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Senate approves multiple House bills in brief session, including local licensing, sick leave banks and residency changes
Summary
In a short Massachusetts Senate session, members dispensed with several third readings and voice votes, passing measures on a Somerset wine-and-malt license, subdivision road acceptance in Marlborough, sick leave banks for two state employees, and municipal residency rules; all passed bills were ordered sent to the governor for approbation.
The presiding officer (Speaker 1) led the Massachusetts Senate through a compact set of procedural items and voice votes that resulted in the passage of several House bills on third reading.
Among the measures taken up, the Senate passed House No. 4286, described in the record as pertaining to the town of Somerset and authorizing an additional license for the sale of wine and malt beverages not to be consumed on the premises. After a voice vote, Speaker 1 announced, “The ayes have it. The bill is passed to be grossed.”
The chamber also carried House No. 4439, read as an act providing a simplified procedure for the layout and acceptance of subdivision roads in the city of Marlborough; Speaker 1 put the question and, following a voice vote, stated the bill had been passed to be engrossed.
House No. 4587 — presented as establishing a sick leave bank for David A. Russell, an employee of the Department of Correction — was taken up on third reading. The transcript records that the bill’s title had been changed by the committee on bills in third reading; the chamber voted by voice and Speaker 1 announced the ayes carried and the bill was passed to be grossed.
During a brief recess the Senate adopted an emergency preamble for an act establishing a sick leave bank for Jean McCarron, an employee of the Registry of Motor Vehicles. The record reads the House number for that item first as “40 624” (amended) and later as “462490”; the transcript contains both renderings. In both instances the Senate approved the measure by voice vote, and Speaker 1 announced the emergency preamble and later the bill’s passage and that it would be laid before the governor for approbation.
The chamber also took final passage (enactment) votes on three additional measures the presiding officer identified: House No. 2335 (expanding or extending residency requirements for certain municipal police and fire departments, here cited for Newton), House No. 4154 (authorizing certain investments for the town of the Richmond Free Public Library), and an act read in the record as authorizing a town (read as “Active”) to increase residency limits for its police and fire department. Speaker 1 announced after voice votes that “The bills are passed to be enacted” and that they would be signed by the president and laid before the governor for approval.
All roll-call tallies were recorded as voice votes in the transcript; specific yea/nay counts or individual roll-call votes were not provided in the record. The session concluded with adoption of an order to reconvene on Monday at 11:00 a.m., and Speaker 1 announced the Senate stood adjourned.
