Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Farewells And Personnel topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mass. House members deliver farewell remarks as multiple representatives retire
Summary
Several Massachusetts House members gave farewell speeches Dec. 16, thanking colleagues and staff and highlighting accomplishments ranging from mental-health parity to regional infrastructure; members also paid tribute to long-serving Clerk Stephen T. James.
Dozens of members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives offered farewell remarks on Dec. 16 as colleagues prepare to leave the chamber.
Representative Barrows of Mansfield opened the sequence of remembrances, thanking mentors, staff and municipal partners and citing local projects he said he helped advance, including MBTA station work in Foxborough, redevelopment of the Foxborough State Hospital site, a regional 911 dispatch center and the start of construction on about 200 units of affordable housing with a 70% local preference. Barrows said the work was a team effort and closed by noting bipartisan cooperation in the chamber.
Former Representative Sarah Peake of Provincetown recalled her maiden speech and pointed to the Airbnb room-excise surcharge as a policy that has supported wastewater infrastructure on Cape Cod, saying that the surcharge has resulted in “over $40,000,000 worth of projects” going out the door. Peake thanked court officers, staff and colleagues for years of service.
Representative Pignatelli of Lennox reflected on 22 years in the House, thanked court officers and clerks and highlighted bipartisan work for the Berkshires. Representative Haddad of Somerset, after recounting two decades in office, cited work on childcare and the creation of the offshore wind industry in Massachusetts as career achievements.
Representative Wasser of Newton, who described herself as the first licensed clinical psychologist to serve in the Massachusetts Legislature, highlighted work on mental-health parity and an amendment expanding parity in 2008 to include addiction. She also noted passage of the Public Lands Preservation Act after repeated filings.
Representative Khan of Newton and Representative William Strauss of Mattapoisett each offered personal reflections on long tenures, staff and family support and the collegial relationships they said are central to the House’s work.
Members also paid tribute to Stephen T. James, clerk of the House. Speaker and members recognized James’s institutional knowledge and decades of service. The Clerk’s office submitted a written communication dated Dec. 16, 2024, in which Stephen T. James said that, due to impending retirement from Commonwealth service, he respectfully submits his resignation as Clerk of the House effective at the close of business on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024.
After a brief recess the House took several procedural actions: the chamber approved a motion to “spread” the speaker’s remarks on the record, then considered two engrossed bills. The House passed House 4980, described on the floor as “an act establishing a sick leave bank for Kimberly Martinelli, an employee of the Department of Correction,” and Senate 2986, described as “an act establishing a sick leave bank for Kate Soat Sorm, an employee of the Department of Transitional Assistance.” Both measures were approved by voice vote. The House adopted an order to adjourn to meet Thursday next at 11 a.m. and then adjourned.
The House’s comments and the clerk’s resignation set a personnel transition; the two sick-leave bank bills were passed to be enacted by the chamber on voice votes.
