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Legislative Rules Update

Exciting news! The Massachusetts Legislature has agreed to a new set of Joint Rules for the first time since 2019. LWVMA has advocated for many of these changes for several sessions. Read our latest letter HERE. We’re especially excited to see the public hearing notice expanded to ten days and joint committee votes being posted to the website. 

Review the important changes here:

  • Public Hearing Notice: Notice for joint committee hearings is now 10 days. 
  • Joint Committee Votes: All joint committee votes posted to malegislature.gov.
  • Publicly Available Testimony: Written testimony publicly available within personal safety limits.
  • Reporting Deadline: Joint Rule 10 Day, when all bills must be reported, is now December 3, 2025–the first Wednesday in December of the first year of session.
    • House Chairs will follow House Rule 27: bills reported no later than 60 days after hearing, with one 30 day extension allowed.
  • Bill Summaries: Summary of each bill posted to malegislature.gov prior to its hearing.
  • Conference Committees
    • First conference committee meeting will be open to the public.
    • 24 hours notice required between a conference committee report filing and vote.
  • Formal Sessions after July 31 allowed after July 31 in the second year for 
    • Reports of conference committees formed on or before July 31; 
    • Appropriation bills filed after July 31; 
    • Gubernatorial vetoes or amendments. 
  • Joint Committee Reform: Senate and House committee members will vote only on bills filed in their branch after joint hearings.
  • Committee Participation: Attendance of joint committee members will be taken at hearings and posted on the General Court website.
  • Joint Rules Review: At the end of the two-year session, the Joint Committee on Rules will conduct a comprehensive review of the joint rules including a public hearing.

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