5-31-2026 4:36am

Beacon Hill Roll Call

Alan Earls Editor

If you have any questions about this week's report, e-mail us at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com or call us at (617) 720-1562.

Volume 51 - Report No. 22

May 25-29, 2026

By Bob Katzen

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THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon Hill Roll Call records local senators' votes on the only roll call from the week of May 25-29. There were no roll calls in the House last week.

THE BATTLE OVER WHETHER STATE AUDITOR DIANA DIZOLGIO CAN AUDIT THE LEGISLATURE (S 3104)

The latest chapter was written last week about the ongoing saga on whether State Auditor Diana DiZoglio has the right to audit the House and the Senate. In the November 2024 election, voters approved Ballot Question 1 asking them if they favor allowing the state auditor to audit the Legislature. The question passed overwhelmingly by 72 percent of the vote. It has now been almost 19 months since the voters approved the audit but an audit has yet to take place.

Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) and House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy) have continued to delay the audit – arguing that an audit would violate the separation of powers in the state’s constitution.

Last week, the Senate 33-6, approved resolutions, sponsored by Sens. Cindy Friedman (D-Arlington) and Paul Feeney (D-Foxborough), requiring that the Senate provide some financial information that DiZoglio has long requested. The resolutions laid out the history of its dispute with the auditor and made it clear that senators are limiting the records they will provide to those records discussed in recent litigation.

"Resolved, that the Senate, in providing said records, does so voluntarily but does not concede that it may be audited pursuant to Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the General Laws without violating the Constitution of the commonwealth," the resolutions say. "And be it further resolved, that the Senate reserves all its rights to object to any such audit, present or future, and on any grounds, including, but not limited to, that Chapter 250 of the Acts of 2024 violates the Senate's constitutional rulemaking authority, separation of powers, legislative immunity and privilege and the legal presumption that statutes operate prospectively and cannot be applied retroactively in the absence of clear legislative intent.”

All five Senate Republicans, Sens. Kelly Dooner (R-Taunton), Peter Durant (R-Spencer), Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton), Patrick O'Connor (R-Weymouth) and Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) voted against the resolutions while all the Democrats, except for Sen. Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford), voted in favor of them.

Dooner said she doesn’t appreciate the implication by supporters of the resolutions that a “No” vote is voting against sharing these documents. She said the Senate doesn’t need a resolution to send the documents. She noted that the resolutions were proposed just a few minutes ago and senators have not had enough time to properly go through them. She said that she supports sharing all of these documents and any other documents that are requested.

Senate Democrats said last week’s action stems from clarity gained at the Supreme Judicial Court earlier this month, as Attorney General Andrea Campbell intervened in a lawsuit DiZoglio filed against top lawmakers.

The four document requests that Campbell has cleared DiZoglio to pursue cover the official budgets for each chamber of the Legislature for fiscal years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024; copies of official audits of each chamber for the same fiscal years; a listing of all transactions related to each chamber’s balance forward line item for those fiscal years; and a list of all monetary settlement agreements entered into by each chamber with any current or former employees or elected members during the same timeframe.

“Recent guidance from the Supreme Judicial Court has provided much-needed clarity on the materials the auditor has requested,” said Friedman. “We are therefore moving forward in good faith while remaining mindful of the constitutional safeguards that protect the separation of powers. The Senate has consistently supported transparency and accountability with respect to taxpayer dollars. That's why our finances are publicly reported, and our spending information is available online.”

Friedman continued, “We believe this approach strikes the right balance of responding to the call for enhanced public transparency while upholding the oath we each take to the Massachusetts Constitution—and will allow us to continue our focus on delivering meaningful policy change for the residents of the commonwealth."

"This resolution is not an act of transparency—it is a political retreat disguised as accountability, complete with a built-in escape hatch the Senate can pull at any time,” said Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) who voted against the resolutions. “For two whole years, the clear will of the people (72 percent of voters) has been ignored, and only now, with the courts poised to compel an audit, does leadership suddenly attempt to appear aligned with the public. Buried within this resolution is language explicitly reserving the Senate's right to object to any audit at any time and on any grounds, undermining the very accountability they claim to support. That is not reform. It is the same political game of last resort cooperation and calculated distraction, timed conveniently days ahead of the Democratic State Convention."

“Today, the Senate took action in the name of transparency and an accountable state government,” said Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton). “Thanks to clarity from the Supreme Judicial Court, our financial documents will soon be on their way to the Office of the State Auditor.”

“The Senate spent a year and a half ignoring the law,” said Aaron Singer, the producer and director of the documentary “Shadows on the Hill.” “They lost in court and are now presenting bare-minimum compliance as reform. Instead of complying with the audit voters approved, their resolution turns over only the four categories of records already in court, while preserving their ability to keep fighting full compliance.”

DiZoglio criticized the Senate action. “It’s really sad that Senate leadership is so detached from reality that they think anyone believes they’ve suddenly agreed to give me these specific records for any reason other than that the court is about to lay down the law, again, and order them to obey the people’s wishes,” she said. “But this is not a public records request, it’s an audit. So, for an audit to actually be conducted, the Legislature needs to comply and cooperate with our audit team. The Senate President has just asked her membership to vote that they do not acknowledge and will not cooperate with the 72 percent voter-mandated law — that’s not leadership, it’s obstruction.”

(A “Yes” vote is for the resolutions. A “No” vote is against the resolutions.)

Sen. Rebecca Rausch Didn't Vote Sen. Karen Spilka President rarely votes

ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL

MOST INCUMBENT LEGISLATORS HAVE NO OPPONENT – Last week was the deadline for candidates for state representative and state senator to file their nomination papers with Secretary of State Bill Galvin’s office. Each candidate for the House needed 150 verified signatures to qualify while each Senate candidate needed 300.

There are 200 seats (160 House seats and 40 Senate seats) up for grabs in the upcoming 2026 state election but only 83 of those (41.5 percent) will be contested, according to Secretary of State’s Bill Galvin’s office. In the remaining 117 districts, only the incumbent is on the ballot in 115 districts while there are two House districts where the incumbent is not running, but only one non-incumbent candidate is running for the seat.

That means that there are 25 incumbent senators (62.5 percent of the 40 total seats) and 90 incumbent representatives (56.2 percent of the 160 total seats) who will not face any challenger in the September 1 primary election or the November 3 general election. Those numbers could change if anyone decides to run a write-in campaign but only a handful, if any candidates, ever wage a write-in campaign so the numbers are pretty firm.

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO HAMMER OUT A COMPROMISE VERSION OF THE FISCAL 2027 STATE BUDGET – Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) and House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy) have named the members of the six-member House-Senate conference committee charged with hammering out a compromise version of the separate fiscal 2027 state budget versions approved by each branch. The price tag of the House version is $63.41 billion while the Senate version logs in at $63.37 billion. There are some major differences between the two chambers which will have to be ironed out by the committee.

Mariano appointed House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Aaron Michlewitz (D-Boston) and Reps. Kip Diggs (D-Barnstable) and Todd Smola (R-Warren).

Spilka appointed Senate Ways and Means Committee chair Sen. Mike Rodrigues (D-Westport) and Sens. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton) and Patrick O’Connor (R-Weymouth).

PROHIBIT RECORDING OR BROADCASTING WHILE DRIVING (H 3748) – A bill that would prohibit an operator of a motor vehicle from recording, broadcasting or otherwise capturing images or video of themselves while driving, is stuck in the Bills in Third Reading Committee. The measure was given initial approval by the House, on a voice vote, without a roll call, on February 26 and has been lingering in committee for more than three months.

“I sponsored the bill because I believe it will reduce the extent of distracted driving which unfortunately seems to be occurring more frequently, particularly with the continuous advent of new technology,” said sponsor Rep. Brian Murray (D-Milford).

$1 MILLION TO PROTECT RESIDENTS FROM HOUSING DISCRIMINATION – Gov. Maura Healey announced the awarding of $1 million from the first Fair Housing Trust Fund to seven organizations working to eliminate housing discrimination and expand access to fair housing protections across the Bay State.

Supporters said the awards will support enforcement, education, outreach, testing, legal advocacy, language access, fair housing planning and innovative projects to address emerging forms of housing discrimination. They noted that these grants are the first awards made through the state’s Fair Housing Trust Fund and come as the federal government has retreated from fair housing enforcement, making state leadership more important than ever.

“Massachusetts is hustling to build more homes in every region, but we need to also make sure that every resident has a fair chance to access it,” said Gov. Healey. “At a time when the Trump Administration is stepping back from fair housing enforcement, Massachusetts is stepping up to protect residents from discrimination and expand access to housing. These first Fair Housing Trust Fund awards will help organizations across our state continue the important work of making housing more fair, accessible and equitable for everyone.”

“Housing affordability and fair housing must go hand in hand,” said Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Juana Matias. “As we work to increase housing supply across Massachusetts, we must also ensure that residents know their rights, housing providers understand their responsibilities and discrimination is identified and addressed. These awards are directly informed by what we heard from residents, advocates, service providers and local leaders during our Fair Housing Regional Listening Sessions. They will strengthen fair housing infrastructure, improve language access and help communities address both longstanding and emerging barriers to housing.”

BAY STATE UBER AND LYFT DRIVERS FORM A UNION - Rideshare drivers in the Bay State, including Uber and Lyft, have become the first statewide rideshare union in the nation to win official recognition.

Supporters say the union, known as App Drivers Union (ADU), will create a path to negotiate better pay and job protections on behalf of nearly 70,000 rideshare drivers across the state. They note that this new union is the largest private workforce to win union recognition since the United Auto Workers did so at Ford in 1941.

"I never dreamed that this day would happen,” said Victoria Acosta, a member leader of the ADU. “I once thought it was impossible that we would have a seat at the table with these two big corporations in front of us. But nothing is impossible when you are united. For me, it is a dream come true, seeing the hard work of all my colleagues collecting cards, talking to the drivers and making sure we can achieve what we dream. It was worth it because now we have our union."

"This is one of the biggest organizing victories for labor unions in the last century,” said Autumn Weintraub, executive director of the ADU. “Big Tech spent years taking from drivers and writing the rules. Today, 70,000 Massachusetts rideshare drivers won because they wrote our own rules and won the union. Now, for the first time, the app companies have to listen to the workers who make them their money. This is not just a victory for rideshare drivers, but a warning shot to every Big Tech billionaire: Working people are united and are willing to fight for more.”

QUOTABLE QUOTES

“This report confirms what we have been warning about for years, and now multiple reports conclude: Massachusetts is pursuing an energy policy that is both expensive and unreliable. The state is forcing a rapid transition to intermittent power sources without a realistic plan to keep the lights on or control costs. Even under these aggressive mandates, fossil fuels are still required to keep the lights on, and families are left paying more for a system that is less dependable.”

---Paul Craney, Executive Director of the Fiscal Alliance Foundation on a new report from Eco Nuclear Solutions that he says reinforces serious concerns about Massachusetts’ energy policies -- finding that the state’s current decarbonization strategy will dramatically increase electricity costs while failing to ensure reliable power.

“In an era of dangerous federal overreach, Somerville is using every lever it has to help protect all its residents. These are some of the most consequential actions we’ve seen at the local level in Massachusetts to safeguard civil liberties for everyone. We applaud the city’s actions … and we encourage other municipalities to follow suit."

---Gideon Epstein, policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, on the Somerville City Council updating important new provisions to protect residents’ free speech rights and further restrict local collaboration with federal immigration enforcement.

“The state’s managed care plans need to act in good faith on behalf of their members and the financial resources of our state’s Medicaid program. Our investigation found that United Healthcare knowingly violated these obligations by manipulating health assessments to increase its profits. This lawsuit sends a clear message that no company is above the law, and my office will hold companies accountable for exploiting vulnerable residents and misusing taxpayer dollars.”

---Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell on her office filing a lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, alleging the company falsely manipulated the health status of MassHealth members enrolled in its Senior Care Options plan to secure higher payments from the state. The complaint estimates that the scheme defrauded MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program, of at least $100 million.

“USS Constitution Mini Golf is a creative and welcoming way to bring Massachusetts history to life during this celebratory year. Experiences like this help visitors and residents connect with Boston Harbor and the stories that shaped America, while highlighting the history, culture and sense of discovery that make destinations across Massachusetts so special and engaging for all ages.”

---Kate Fox, Executive Director at the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, on the USS Constitution Museum‘s launching of the USS Constitution Mini Golf, a new free 9-hole course on the Charlestown Navy Yard designed to give residents and visitors a fun, accessible way to engage Boston’s role in the story of American independence.

HOW LONG WAS LAST WEEK’S SESSION?

Beacon Hill Roll Call tracks the length of time that the House and Senate were in session each week. Many legislators say that legislative sessions are only one aspect of the Legislature’s job and that a lot of important work is done outside of the House and Senate chambers. They note that their jobs also involve committee work, research, constituent work and other matters that are important to their districts.

Critics say that the Legislature does not meet regularly or long enough to debate and vote in public view on the thousands of pieces of legislation that have been filed. They note that the infrequency and brief length of sessions are misguided and lead to irresponsible late-night sessions and a mad rush to act on dozens of bills in the days immediately preceding the end of an annual session.

During the week of May 25-29, the House met for a total of 24 minutes and the Senate met for a total of four hours and 20 minutes.

Mon. May 25 No House session.

No Senate session.

Tues. May 26 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:13 a.m.

Senate 11:17 a.m. to 11:22 a.m.

Wed. May 27 No House session.

No Senate session.

Thurs. May 28 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:11 a.m.

Senate 11:08 a.m. to 3:23 p.m.

Fri. May 29 No House session.

No Senate session.

Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com