BOSTON (State House News Service) — Two years after senators overwhelmingly struck a decades-old term limit on the Senate presidency, there seem to be no efforts to revive the measure in Wednesday's rules debate.
The 39 amendments filed to internal Senate rules by a Monday deadline did not feature any proposals to reinstitute a term limit. Legislators in the House and Senate over the years have both embraced and rejected term limits, which backers see as a way to force turnover in the Legislature's top decision-making posts.
For nearly 30 years, Senate presidents were held to an eight-year limit on how long they could hold the gavel. Senators removed that rule in 2023 on a 32-6 vote. Three Democrats joined the Republican caucus in opposing the move at the time: Sens. John Keenan, Rebecca Rausch, and Walter Timilty. Timilty left office for a county post last month.
Had the change not been made, Senate President Karen Spilka would be in her final term at the helm. Elected as president in the summer of 2018, the Ashland Democrat would have reached eight years on July 26, 2026.
Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues said during the 2023 debate that the Senate president's status as the lone legislative leader with a term limit had placed the chamber at a disadvantage in negotiations with the House and Executive Branch.
The House has also oscillated on the issue. An original term limit for speakers adopted in 1985 was struck in 2001 while Rep. Thomas Finneran was in the speaker's chair. Two years later, an amendment to reinstitute the limit failed, 44-105.
Speaker Robert DeLeo took the gavel in 2009 and brought back an eight-year limit for the speakership, but the House removed the limit again in 2015 when the rule was about to push DeLeo out. That paved the way for DeLeo to become the longest-serving speaker of the Massachusetts House since adoption of the state Constitution in 1780. Speaker Ronald Mariano was elevated to the rostrum a little more than four years ago.
The Senate is set to debate its internal rules Wednesday. Among the 39 amendments are proposals dealing with time to review legislation before voting, nighttime sessions, Senate audits, in-person voting, and the manner in which Senate counsel is selected. The branch will also consider 29 amendments to the Joint Rules, covering topics like conference committee reports, committee votes, and the end of session deadline.
Although none of the senators who voted to keep term limits last session filed any amendments on that topic, Sen. John Keenan is contemplating the next election of a leader. He filed an amendment to mandate a public roll call when voting for president. That is the Senate's custom, although currently there is an option to avoid the public vote if four-fifths of senators agree.
Spilka, 72, has served 20 years in the Senate and was a House member for three years before that. Mariano, 78, has served in the House for 33 years.
Written by Sam Doran/SHNS
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