How much committee work gets done by the city’s legislative delegation?

In a flurry of activity on July 31, the eve of the Legislature’s summer recess, the Massachusetts Legislature passed funding for local road repairs, a raise for attorneys who represent indigent defendants, and a legal shield for providers of reproductive and gender-identity care. 

In the seven months before that, the Legislature had passed a record-low 13 bills. One of these was the state budget, delivered on time for the first time in 14 years. Five others established sick leave for individual employees. One designated June 7 as Tourette Syndrome Awareness Day. The rest were mostly supplemental spending measures. 

The Legislature also passed joint rules for the first time since 2019. It didn’t give out committee assignments until the end of February — already two months into the session — but confirmed that committee leaders’ stipends would be paid retroactively to the Jan. 1 session start date, despite there being no committee work in that time. 

Committees are designed to hold hearings and make recommendations on bills. New Bedford’s Sen. Mark Montigny and Reps. Antonio F. D. Cabral and Christopher Hendricks are committee leaders, meaning they receive stipends on top of their $82,046 base salaries. 

But a slow start to legislating means a slow start to committee work. So what are New Bedford’s legislators doing up in Boston every day? 

New Bedford’s legislators sit across 23 committees. So far, just 11 of those committees have reported bills out with recommendations, seven don’t have any bills assigned to them, and four haven’t held any hearings.  

Committees Sen. Montigny chairs rarely consider bills

This session, Montigny receives $75,068.96 in stipends for two committee chairmanships and one vice chairmanship, which means he’s paid a total of $157,114.96 a year. He remains the chair of the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, and resumed an old post as chair of the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight. Last session, The Boston Globe reported that neither of the committees Montigny chaired then — Intergovernmental Affairs and Steering and Policy — considered a bill or held a hearing. 

The Light began asking Montigny’s aides on July 1 about his committee hearings. The two committees Montigny chairs, the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs and the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, held a joint hearing on July 30. It was the first hearing of the year for both committees. 

The Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, which Montigny has chaired since 2023, has no prior hearings in its online records for 2023 through 2025. 

This session, neither committee Montigny chairs has a bill assigned to it. The Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight had scheduled another hearing for June 10 to hear testimony regarding the Commonwealth’s stroke system of care, but that hearing was cancelled and has not been rescheduled. 

“Post Audit also conducts investigations which may or may not lead to a hearing,” Audra Riding, an aide to Montigny, wrote in an email. She said the committee has opened other investigations this session, including an examination of commuter rail service staffing on the Fall River/New Bedford line, background checks in emergency shelters, and transportation procurement. 

The Light examined Montigny’s chairmanships over the last several sessions, and found that the committees he has chaired rarely held hearings. Some also didn’t consider bills. 

Montigny chaired the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy from 2019 until 2024, and the Senate and Joint Rules Committees from 2015 to 2018. The Legislature’s website shows no hearings for those committees in those years. It does not show Steering and Policy handling any bills. 

“Hearings are not a normal function of Steering and Policy or the Rules Committee,” Riding wrote in an email. “Steering and Policy is a leadership group that helps drive the Senate’s legislative agenda and priorities. Rules reviews and processes a variety of bills, including 578 bills during his tenure as Chair.”

The Legislature’s website does not have a record of the last time a committee Montigny chaired held a hearing, other than the July 30 hearing. 

Riding said Montigny held several high-profile hearings in his previous stint as chair of Post Audit and Oversight in 2011 and 2012, including a Dec. 2012 hearing about regulation of compounding pharmacies after a deadly meningitis outbreak. Riding also said the website’s historical information about hearings is not accurate.

Last year, Montigny told the Globe that Intergovernmental Affairs and Steering and Policy “serve in an advisory capacity to enhance the overall policy work of the Senate” and that “formal proceedings and bill hearings are not part of [their] work.” 

Other committee leaders also told the Globe that their committees are not intended to consider bills, but instead issue recommendations. However, without frequent hearings, it is unclear what these committees achieve.  

Montigny did not speak with The Light about his committee work, after repeated attempts to schedule a meeting via Riding over four weeks. 

Since February, The Light has made repeated attempts to schedule meetings with Montigny for 12 different Statehouse news stories. Montigny spoke with The Light only once.

The committee on Post Audit and Oversight is powerful, as it has subpoena power, intended to ensure legislation is carried out properly, according to Jonathan Hecht, a former Democratic representative from Watertown, who now works on the Committee to Reform Our Legislature. However, he said this committee has fallen into disuse in the last few years. 

It’s true, he said, that it might not be a committee intended to consider bills, “but the reality is that the post audit and oversight committees aren’t really doing anything.”

Hecht said the lack of hearings for both this committee and the Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs is an example of how Senate and House standing committees are useful ways for leadership to give out stipends. Many committees in the state Legislature have overlapping responsibilities, and the Commonwealth has the largest system of extra legislator pay on top of base salaries in the country. Advocates have long accused the Legislature of using stipends to reward compliance rather than productivity. 

Riding wrote in an email to The Light that the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee is reviewing the Trump administration’s budget reconciliation bill to determine whether the committee should recommend any additional action from the Legislature. Recommendations from Montigny’s committee would be in addition to the Senate President’s Response 2025 initiative, and the Senate Ways and Means Committee’s recommendations, which already make recommendations on this topic. 

Outside of the committees he chairs, Montigny is vice chair of the Joint Committee on Public Service, for which he receives a stipend. This committee has held nine hearings so far this year, and has around 480 bills assigned to it. He also sits on the Senate Committee on the Census, which held one hearing and isn’t considering any bills, and the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, which held two hearings, and has 124 bills assigned to it, none of which have been reported out of committee. 

Cabral and Hendricks’ committee leadership

Cabral, New Bedford’s only chair besides Montigny, co-chairs the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight. Cabral’s committee is considering around 300 pieces of legislation, 50 of which have been reported out of committee, and has held seven hearings so far. As chair, Cabral receives a $44,861.93 stipend on top of his base salary of $82,046, for a total of $126,907.93 a year.

Chairing a committee, Cabral said, is important because it gives him further contact with leadership and gets him invited to more meetings. 

“It’s important for your district, for the people that you represent, because you have the opportunity to … be in the room,” Cabral said. “Obviously that’s an opportunity to advocate on behalf of the things you think are important, and also for your area, for your district, for your city.”

Hendricks is the vice chair of the House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling, which gives him a $22,430.96 stipend on top of his base salary, for a total of $104,476.96 a year. This committee sets out to assist the speaker and the members of the House in identifying priorities in matters pending before the Legislature and their relative urgency. The committee has reported 98 bills out of committee, but hasn’t held any hearings yet. 

Committees do sometimes report bills out without holding hearings. Hendricks said his committee can do this, because a lot of the work in determining priorities has so far come from Rep. Kevin Honan, the committee chair, who works closely with the Ways and Means Committee and the Speaker’s office. Hendricks said he thinks his workload for that committee might pick up later. 

Otherwise, Hendricks said he’s working hard on the Joint Committee on Transportation, which is considering over 350 bills and meeting frequently, which he thinks is because transportation is a priority for the governor. 

Hendricks is also a member of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses, which has had three hearings, and the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, neither of which have reported any bills out.

Hendricks said economic development is usually a busy committee, and he was surprised it’s off to a slow start, having held just one hearing in June. Hendrick’s isn’t sure why it’s slower, but said that he knows committee rooms have been jammed for scheduling.

Sylvia, Markey, and Ouellette’s committee work

Fairhaven’s freshman Rep. Mark Sylvia sits on four committees. Two have been extremely active, with the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources holding six hearings, with four more hearings scheduled for the fall, and the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development holding seven hearings. Both are considering hundreds of bills and have reported some out of committee. 

On Environment and Natural Resources, Sylvia said an environmental bond bill has been a big focus. He said he’s been able to advocate for the South Coast in this bill, and for more funding for wastewater issues in New Bedford, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett and Marion. 

Sylvia also sits on the House Committee on Climate Action and Sustainability. Sylvia said this committee had an informal kick-off meeting, where the chair said the committee work will be a lot of site visits to different projects and initiatives to combat climate change. 

So far this session, the committee has not had any bills referred to it and has not held any hearings. The House committee’s chair, Rep. Tram Nguyen, gets a $22,430.96 stipend. (A Senate committee also devoted to the climate crisis hasn’t had any bills referred to it this session either.)

The House Committee on Federal Funding, Policy and Accountability held two hearings so far, but isn’t considering any bills. Syliva said he doesn’t expect the committee to hear bills — there are joint committees for that — but that it will monitor the effects of the Trump administration’s actions on Massachusetts. For example, the committee held a joint hearing with the committee on tourism, which heard testimony on how federal funding cuts have impacted tourism, related programs and activities in the state.   

New Bedford’s Rep. Christopher Markey’s busiest committees are hot-button topics this session: the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing and the Joint Committee on Housing. These committees have held seven and six hearings, respectively, and both are considering many bills and have reported some out of committee — 24 for health care, 11 for housing. 

On the health care committee, Markey said the priorities are making sure people can afford medication and providing care for people with less access. On housing, it’s about zoning to address the housing crisis. In both committees, it’s about affordability amid health care funding and housing crises. 

By contrast, the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery is much quieter this year, after being a big priority about 10 years ago, in the midst of the opioid crisis. This committee has held two hearings and cancelled one, but it’s considering bills and has reported out two. 

Markey also sits on the Joint Committee on Election Laws, which has held four hearings regarding election security, administration, home rule petition and constitutional amendment bills. 

Finally, Westport’s freshman Rep. Steven Ouellette sits on five committees. Two of these haven’t held a hearing — one being the House version of Montigny’s committee, House Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, which is also considering no bills. The other is the Joint Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Management, although Ouellette said he went on a site visit to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s bunker in Framingham with the committee in early July. 

Ouellette said of his committees that “if we’re not having hearings and whatnot, the chairpeople are pretty busy updating us where we stand.”

The House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight — the House version of Montigny’s other committee — held one introductory hearing in March, and is not considering bills. The Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity has held two hearings and reported 19 bills out of committee, and the Joint Committee on Agriculture held one and is still considering 28 bills, but has reported none of them out.

Ouellette said conversations around artificial intelligence and local cable are keeping him busy on the cybersecurity committee. He’s also concerned about the way cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are impacting farmers. He worries for the vocational agricultural schools and farms in his district, and likes that the agriculture committee gives him a place to advocate for these issues. 

Because none of Ouellette’s committees are all-consuming right now, he said this gives him a chance to focus on his district. 

“I’m trying to keep to my communities for the most part, where they are and what they need,” Ouellette said. “I’m all over the place, but my big thing was public safety and trying to get things done in that area too.”

“People can reach out on any of the issues you talk about,” Ouellette said in an interview with The Light. “I love to have more feedback.”

To contact New Bedford’s legislators, you can find their email and phone numbers in their pages on the Legislature’s website. To find out which state representative serves your part of New Bedford, you can use this website. Here are the webpages for New Bedford’s legislators: Sen. Mark Montigny, and Reps. Steven Ouellette, Christopher Markey, Mark Sylvia, Christopher Hendricks, and Antonio F.D. Cabral. 

Abigial Pritchard is a summer intern with The New Bedford Light, as part of the South Coast Internship designed for local students.

Grace Ferguson contributed reporting to this story.