Rep. Richard Haggerty of Woburn (left) and Sen. Julian Cyr of Provincetown (right) were newly appointed to chair the Legislature's Housing Committee on Feb. 26, 2025. State House News Service file photos
With the leadership and committee assignments House Democrats ratified Wednesday afternoon, House Speaker Ronald Mariano said he tried to “shuffle the deck a little bit” to get more representatives more experience and to restock the pipeline of women on track for higher posts.
On the other side of the building, Senate President Karen Spilka kept her main leadership team unchanged for the third consecutive session, tapping all of the same Democrats to fill the slots just beneath her on the Senate’s hierarchy while also lightly reshuffling committee leadership posts. And with committee leadership determined, the House and Senate can begin to process the thousands of bills that have been filed so far.
“We lost a lot through attrition this year, a lot of high-end, experienced people who’ve done a lot to move legislation through this place,” Mariano told reporters after his caucus, referring to the experienced lawmakers who did not return this session. “And if you look at [the assignments] closely, you’ll see an attempt to shuffle the deck a little bit in the lesser-used committees and to some of the vice chairmanships to increase the experience level of a lot of members that haven’t been able to rise up through the ranks lately.”
New Faces for Key Bodies
Three of the changes affect two joint committees that directly affect the real estate industry: those on housing and transportation. Leadership at the Joint Committee on Financial Services is unchanged.
Mariano had the chance this session to hand-pick specific representatives to lead committees that are poised to handle some of the term’s most significant bills. Former Rep. William Straus of Mattapoisett led the Transportation Committee for seven sessions, but Mariano this term selected Rep. James Arciero of Westford, who chaired the Housing Committee each of the last two sessions, to lead the committee as it reviews the governor’s proposed $8 billion transportation infrastructure plan. Lynn state Sen. Brendan Crighton remains the Senate’s Transportation Committee chair
Among the changes Spilka did make to the roster of joint committee chairs, Sen. Lydia Edwards will give up her role leading the Housing Committee to this session take over as chair of the Judiciary Committee. Edwards recently went to the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General Corps’ training school but has been a prominent housing policy voice on Beacon Hill.
Edwards’ move to chair Judiciary means that Sen. Jamie Eldridge of Marlborough has a new job. He will chair the Revenue Committee this session, a role that was held last session by Sen. Su Moran, who left for a county clerk job. And with Edwards vacating the Housing chair, Cyr will slide in to assume that role for this session.
Rep. Richard Haggerty of Woburn was named the House’s new Housing Committee chair.
Mariano Moves Rep Under Scrutiny
The bulk of the House leadership structure remains, with Rep. Michael Moran of Brighton as majority leader, Rep. Kate Hogan of Stow as speaker pro tempore, Rep. Alice Peisch of Wellesley as assistant majority leader, Rep. Frank Moran of Lawrence as second assistant majority leader, Rep. Danielle Gregoire of Marlborough as First Division chair, and Rep. James O’Day of West Boylston as Fourth Division chair.
Mariano added two colleagues to the tier of leadership positions above chairmanships: Rep. Paul Donato of Medford, who held leadership titles under multiple speakers, moves up into the second assistant majority leader post vacated when Rep. Sarah Peake left to work for the Healey administration; and Rep. Jeff Roy of Franklin took Donato’s former position as Second Division chair and Rep. Carlos Gonzalez of Springfield moved from the Public Safety Committee chair to fill the Third Division chair job last held by retired Rep. Ruth Balser.
Mariano explained to reporters why he moved Roy, who was the focus of a series of Boston Globe articles highlighting his romantic relationship with an energy industry lobbyist, from the chair of the Utilities and Energy Committee to a leadership position that carries the same stipend.
“My thinking was he’s a valid participant. He’s given me three bills in two years that are outstanding, and I need that. Someone has to read the stuff and do the work. And he’s excellent at it,” the speaker said. He added, “I want to use that as best I can. I don’t need him being a poster boy for every story that the Globe wants to write. So this allows him to sort of spread his fields of knowledge into a lot of different subject areas, and some of the negative things that he’s been attributed with goes away.”
But asked if Roy’s relationship with the energy lobbyist contributed to his decision, Mariano said it did not.
“The most important part of the decision was the fact I can use him in a much more efficient and broader manner now,” he said.
