House advances multiple bills to third reading and engrossment in expedited session

The House met in a short procedural session on Oct. 26, 2024, advancing a package of bills and taking routine procedural actions. Members repeatedly voted to suspend Rule 7A in order to move measures to third reading and to pass a number of engrossed bills to be enacted.

Committee reports from the steering committee and the committee on Ways and Means opened the day. The steering committee recommended scheduling Senate No. 2986 (read in the record as “an act establishing a sickly bank for Kate Soet Sorm, an employee of the Department of Transitional Assistance”) and House No. 5098 (an act defining a governing structure for the Lawrence School Board upon exit from state receivership). The House suspended rules, ordered House 5098 to a third reading, read the bill for third reading and passed it to be engrossed. A subsequent motion to reconsider that passage failed.

The Ways and Means committee reported an amendment by substitution to House 2630 (relative to benefits for teachers), replacing it with House 5136. The House adopted the committee amendment, suspended Rule 7A and ordered the amended bill to a third reading. Similar procedures advanced several other committee‑recommended bills: House 4892 (amended and reported as House 5137, to release a sewer line easement in the West Roxbury section of Boston), House 4927 (amended/substituted as House 5138, relative to retirement benefits), and a commercial driver’s license bill reported as House 5139 (substituting House 5109). Each of those measures was ordered to a third reading after adoption of the committee amendments.

In a separate set of final‑passage actions the clerk presented multiple engrossed bills found “rightly and truly prepared for final passage.” The chamber passed House 4822 (increasing the age limit for appointment of special police officers in Springfield), House 4850 (authorizing Plymouth to grant two additional off‑premises alcohol licenses), and House 4881 (amending the term of the town moderator in Wrentham) to be enacted by voice vote. The House also recorded a separate constitutional division vote on the emergency preamble for House 5111 (an act relative to motor vehicle insurance); the division returns reported 3 in favor and 0 opposed on the emergency preamble.

Later in the session the chair reported that Senate 2986 had been released by the committee on bills in the third reading; after suspension of the rules that measure was read for third reading and passed to be engrossed. House 5136, 5137, 5138, 5139 and House 5131 (read in the record as establishing a sick leave bank for Jean Renone, an employee of the Department of Children and Families) were likewise presented and passed to be engrossed after suspension of rules.

Procedural actions were frequent: multiple suspensions of Rule 7A, unanimous or near‑unanimous voice votes recorded as “the ayes have it,” and committee amendments adopted on the floor. Where the record showed counts (the constitutional division on the emergency preamble) those totals are reported; most other votes were recorded as voice votes without individual tallies in the transcript.

The House also observed a ceremonial moment of silence for John N. Bridal, whose public service and obituary were read into the record, and the chamber adopted an order setting the next meeting for Monday at 11 a.m. The House then adjourned.

Actions recorded in the public transcript included multiple motions to suspend the rules (moved most frequently by Mister Wong of Saugus and by Mister Owens of Watertown), committee amendments adopted on the floor, orders to third reading, and passage to be engrossed for the bills listed above. Where the public record in the transcript gave a vote tally (the emergency preamble) that tally is reported; most other votes were resolved by voice vote and recorded in the transcript as “the ayes have it.”