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2025 Massachusetts legislative session

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2025 Massachusetts legislative session
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General information
Scheduled session start:    January 1, 2025

Scheduled session end:    November 19, 2025

Leadership
Senate President
Karen Spilka (D)

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

Elections
Next Election:    November 3, 2026

Last Election:    November 5, 2024

Previous legislative sessions
2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2025 legislative sessions


In 2025, the Massachusetts State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 1 and adjourn on November 19.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2024 elections. Democrats won a 35-5 majority in the Senate and a 134-25 majority with one independent in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Democratic state government trifecta. At the start of the 2025 session, Massachusetts was one of seven state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session:
  • Democrats held a majority in the Massachusetts state House and state Senate.
  • Massachusetts was one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas.
  • Massachusetts' governor was Democrat Maura Healey.

    • Leadership in 2025

    See also: Leadership positions in state legislatures

    Massachusetts State Senate

    Massachusetts House of Representatives

    Partisan control in 2025

    See also: State government trifectas

    Massachusetts was one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas at the start of 2025 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 seven 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 2025 legislative session.

    Massachusetts State Senate

    Party As of January 2025
         Democratic Party 35
         Republican Party 5
    Total 40

    Massachusetts House of Representatives

    Party As of January 2025
         Democratic Party 134
         Republican Party 25
         Independent 1
    Total 160

    Regular session

    The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2025 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 has met these criteria yet in 2025. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Legislation trackers

    See also: Legislation Trackers

    Ballotpedia’s legislation trackers are your go-to resource for staying on top of key legislative topics. We capture any bill introduced on the topic across all of the 50 state legislatures, and we track the movement of the bill every step of the way. We provide real-time updates and translate legislative legalese into easily understandable language. As of the 2025 session, Ballotpedia provided tracking on the following topics. Click on the links below to view related bills from the 2025 session:

    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 2025 legislative session, there were 57 standing committees in Massachusetts' state government, including 33 joint legislative committees, 13 state Senate committees, and 11 state House committees.

    Joint legislative committees

    Senate committees

    House committees

    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

    Democrats won control of the Massachusetts State Senate in 1958. In 2024, they won a 35-5 majority.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Massachusetts Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. 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: 1992-2024

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22 '24
    Democrats 31 30 34 33 34 34 34 35 35 36 36 34 34 34 37 37 35
    Republicans 9 10 6 7 6 6 6 5 5 4 4 6 6 6 3 3 5

    Historical House control

    Democrats won control of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1954. In 2024, they won a 134-25-1 majority.

    The table below shows the partisan history of the Massachusetts House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. 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: 1992-2024

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22 '24
    Democrats 124 125 124 131 137 136 139 141 143 128 131 125 125 127 129 134 134
    Republicans 35 34 35 28 23 23 20 19 16 32 29 35 35 32 30 25 25
    Other 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1

    Analysis

    Adopted legislation, 2017-2024

    See also: The State Legislative Decade - Massachusetts

    In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.

    See also

    Elections Massachusetts State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    External links

    Footnotes

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