fourth Division 0. The chair then announced the emergency preamble was adopted.

The clerk also reported other measures for final passage and engrossment, including bills enhancing the powers of a Board of Water Commissioners (House 2258), allotting appropriations for a local historical society via a fire district (House 2259), and changes to the composition of a licensing board in Salem (House 4007). The chair put the questions on those bills and announced they were passed to be enacted or engrossed as appropriate.

The clerk read a second-reading bill authorizing the Dalton Fire District to continue employment of an interim fire chief (House 4321); the chair ordered that bill to third reading. The clerk then read third-reading items that would waive the maximum age requirement for named Boston Police and Fire Department hires (House 4267 and House 4582); the chair announced those bills were passed to be engrossed.

The chair recessed the House, then adopted an order that when the House adjourned it reconvene Wednesday next at 11:00 a.m. The chair moved that the House stand adjourned; the ayes were recorded and the House was adjourned. The chair also announced that Democratic members would be notified of a noon caucus in Rooms A1 and A2.

“All those in favor say ‘aye,’” the chair called repeatedly during voice votes; procedural confirmations were handled by the clerk’s reading of bill titles and numbers throughout the session.

The transcript provided for this report does not include the session date. The actions recorded here are taken from the floor transcript as read into the record.