#2023-04, February 2, 2023

Senate Lifts Eight-Year Limit on President’s Term; Keeps Remote Voting Option

On Thursday, the Senate voted to lift a term limit on the Senate president and approved rules governing when lawmakers can cast votes remotely.

The Senate voted 32-6 to scrap an eight-year term limit on the position of Senate president, aligning their chamber with the House, whose speaker is no longer subject to a cap on years wielding the gavel.  The leadership limits had been viewed as good governance reforms when they were adopted.

All three Senate Republicans - Minority Leader Bruce Tarr of Gloucester, Senator Patrick O’Connor of Weymouth and Senator Ryan Fattman of Sutton - voted to keep the term limit in place, as did Democrat Senators John Keenan of Quincy, Becca Rausch of Needham and Walter Timilty of Milton.  Not a single senator rose to speak on the Senate floor in opposition to eliminating the term limit reform, which was first adopted nearly 30 years ago.

The vote to lift term limits comes before President Spilka (D- Ashland) announces committee assignments for the 2023-2024 term, decisions that will give substantial responsibility as well as lucrative stipends to certain lawmakers.  Both Rausch and Keenan said they do not expect to face consequences for breaking from the Democrat supermajority.

The amendment repealing the term limit came from Senator Michael Rodrigues (D- Westport), a top Spilka deputy whom she has repeatedly appointed to the key post of Senate Ways and Means Committee chair.  Rodrigues was the only senator to speak about the issue on the Senate floor.  He argued that the Senate president’s status as the lone legislative leader with a term limit puts the chamber at a disadvantage in negotiations with the House and executive branch.

While she has not said how long she intends to lead the Senate, the vote ensures that Spilka will not be automatically pushed out of the role on July 26, 2026 -- eight years after she took over following a period of upheaval -- nor spend the 2025-2026 lawmaking session, if she is still president, as an obvious lame duck.  Rodrigues said that July 26, 2026, deadline, which would fall five days before the July 31 end to major lawmaking for the two-year session, could imperil key priorities.

Every two years, both the House speaker and Senate president must win reelection from voters to continue representing their districts, then secure approval from their colleagues to stay in the top posts -- steps they often cruise through with little difficulty.  A returning speaker has not lost their initial January leadership election since Speaker Thomas McGee failed to again win the speakership in 1985 and returning Senate presidents have consistently won back the gavel every other January since the Senate last flipped to majority-Democrat around 64 years ago.

The Senate adopted the term limit in a 1993 package proposed by a committee that included Senators Mark Montigny and Marc Pacheco, who voted to remove the term limit Thursday.  The eight-year cap has applied to presidents since 1995, and for about six years the rule imposed similar limits on other leadership positions including majority leader and minority leader, until senators scaled it back in 2001 to apply only to the president.

Remote Voting Poised to Remain an Option

Also on Thursday, the Senate rules (S 17) for the 2023-2024 session were adopted with only Senator Fattman voting in opposition.  Notably, the approved rules give open-ended authorization to senators participating in sessions from outside the State House.

Remote participation began as a result of the pandemic, when only a skeleton crew of senators and staff could be physically present in the Senate Chamber due to public health concerns.  While senators seemed to agree Thursday on the practice’s usefulness in the future, some were concerned that it could become the norm.

Senators will be allowed to deliver remarks, cast votes on roll calls, and be counted on procedural questions while participating from a location away from the Senate Chamber, and their virtual presence will count toward a quorum.  Court officers will monitor electronic means of participation and ascertain and announce any votes from senators who are remote.

The rules also allow senators to authorize a presiding officer to announce their vote by submitting a letter to the clerk.

Conference Committee Likely Next Stop for Joint Rules

Senators also approved a package of joint rules (S 18) to govern House-Senate interactions and the joint committees that review, often rewrite, and decide the fate of the vast majority of bills.

The Senate’s joint rules would require all joint committees to publish a breakdown of how each lawmaker votes on the polls that advance legislation or send it to dead-end studies.  The House does not support that measure, which has earned substantial support from voters in non-binding ballot questions and rejected a similar amendment to their joint rules package on an unrecorded voice vote with no debate.

Both branches will likely appoint a conference committee to negotiate a final joint rules package.  Last year’s joint rules talks faded and ended with no consensus.  The new talks will also determine how much information about joint committee proceedings the public has a right to access in the ongoing two-year session.

House & Senate Both Adjourn Until Monday; 2023-2024 Committee Assignments Still Pending

On Thursday, on a day that featured a visit from school kids learning about the legislative process, the House & Senate shepherded a sick leave bank bill through nearly the entire process -- from an initial recommendation from the Rules Committee all the way through an enactment vote.  However, that bill (H 25), which will be the first piece of legislation that Governor Healey will have the chance to sign, was the only piece of legislation that the House handled with the rest of its informal session being dotted with recesses and introduction of various guests.

As noted above, Senators also took up a measure that was filed by budget chief Senator Rodrigues, to have their chamber’s top official be able to serve indefinitely and passed a joint hybrid hearing rule, keeping public hearings available via remote participation, while rejecting amendments that would have prohibited remote voting on most occasions.  The House & Senate have still not agreed to joint rules, assigned members to committees, or announced their leadership structure.  Both adjourned until Monday when informal sessions in each chamber are planned.  Updates on committee assignments and leadership appointments will be provided as soon as they become available.