Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Sen. Michael Rodrigues (left) and Rep. Aaron Michlewitz (right)
The House and Senate have named the chairs and members of legislative committees, with veteran and first-term legislators taking on important new roles.
The newly formed committees have hundreds of recently filed bills to start working on, including the fiscal 2020 state budget bill filed by the governor, a range of bills related to school finance reform, and a Chapter 90 local road construction bill with an April 1 deadline.
Both branches have new chairs for the influential budget-writing committees. The new chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means is Rep. Aaron Michlewitz of Boston, who was previously House chair of the Joint Committee on Financial Services. The new chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means is Sen. Michael Rodrigues of Westport, who has served as Senate chair of the Committee on Revenue.
The top leadership positions in both branches have been in place since January, when Rep. Robert DeLeo of Winthrop was re-elected for his sixth term as speaker of the House, and Sen. Karen Spilka of Ashland was re-elected as Senate president, beginning her first full two-year session as Senate leader.
The new Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Education, Sen. Jason Lewis of Winchester, will team up with Rep. Alice Peisch of Wellesley, who was re-appointed as the House chair of this key committee. With school finance reform expected to be a priority of the Legislature this session, this is an important committee for local government.
The Joint Committee on Municipalities and Local Government will once again be led by Rep. James O’Day of West Boylston on the House side, joined by Sen. Rebecca Rausch of Needham, the new Senate chair.
The Joint Committee on Revenue will have two new chairs – Rep. Mark Cusack of Braintree and Sen. Adam Hinds of Pittsfield.