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With the leadership and committee assignments House Democrats ratified Wednesday afternoon, House Speaker Ronald Mariano said he tried to "shuffle the deck a little bit" to get more representatives more experience and to restock the pipeline of women on track for higher posts.
On the other side of the building, Senate President Karen Spilka kept her main leadership team unchanged for the third consecutive session, tapping all of the same Democrats to fill the slots just beneath her on the Senate's hierarchy while also lightly reshuffling committee leadership posts. And with committee leadership determined, the House and Senate can begin to process the thousands of bills that have been filed so far.
"We lost a lot through attrition this year, a lot of high-end, experienced people who've done a lot to move legislation through this place," Mariano told reporters after his caucus, referring to the experienced lawmakers who did not return this session. "And if you look at [the assignments] closely, you'll see an attempt to shuffle the deck a little bit in the lesser-used committees and to some of the vice chairmanships to increase the experience level of a lot of members that haven't been able to rise up through the ranks lately."
The bulk of the House leadership structure remains, with Rep. Michael Moran of Brighton as majority leader, Rep. Kate Hogan of Stow as speaker pro tempore, Rep. Alice Peisch of Wellesley as assistant majority leader, Rep. Frank Moran of Lawrence as second assistant majority leader, Rep. Danielle Gregoire of Marlborough as First Division chair, and Rep. James O'Day of West Boylston as Fourth Division chair.
Two Close Mariano Colleagues Boosted, Roy Off Energy Committee
Mariano added two colleagues to the tier of leadership positions above chairmanships: Rep. Paul Donato of Medford, who held leadership titles under multiple speakers, moves up into the second assistant majority leader post vacated when Rep. Sarah Peake left to work for the Healey administration; and Rep. Jeff Roy of Franklin took Donato's former position as Second Division chair and Rep. Carlos Gonzalez of Springfield moved from the Public Safety Committee chair to fill the Third Division chair job last held by retired Rep. Ruth Balser.
Mariano explained to reporters why he moved Roy, who was the focus of a series of Boston Globe articles highlighting his romantic relationship with an energy industry lobbyist, from the chair of the Utilities and Energy Committee to a leadership position that carries the same stipend.
"My thinking was he's a valid participant. He's given me three bills in two years that are outstanding, and I need that. Someone has to read the stuff and do the work. And he's excellent at it," the speaker said. He added, "I want to use that as best I can. I don't need him being a poster boy for every story that the Globe wants to write. So this allows him to sort of spread his fields of knowledge into a lot of different subject areas, and some of the negative things that he's been attributed with goes away."
But asked if Roy's relationship with the energy lobbyist contributed to his decision, Mariano said it did not.
"The most important part of the decision was the fact I can use him in a much more efficient and broader manner now," he said.
Taking Roy's place atop the committee that oversees energy and utility matters will be Rep. Mark Cusack of Braintree, the House's revenue point person in recent sessions.
With its joint rules package, the House is seeking some operational changes meant to "put pressure on our chairmen," Mariano said last week as he expressed an interest in giving his appointed committee leaders greater latitude "rather than taking it all out of the speaker's office." On Wednesday, he explained what he expects from the representatives chosen as chairs Wednesday.
"Well, to go through with their staff and evaluate the bills and start to give us -- by us, I mean the folks who are in my leadership team -- a set of priorities that they see coming out of their committees that we should pay attention to and evaluate," the speaker said. "And it would be a first step of evaluation to move bills through. We weren't getting that in every committee. Different committees did it differently. So we're trying to bring some unification to that so we know what's on the horizon, what we can deal with, what we should deal with."
Mariano had the chance this session to hand-pick specific representatives to lead committees that are poised to handle some of the term's most significant bills. Former Rep. William Straus of Mattapoisett led the Transportation Committee for seven sessions, but Mariano this term selected Rep. James Arciero of Westford, who chaired the Housing Committee each of the last two sessions, to lead the committee as it reviews the governor's proposed $8 billion transportation infrastructure plan.
The committee most directly responsible for federal affairs issues, the Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, was also without an incumbent chairman. As Mariano contemplates how to proceed having "lost our federal partner" with Donald Trump back in the White House, it will be Rep. Joseph McGonagle of Everett, the chair of the House operations committee for the last two sessions, leading that committee. Former Rep. Gerald Cassidy of Brockton chaired it last session. And Rep. Kathleen LaNatra of Kingston will take over from Rep. Jack Patrick Lewis of Framingham as chair of the House Committee on Federal Funding, Policy and Accountability.
The Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee is always a hotbed of action, with lawmakers most sessions working towards a massive jobs bill. The emerging technologies side of that committee could encompass issues related to industries like artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, blockchain technology and others that state leaders are eyeing as economic drivers. Former Rep. Jerald Parisella of Beverly was the economic development chairman last session. This term, it will be Rep. Carole Fiola of Fall River, a seven-term Democrat who previously served on the Governor's Council.
Public education advocates and some lawmakers have been increasingly vocal about their desire to once again rethink the state's school funding formulas, and that means the new chair of the Education Committee could be pressed into duty to focus on a thorny issue that has tripped up the Legislature in past years. That panel was led last session by former Rep. Denise Garlick of Needham. This time around, under the leadership of past Public Service Committee chairman Rep. Ken Gordon of Bedford, the Education Committee could be in the middle of efforts by the governor and Legislature to settle on a new statewide standard for high school graduation to replace the MCAS exam.
Mariano tapped a number of first-time chairs for joint committees Wednesday: McGonagle at Veterans and Federal Affairs, Rep. Natalie Blais of Deerfield will lead the Agriculture Committee, Rep. Andy Vargas of Haverhill will chair the Community Development Committee, Rep. Steven Ultrino of Malden will be in charge of the Emergency Preparedness Committee, Rep. Dan Hunt of Dorchester will chair the Elections Laws Committee, Rep. Christine Barber of Somerville is newly in charge of the Environment Committee, Rep. Richard Haggerty of Woburn is the new Housing Committee chair, Lewis will take over as chair of the Municipalities and Regional Government Committee, and Rep. Sean Garballey of Arlington will chair the Tourism Committee after a few terms chairing the House Global Warming Committee.
And for House-specific committees, Mariano tapped first-time chairs Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian of Melrose for the House Ethics Committee, Rep. Tram Nguyen of Andover for the House Global Warming Committee, Rep. Brian Murray of Milford for the House Committee on Human Resources, and LaNatra for the federal funding panel.
Mariano told reporters he was mindful of the fact that the House has recently seen several women in leadership or committee posts depart, and that he tried to address that issue with this term's assignments.
"We've lost a lot of women in the upper levels of the leadership team. They've retired, they've moved on. Now we have to begin to give some experience to some of the folks who haven't had an opportunity, and they happen to be women," he said. "And if you go down and you check the the vice chairmen and the new chairmen of some of these smaller committees, you're going to find that where we're stocking the farm team."
The assignments Mariano made at the start of the last term put five women in chairmanships and the assignments cemented Wednesday include nine female chairs. The number of female vice chairs has also increased this session, from 15 last term to 19 as of Wednesday.
Senate Democrats also ratified their committee and leadership assignments in a caucus Wednesday.
Sen. Cindy Creem of Newton will again be majority leader; Belmont's Sen. William Brownsberger will reprise his role as president pro tempore; Sens. Joan Lovely of Salem, Michael Barrett of Lexington and Sal DiDomenico of Everett will return as assistant majority leaders; West Roxbury's Sen. Michael Rush will be the majority whip; and Sen. Julian Cyr of Truro will again be assistant majority whip.
Spilka similarly did not upset the leadership of most of the standalone Senate committees, leaving Westport's Sen. Michael Rodrigues in charge of the Ways and Means Committee, Lovely in charge of the Rules Committee, DiDomenico in charge of the Committee on Bills in the Third Reading, and Sen. Jason Lewis of Winchester in charge of the Ethics Committee. Sen. Mark Montigny, the New Bedford Democrat who is the Senate dean, will take over the Senate Post Audit Committee from former Sen. Marc Pacheco, the last dean.
"This session’s committee assignments reflect the expertise and lived experiences of our Senate members, and I have great faith that our chamber will continue to be proactive and responsive when it comes to working on behalf of the people of the Commonwealth," Spilka said in a statement. "The Senate’s committee assignments build off our forward-looking rules proposal and recognizes the leadership of every Senator, puts several members in new positions for success, and provides new opportunity for the Senate committee on steering and policy to be an additional channel to address matters of particular importance to the Senate."
Among the changes Spilka did make to the roster of joint committee chairs, Sen. Lydia Edwards will give up her role leading the Housing Committee to this session take over as chair of the Judiciary Committee. Edwards recently went to the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General Corps' training school.
Edwards' move to chair Judiciary means that Sen. Jamie Eldridge of Marlborough has a new job. He will chair the Revenue Committee this session, a role that was held last session by Sen. Su Moran, who left for a county clerk job. And with Edwards vacating the Housing chair, Cyr will slide in to assume that role for this session.
"I have been quite vocal around looking at progressive taxation, is recognizing that we really need to take a hard look, given the -- not just the concerns about cuts at the federal level, but also the recognition that certainly I hear from my cities and towns that they're not getting enough education aid, if we're really serious about climate action, on housing, etc., I think we need more dedicated revenue sources," Eldridge told the News Service. "I'm excited to chair the committee and look at those options."
The base pay of legislators rose earlier this year -- up to an annual salary of $82,046, from $73,655 -- and the stipends have gone up, too. The state Treasury is required by law to calculate raises for leadership every two years based on U.S. Commerce Department aggregate wage data.
Here are the new stipends for 2025-2026, according to data from Treasurer Deborah Goldberg's office, including a $10,000 raise for House Speaker Ron Mariano and Spilka:
- $119,631.81: House speaker and Senate president (Up from $109,163.07 last session)
- $97,200.84: Chairs of the House and Senate Ways & Means Committees (Up from $88,694.99)
- $89,723.85: Majority leaders and minority leaders (Up from $81,872.30)
- $74,769.88: Senate president pro tempore and House speaker pro tempore (Up from $68,226.92)
- $52,338.92: Assistant, second assistant, and third assistant leaders from the House and Senate Democratic and Republican caucuses (Up from $47,758.84)
- $44,861.93: The four House division chairs; chairs of the committees on Rules, Bonding, Post Audit, Third Reading, Steering, State Administration, Health Care Financing, Financial Services, Revenue, Economic Development, Judiciary, Education, Telecommunications, and Transportation; vice chairs of the Ways and Means Committee; and ranking Republican members of Ways and Means (Up from $40,936.15)
- $22,430.96: All other committee chairs; the House vice chairs of Rules, Post Audit, Financial Services, Health Care Financing, Bonding, State Administration, Economic Development, Revenue, Third Reading, Steering, Education, Telecommunications, Judiciary, and Transportation; assistant vice chairs of both Ways and Means committees; ranking House Republican members of Rules, Financial Services, Bonding, Judiciary, Economic Development, and Health Care Financing; ranking Senate Republican on Health Care Financing; and the assistant ranking Republican on House Ways and Means (Up from $20,468.08)
- $7,776.07: Vice chairs of all other committees (Up from $7,095.60)
[Chris Lisinski and Sam Doran contributed reporting.]
