2023 Massachusetts legislative session

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2023 Massachusetts legislative session
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General information
Session start:    January 4, 2023

Session end:    November 15, 2023

Leadership
Senate President
Karen Spilka (D)

House Speaker
Ronald Mariano (D)
Majority Leader
Senate: Cynthia Stone Creem (D)
House: Vacant
Minority Leader
Senate: Bruce Tarr (R)
House: Bradley Jones, Jr. (R)

Elections
Next Election:    November 5, 2024

Last Election:    November 8, 2022

Previous legislative sessions
2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2023 legislative sessions


In 2023, the Massachusetts General Court was scheduled to convene on January 4 and adjourn on November 15.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2022 elections. Democrats won a 37-3 majority in the Senate and a 133-26 majority with one independent member in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Democratic state government trifecta. At the start of the 2023 session, Massachusetts was one of nine state legislatures where the Democratic Party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.


At the beginning of the 2023 legislative session:
  • Democrats held a majority in the Massachusetts state House and state Senate.
  • Massachusetts was one of 17 Democratic state government trifectas.
  • Massachusetts' governor was Democrat Maura Healey.

    • Leadership in 2023

    Massachusetts State Senate

    Massachusetts House of Representatives

    Partisan control in 2023

    See also: State government trifectas

    Massachusetts was one of 17 Democratic state government trifectas at the start of 2023 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    Massachusetts was also one of nine state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

    The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Massachusetts State Legislature in the 2023 legislative session.

    Massachusetts State Senate

    Party As of January 2023
         Democratic Party 37
         Republican Party 3
    Total 40

    Massachusetts House of Representatives

    Party As of January 2023
         Democratic Party 133
         Republican Party 26
    Total 160

    Regular session

    The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2023 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2023. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Massachusetts state government


    A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

    At the beginning of the 2023 legislative session, there were 51 standing committees in Massachusetts' state government, including 29 joint legislative committees, 11 state Senate committees, and 11 state House committees.

    Joint legislative committees

    • Cannabis Policy Joint Committee
    • Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities Joint Committee
    • Community Development and Small Businesses Joint Committee
    • Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Joint Committee
    • Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Joint Committee
    • Education Joint Committee
    • Elder Affairs Joint Committee
    • Election Laws Joint Committee
    • Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Joint Committee
    • Export Development Committee
    • Financial Services Joint Committee
    • Health Care Financing Joint Committee
    • Higher Education Joint Committee
    • Housing Joint Committee
    • Judiciary Joint Committee
    • Labor and Workforce Development Joint Committee
    • Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery Joint Committee
    • Municipalities and Regional Government Joint Committee
    • Public Health Joint Committee
    • Public Safety and Homeland Security Joint Committee
    • Public Service Joint Committee
    • Revenue Joint Committee
    • Rules Joint Committee
    • State Administration and Regulatory Oversight Joint Committee
    • Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Joint Committee
    • Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development Joint Committee
    • Transportation Joint Committee
    • Veterans and Federal Affairs Joint Committee
    • Ways and Means Joint Committee

    Senate committees

    • Intergovernmental Affairs Committee
    • Personnel and Administration Committee
    • Reimagining Massachusetts Post-Pandemic Resiliency Committee
    • Senate Bills in the Third Reading Committee
    • Senate Ethics Committee
    • Senate Global Warming and Climate Change Committee
    • Senate Post Audit and Oversight Committee
    • Senate Redistricting Committee
    • Senate Rules Committee
    • Senate Ways and Means Committee
    • Steering and Policy Committee

    House committees

    • Federal Stimulus and Census Oversight Committee
    • House Bills in the Third Reading Committee
    • House Ethics Committee
    • House Global Warming and Climate Change Committee
    • House Post Audit and Oversight Committee
    • House Redistricting Committee
    • House Rules Committee
    • House Ways and Means Committee
    • Human Resources and Employee Engagement Committee
    • Operations, Facilities and Security Committee
    • Steering, Policy and Scheduling Committee

    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

    In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

    The methods by which the Massachusetts Constitution can be amended:

    See also: Article XLVIII, Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution, and Laws governing ballot measures in Massachusetts

    The process of amending the Massachusetts Constitution is governed by Article XLVIII, Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution, which is itself the 48th amendment to the state's constitution.

    Article 48 allows the constitution to be amended through indirect initiative amendments. It imposes a number of restrictions on such proposed amendments:

    • Petitions that relate to "religion, religious practices or religious institutions" are prohibited.
    • Petitions that relate to the "appointment, qualification, tenure, removal, recall or compensation of judges" are prohibited.
    • Petitions that would reverse judicial decisions are prohibited.
    • Petitions relating to the "powers, creation or abolition of courts" are prohibited.
    • Petitions that apply only to "a particular town, city or other political division or to particular districts or localities of the commonwealth" are prohibited.
    • Petitions that would make "a specific appropriation of money from the treasury of the commonwealth" are prohibited.
    • Any petition relating to Amendment 18 is prohibited through citizen initiative; however, Amendment 18 was altered through other paths.
    • Petitions "inconsistent with" a list of "rights of the individual" are prohibited; those rights include:
    • "The right to receive compensation for private property appropriated to public use."
    • "The right of access to and protection in courts of justice."
    • "The right of trial by jury."
    • "Protection from unreasonable search unreasonable bail and the law martial."
    • "Freedom of the press."
    • "Freedom of elections."
    • "The right of peaceable assembly."
    • The sections of the constitution that prohibit various matters from being taken up by citizen initiative are also, themselves, prohibited from change through the process.
    • Petitions that are "substantially the same as any measure which has been qualified for submission or submitted to the people at either of the two preceding biennial state elections" are prohibited.

    The state's general court plays a significant role in the process for an initiated constitutional amendment in Massachusetts:

    • The Massachusetts General Court is allowed to refer an alternative substitute measure to the ballot to compete with the proposed citizen initiative.
    • The state legislature is allowed to amend the text of an initiated constitutional amendment through a three-fourths vote in joint session.
    • In two successive legislative sessions, 25 percent of the members of the Massachusetts General Court must support the proposed amendment in order for it to go on the ballot. There are 200 legislators altogether—40 in the Massachusetts State Senate and 160 in the Massachusetts House of Representatives—so a proposed amendment must earn 50 positive votes. The proposed amendment does not need to earn a 25 percent vote from both chambers, but, rather, from a joint session. This means, for example, that if 50 members of the state house voted in favor of an amendment, it would require no support from any state senator to qualify for the ballot.

    The Massachusetts General Court may also legislatively refer constitutional amendments. This procedure is defined in Section 1 to 3 of Article LXXXI of the Massachusetts Constitution. According to that section:

    • Amendments may be proposed by either house of the Massachusetts General Court.
    • Consideration of the amendment in a joint session may be called for by a vote of either house no later than the second Wednesday in May.
    • Proposed amendments must receive majority approval (50% + 1) two successive joint legislative sessions to be placed on the ballot.
    • If any such proposed amendment is approved by a simple majority of voters and by at least 30 percent of people voting in that election, the amendment is adopted.

    The Massachusetts Constitution can also be changed through a constitutional convention and subsequent ratification from the voters.

    There have been four constitutional conventions in Massachusetts:

    • From 1779–80. This led to the adoption of the Massachusetts Constitution, which is the oldest state constitution continuously in effect.
    • From 1820–21. This convention yielded the Articles of Amendment, 1-9.
    • 1853. This convention led to a proposal for an entirely new constitution and seven proposed amendments. They were submitted to a vote of the people, and they all lost.
    • 1917–19. This constitution proposed 22 amendments and a revised draft of the existing constitution. Voters approved all these proposals.


    Historical partisan control

    The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Massachusetts.

    Massachusetts Party Control: 1992-2024
    Ten years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
    Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

    Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
    Governor R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R D D
    Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
    House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

    Historical Senate control

    From 1992 to 2022, the Massachusetts State Senate was controlled by the Democratic Party. The table below shows the partisan history of the Massachusetts State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2022. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Massachusetts State Senate election results: 1992-2022

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22
    Democrats 31 30 34 33 34 34 34 35 35 36 36 34 34 34 37 37
    Republicans 9 10 6 7 6 6 6 5 5 4 4 6 6 6 3 3

    Democrats maintained control of the Massachusetts State Senate from 1992 to 2022. Senate Democrats held their largest majority following the 2020 elections when Democrats held a 34-seat advantage. Throughout the period, Democrats usually controlled between 30 and 37 seats, while Republicans controlled between 3 and 10 seats. During the period, Democrats also held more than the 27 seats required to override a gubernatorial veto. Republicans controlled the governor's office from 1992 to 2006 and from 2014 to 2022.

    Despite the national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D), the Massachusetts Senate was resistant to that trend. Senate Democrats never fell below 34 seats during Obama's presidency. From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats all together.

    Historical House control

    From 1992 to 2022, the Massachusetts House of Representatives was controlled by the Democratic Party. The table below shows the partisan history of the Massachusetts House of Representatives following every general election from 1992 to 2022. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Massachusetts House of Representatives election results: 1992-2022

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22
    Democrats 124 125 124 131 137 136 139 141 143 128 131 125 125 127 129 134
    Republicans 35 34 35 28 23 23 20 19 16 32 29 35 35 32 30 25
    Other 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1

    Democrats maintained control of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1992 to 2022. House Democrats held their largest majority following the 2008 elections when Democrats held a 127-seat advantage. Throughout the period, Democrats usually controlled between 124 and 143 seats, while Republicans controlled between 16 and 35 seats. During the period, Democrats also held more than the 107 seats required to override a gubernatorial veto. Republicans controlled the governor's office from 1992 to 2006 and from 2014 to 2022.

    In the 2010 elections, Democrats kept control of the state House with a 128-32 majority but lost 14 seats. Republicans increased their minority in both the 2014 and 2016 elections but lost seats in 2018 and 2020. The Republican gains from 2010 to 2016 were in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D). House Republicans gained seats in the Massachusetts state House but Democrats never fell below 125 seats during Obama's presidency. From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats all together.

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    See also

    Elections Massachusetts State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    External links

    Footnotes

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