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Senate petitions referred to House committees including charter school funding and heat-related utility shutoffs
Summary
The House received petitions from the Senate and, by suspending joint rule 12, referred them to relevant House committees for consideration, including a petition on charter school funding reform and one on utility shutoff protections during extreme heat.
The Massachusetts House received several petitions from the Senate and referred them to House committees after suspending joint rule 12.
A floor statement read that petitions from Senator Joan M. Comerford and others were received; the clerk read petitions seeking legislation to reform charter school funding (referred to the Committee on Education), to authorize the retirement of a Salem police officer (referred to the Committee on Public Service), and to provide utility shutoff protections during periods of extreme heat (referred to the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy). A petition concerning public education on seatbelt use in vehicles carrying many passengers was referred to the Committee on Transportation.
The House concurred with the petitions and then voted to suspend joint rule 12 to allow immediate referral; the presiding officer recorded the ayes. The transcript records the clerk’s reading and the House’s concurrence but does not include roll-call vote tallies for those referrals beyond the voice confirmations on the floor.
Why it matters: petitions sent from one chamber to another begin the legislative referral process in the receiving chamber. Referrals determine which House committee will review the measure and when it may be scheduled for hearings or reporting.
The petitions and their initial referrals as read on the floor are: charter school funding reform to the Committee on Education (petition of Joan M. Comerford), retirement authorization for Kathleen Rocheville of Salem to the Committee on Public Service (petition of Joan B. Lovely), utility shutoff protections during extreme heat to the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy (petition of Joan M. Comerford), and a seatbelt-public-education petition to the Committee on Transportation (petition of Joan M. Comerford). The House’s action to suspend joint rule 12 was adopted by voice vote with the presiding officer stating, “Joint rule 12 is suspended.”
