2019–2020 Massachusetts legislature

191st
Massachusetts General Court
191st; Massachusetts General Court
	Massachusetts State House in 2017
Overview
Legislative body	Massachusetts General Court
Term	January 2, 2019 – January 6, 2021
Election	2018 election
Massachusetts Senate
Members	40
Senate President	Karen Spilka (D)
Senate Majority Leader	Cynthia Stone Creem (D)
Senate Minority Leader	Bruce Tarr (R)
Party control	Democratic
Massachusetts House of Representatives
Members	160
House Speaker	Robert DeLeo (D)
House Majority Leader	Ron Mariano (D)
House Minority Leader	Brad Jones (R)
Party control	Democratic

The 191st Massachusetts General Court was the meeting of the legislative branch of the state government of Massachusetts, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives.^[1] It convened in Boston at the Massachusetts State House, on January 2, 2019, and ended on January 6, 2021, during the fifth and sixth years of the governorship of Charlie Baker. Senate and House districts were drawn based on the 2010 Census.

In the 2018 elections, the Democratic Party increased its majorities in both chambers, flipping two seats from the Republicans in the House and one in the Senate.^[2] Although Republican Governor Charlie Baker easily won re-election to a second term, the Democrats maintained veto-proof supermajorities in the legislature.^[3]

The session was notable for the wide-range of flash-point issues discussed; among these were climate change, police reform, the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare reform, and education funding.^[4] Other notable legislation included a pandemic-related vote-by-mail law.^[5] Notable bills include a proposal for a commission focused on "state agency automated decision-making, artificial intelligence, transparency, fairness, and individual rights."^[6]^[7]

Party summary[]

Senate[]

Affiliation	Party (shading indicates majority caucus)			Total	Vacant

	Democratic	Independent	Republican
End of previous General Court	31	0	7	38	2

Begin (January 2, 2019)	34	0	6	40	0
November 29, 2019^[a]	34		5	39	1
January 6, 2020^[b]	34		4	38	2
May 28, 2020^[c]^[d]	36		4	40	0
Latest voting share	90.0%	0.0%	10.0%

House of Representatives[]

Affiliation	Party (shading indicates majority caucus)			Total	Vacant

	Democratic	Independent	Republican
End of previous General Court	119	1	34	154	6

Begin (January 2, 2019)	127	1	32	160	0
November 15, 2019^[e]	126		32	159	1
January 6, 2020^[f]	126		31	158	2
January 8, 2020^[g]	125			157	3
March 25, 2020^[h]	126			158	2
May 28, 2020^[i]	125			157	3
June 10, 2020^[j]	127			159	1
Latest voting share	79.9%	0.6%	19.5%

Members[]

Senators[]

Name		District	Residence	Assumed office
Michael J. Barrett	Democratic	3rd Middlesex	Lexington	2013
Joseph Boncore	Democratic	1st Suffolk and Middlesex	Winthrop	2016*
Michael Brady	Democratic	2nd Plymouth and Bristol	Brockton	2015*
William Brownsberger	Democratic	2nd Suffolk and Middlesex	Belmont	2012*
Harriette Chandler	Democratic	1st Worcester	Worcester	2001
Sonia Chang-Díaz	Democratic	2nd Suffolk	Boston	2009
Nick Collins	Democratic	1st Suffolk	Boston	2018*
Joanne Comerford	Democratic	Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester district	Northampton	2019
Cynthia Creem	Democratic	1st Middlesex and Norfolk	Newton	1999
Brendan Crighton	Democratic	3rd Essex	Lynn	2018*
Julian Cyr	Democratic	Cape and Islands	Truro	2017
Sal DiDomenico	Democratic	Middlesex and Suffolk	Everett	2010*
Diana DiZoglio	Democratic	1st Essex	Methuen	2019
James Eldridge	Democratic	Middlesex and Worcester	Acton	2009
Ryan Fattman	Republican	Worcester and Norfolk	Webster	2015
Paul Feeney	Democratic	Bristol and Norfolk	Foxborough	2017*^[8]
Barry Finegold	Democratic	2nd Essex and Middlesex	Andover	2019
Cindy Friedman	Democratic	4th Middlesex	Arlington	2017*
Anne Gobi	Democratic	Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Middlesex	Spencer	2015
Adam Hinds	Democratic	Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden	Pittsfield	2017
Patricia Jehlen	Democratic	2nd Middlesex	Somerville	2005*
John Keenan	Democratic	Norfolk and Plymouth	Quincy	2011
Edward Kennedy	Democratic	1st Middlesex	Lowell	2019
Eric Lesser	Democratic	1st Hampden and Hampshire	Longmeadow	2015
Jason Lewis	Democratic	5th Middlesex	Winchester	2014*
Joan Lovely	Democratic	2nd Essex	Salem	2013
Mark Montigny	Democratic	2nd Bristol and Plymouth	New Bedford	1993
Michael Moore	Democratic	2nd Worcester	Millbury	2009
Susan Moran	Democratic	Plymouth and Barnstable	Falmouth	2020*
Patrick O'Connor	Republican	Plymouth and Norfolk	Weymouth	2016*
Marc Pacheco	Democratic	1st Plymouth and Bristol	Taunton	1993
Rebecca Rausch	Democratic	Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex	Needham	2019
Michael Rodrigues	Democratic	1st Bristol and Plymouth	Westport	2011
Michael Rush	Democratic	Norfolk and Suffolk	Boston	2011
Karen Spilka	Democratic	2nd Middlesex and Norfolk	Ashland	2005
Bruce Tarr	Republican	1st Essex and Middlesex	Gloucester	1995
Walter Timilty	Democratic	Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth	Milton	2017
Dean Tran	Republican	Worcester and Middlesex	Fitchburg	2017*
John Velis	Democratic	2nd Hampden and Hampshire	Westfield	2020*
James Welch	Democratic	Hampden	West Springfield	2011

*Originally elected in a special election

Representatives[]

name ^[9]	date of birth	district ^[9]
James Arciero	August 27, 1974	2nd Middlesex
Brian Ashe	April 23, 1963
Bruce Ayers	April 17, 1962
Ruth Balser	October 30, 1948
Christine Barber
John Barrett (Massachusetts politician)	1947
F. Jay Barrows	April 5, 1956
Donnie Berthiaume
David Biele
Natalie Blais
Nicholas Boldyga
Antonio Cabral	January 26, 1955
Daniel Cahill
Linda Dean Campbell
Peter Capano
Daniel R. Carey
Gerard Cassidy
Tackey Chan	August 10, 1973
Michelle Ciccolo
Mike Connolly (Massachusetts politician)	June 3, 1980
Edward F. Coppinger
William Crocker Jr.	2000
Claire D. Cronin
Dan Cullinane
Mark Cusack	1984
Josh S. Cutler	January 22, 1971
Angelo D'Emilia
Michael S. Day
Marjorie Decker
David DeCoste
Robert DeLeo (politician)	March 27, 1950
Marcos Devers	October 25, 1950
Carol Doherty
Mindy Domb	1959
Dan Donahue	May 1, 1987
Paul Donato	October 27, 1941
Shawn Dooley
William Driscoll
Michelle DuBois	April 14, 1973
Peter Durant
Carolyn Dykema	December 26, 1967
Lori Ehrlich	June 9, 1963
Nika Elugardo	July 31, 1973
Tricia Farley-Bouvier
Kimberly Ferguson
Dylan Fernandes
Ann-Margaret Ferrante	June 26, 1972
Michael Finn	March 24, 1970
Carole Fiola
Paul Frost	April 25, 1970
William C. Galvin	October 18, 1956
Sean Garballey	February 22, 1985
Denise Garlick
Colleen Garry	July 21, 1962
Carmine Gentile
Susan Williams Gifford	November 3, 1959
Thomas Golden Jr.	March 5, 1971
Carlos Gonzalez (legislator)
Ken Gordon (American politician)	November 4, 1959
Tami Gouveia
Danielle Gregoire
Patricia Haddad	May 7, 1950
Richard Haggerty
Sheila Harrington	1960
Jim Hawkins (politician)	October 17, 1949
Stephan Hay
Jon Hecht
Christopher Hendricks
Natalie Higgins	July 24, 1988
Bradford Hill	January 22, 1967
Kate Hogan	January 15, 1957
Russell Holmes	August 17, 1969
Kevin Honan	June 5, 1958
Steve Howitt
Daniel J. Hunt
Randy Hunt (politician)	August 24, 1957
Bradley Jones Jr.	January 9, 1965
Louis Kafka	November 28, 1945
Hannah Kane	1971
Patrick J. Kearney
Mary Keefe
James Kelcourse
Kay Khan	June 22, 1941
Kathleen LaNatra
John J. Lawn
David LeBoeuf	1989
Susannah Whipps
Jack Patrick Lewis
David Linsky	October 16, 1957
Kate Lipper-Garabedian
Jay Livingstone
Marc Lombardo
Adrian Madaro	1988
John J. Mahoney
Liz Malia	September 30, 1949
Ronald Mariano	October 31, 1946
Paul Mark
Christopher Markey
Joe McGonagle
Joseph D. McKenna
Paul McMurtry	October 28, 1965
Joan Meschino
Aaron Michlewitz	1978
Christina Minicucci
Liz Miranda	June 29, 1981
Lenny Mirra	February 23, 1964
Rady Mom	1970
Frank A. Moran
Michael Moran (Massachusetts politician)	February 23, 1971
David Muradian	November 21, 1982
Matt Muratore
James M. Murphy	November 15, 1969
Brian Murray (politician)
David Nangle	December 18, 1960
Harold Naughton Jr.	July 4, 1960
Tram Nguyen	June 22, 1986
Jim O'Day	May 23, 1954
Norman Orrall
Jerry Parisella
Sarah Peake	October 4, 1957
Alice Peisch	October 4, 1954
Thomas Petrolati	March 16, 1957
William "Smitty" Pignatelli	August 31, 1959
Elizabeth Poirier	October 27, 1942
Denise Provost	March 9, 1951
Angelo Puppolo
Dave Robertson (Massachusetts politician)
Maria Robinson	March 25, 1987
Dave Rogers (Massachusetts politician)
John H. Rogers	October 22, 1964
Jeffrey Roy	September 8, 1961
Daniel Joseph Ryan
Lindsay Sabadosa
Jon Santiago
Angelo Scaccia	September 29, 1942
Paul Schmid
Danillo Sena	September 7, 1986
Alan Silvia	October 19, 1951
Todd Smola	1977
Michael Soter
Theodore C. Speliotis	August 20, 1953
Thomas M. Stanley	March 23, 1964
William M. Straus	June 26, 1956
Alyson Sullivan	February 7, 1988
Jose Tosado	December 18, 1953
Paul Tucker (politician)
Chynah Tyler
Steven Ultrino
Andy Vargas
Aaron Vega	August 25, 1970
John Velis	January 26, 1979
David Vieira (politician)
RoseLee Vincent
Tommy Vitolo	1978
Joseph Wagner (Massachusetts politician)	May 7, 1960
Thomas Walsh (Massachusetts politician)	July 15, 1960
Tim Whelan (politician)
Bud Williams
Donald Wong	January 15, 1952
Jonathan Zlotnik	May 7, 1990

Notes[]

^ In Plymouth and Barnstable district: Senator Vinny deMacedo (R) resigned to take a job in higher education.
^ In 2nd Hampden and Hampshire district: Senator Don Humason (R) resigned to serve as Mayor of Westfield.
^ In Plymouth and Barnstable district: Susan Moran (D) assumed office to continue Vinny deMacedo's term.
^ In 2nd Hampden and Hampshire district: John Velis (D) assumed office to continue Don Humason's term.
^ In 32nd Middlesex district: Rep. Paul Brodeur (D) resigned to serve as Mayor of Melrose.
^ In 3rd Bristol district: Rep. Shaunna O'Connell (R) resigned to serve as Mayor of Taunton.
^ In 37th Middlesex district: Rep. Jen Benson (D) resigned to serve as President of the Alliance for Business Leadership.
^ In 32nd Middlesex district: Kate Lipper-Garabedian (D) assumed office to continue Paul Brodeur's term.
^ In 4th Hampden district: Rep. John Velis (D) resigned to serve as state senator for the 2nd Hampden and Hampshire district.
^ Carol Doherty (D) and Dan Sena (D) assumed office to continue Shaunna O'Connell and Jen Benson's terms, respectively.

References[]

^ "Malegislature.gov". Archived from the original on January 10, 2019.
^ "Dems pick up three seats on Beacon Hill". November 7, 2018.
^ "Democrats Further Solidify Super-Majorities in the Mass. House and Senate".
^ "End of Session Report, 2019-2020 Legislative Session" (PDF). Massachusetts Legislature. May 26, 2021. Retrieved May 26, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "A new law allows Mass. residents to vote by mail. Here's how that's already changing things", Boston Globe, July 29, 2020
^ Electronic Privacy Information Center, "State Artificial Intelligence Policy", Epic.org, Washington, DC, retrieved September 5, 2020 {{citation}}: |author= has generic name (help)
^ "Bill H.2701", malegislature.gov, 191st General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, retrieved September 5, 2020
^ Daniel Libon (October 17, 2017). "Feeney Beats Ventura, Shortsleeve In State Senate Race". Patch.
^ ^a ^b "House Members". Malegislature.gov. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019.

External links[]

End of Session Report, malegislature.gov (2019, 2020)
"Session Laws", malegislature.gov (2019, 2020)
"2019 Massachusetts legislative session". Ballotpedia.org.
"Hearings & Events: 2019-2020". malegislature.gov. (includes some video)
Arlington Democrats (January 14, 2020), Forum on Climate Change Legislation in Massachusetts, Arlington Community Media Inc. – via YouTube

[fn1-8] In Plymouth and Barnstable district: Senator Vinny deMacedo (R) resigned to take a job in higher education.

[fn2-9] In 2nd Hampden and Hampshire district: Senator Don Humason (R) resigned to serve as Mayor of Westfield.

[fn3-10] In Plymouth and Barnstable district: Susan Moran (D) assumed office to continue Vinny deMacedo's term.

[fn4-11] In 2nd Hampden and Hampshire district: John Velis (D) assumed office to continue Don Humason's term.

[12] In 32nd Middlesex district: Rep. Paul Brodeur (D) resigned to serve as Mayor of Melrose.

[13] In 3rd Bristol district: Rep. Shaunna O'Connell (R) resigned to serve as Mayor of Taunton.

[14] In 37th Middlesex district: Rep. Jen Benson (D) resigned to serve as President of the Alliance for Business Leadership.

[15] In 32nd Middlesex district: Kate Lipper-Garabedian (D) assumed office to continue Paul Brodeur's term.

[16] In 4th Hampden district: Rep. John Velis (D) resigned to serve as state senator for the 2nd Hampden and Hampshire district.

[17] Carol Doherty (D) and Dan Sena (D) assumed office to continue Shaunna O'Connell and Jen Benson's terms, respectively.

[1] "Malegislature.gov". Archived from the original on January 10, 2019.

[2] "Dems pick up three seats on Beacon Hill". November 7, 2018.

[3] "Democrats Further Solidify Super-Majorities in the Mass. House and Senate".

[4] "End of Session Report, 2019-2020 Legislative Session" (PDF). Massachusetts Legislature. May 26, 2021. Retrieved May 26, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[5] "A new law allows Mass. residents to vote by mail. Here's how that's already changing things", Boston Globe, July 29, 2020

[6] Electronic Privacy Information Center, "State Artificial Intelligence Policy", Epic.org, Washington, DC, retrieved September 5, 2020 {{citation}}: |author= has generic name (help)

[7] "Bill H.2701", malegislature.gov, 191st General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, retrieved September 5, 2020

[18] Daniel Libon (October 17, 2017). "Feeney Beats Ventura, Shortsleeve In State Senate Race". Patch.

[HouseMembers-19] "House Members". Malegislature.gov. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019.

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