Massachusetts Senate Advances Consumer, Housing Bills and Six Local Measures

BOSTON — February 5, 2026 — Massachusetts Senate advances housing, consumer, and local governance bills in brief session. The chamber met February 5 under President Karen E. Spilka and unanimously engrossed six local and special bills, including measures governing the City of Cambridge Employment and Job Training Trust, two Bridgewater Town Manager acts, and an amendment to the Natick Home Rule Charter incorporating text from Senate document 2953, credited to Senator Sal N. DiDomenico. Senate Majority Whip Michael J. Rodrigues of Bristol and Plymouth secured orders placing three Ways and Means bills on the February 12 floor calendar: Senate 228 on automobile consumer protections, Senate 209 on CPA licensing modernization, and Senate 2671 — reframed as "An Act Regarding Fair Housing Practices in the Commonwealth" (Senate 2947). The Senate also concurred in a House amendment to Senate 2563 on disability law, with a further amendment by Senator Patricia D. Jehlen substituting Senate document 2954 and adding an emergency preamble. The session adjourned in memory of Jim Parker, a Weymouth CPA and former School Committee member who died January 26, and Kimberly Parker, a South Boston public housing advocate and West Broadway Task Force member.