House convenes briefly, adopts emergency preamble for sick-leave bill and passes a batch of local and policy bills

The House met in session, opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and proceeded through a sequence of committee reports, rule suspensions and voice votes that moved a broad slate of bills forward.

Speaker 1 opened the session and recorded motions throughout the day, frequently responding to committee reports read by Speaker 2. Early in the session Speaker 2 presented an order from the Senate concerning the judiciary with a deadline of Dec. 31, 2024 (Senate No. 2925). Multiple motions to suspend Rule 7(a) were made and adopted, including motions recorded as moved by "Mister McGonigal of Everett," "Mister Wong," and repeatedly by "Mister Frost of Auburn." Speaker 1 routinely called voice votes and announced results with the phrase, "The ayes have it."

The House considered and advanced many bills. Notably, House 5116 (an act establishing a sick leave bank for Daniel McKim, an employee of the Worcester County Sheriff's Office) required a separate constitutional vote on its emergency preamble. Division counts were returned and the emergency preamble was adopted (reported counts: 4 affirmative, 0 negative). Later in the session House 5116 was called again and Speaker 1 announced the bill "is…