Massachusetts House Opens 2026 With Routine Votes, Advances Six Local Bills

BOSTON — January 8, 2026 — The Massachusetts House opened its 2026 session January 8 with a brief, unanimous procedural meeting, advancing six local bills and concurring with two Senate amendments. The House ordered to third reading bills directing the Boston Police Department to waive maximum age requirements for officers Kenny Gatteau, Gene E. Roseni, Adam Watt, and Pierre Charles Darius, as well as a measure authorizing Rochester to retain Fire Chief Scott Weigel and a bill on professional employer organizations. The chamber concurred with Senate amendments on House 4031, raising the retirement-age ceiling for special police officers in Weston, and House 4401, dissolving a special fund in Athol. Senate Bill 2799, establishing a sick leave bank for a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education employee, passed to be enacted after a division vote of five in favor and zero opposed on its emergency preamble. Members observed a moment of silence for retired Associate Justice Michael F. Flaherty Sr. of the Boston Municipal Court, who died December 22, 2025, after 24 years in the House and five years on the bench.