House Enacts MassDOT Stoneham Land Transfer, Natick Charter Amendment

BOSTON — March 2, 2026 — The Massachusetts House enacted two local bills and advanced a dozen more in a brief informal session Monday. Representative Paul J. Donato of Medford presided over most of the procedural business, moving suspension of rules for each item. House Bill 4643, authorizing the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to convey a parcel of land in Stoneham, cleared a required constitutional division vote with three members in the affirmative and zero in the negative before passing to enactment; House Bill 3898, amending the Natick town charter, also passed to be enacted by voice vote. The House adopted two committee deadline extensions — pushing the Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery Committee and the Revenue Committee to report by March 18 — and ordered 12 bills to third reading, including multiple civil service age-waiver measures for named firefighter and police candidates in Haverhill, Arlington, Boston, and Malden. Representative Thomas P. Walsh of Peabody amended House Bill 4962, establishing a sick leave bank for Department of Correction employee Sally DeRosiers, adding an emergency preamble before the bill passed to engrossment. Speaker Ronald Mariano adjourned the House to an informal session Thursday at 11 a.m.