MassTrac's Conference Committee Pages
What are Conference Committees?
As a result of the 2025-26 legislative rules change, substantive bills can continue to be considered past the traditional July 31 deadline, provided they are sent to conference committee by then.The House and Senate both pass their versions of a bill, then these ad-hoc groups (composed of three representatives and three senators) iron out the differences. Conference committees are required to have at least one member from the minority party from each chamber.
At the end of the conference, they produce a reported out bill, or the compromise package based on the reconciliation debates. This final bill is then reported to the House and Senate for a final vote.
As we’ve seen the new rules change in practice, there was a need for one central hub of all conference committees.
Introducing Conference Committee Pages
MassTrac is introducing dedicated Conference Committee pages on MassTrac, giving subscribers real-time insights.
Under the General Court dropdown on MassTrac, there is a new tab for Conference Committees. You can view all the committees by full name, colloquial abbreviation, and see if a conference report was filed.
The list of conferees, bill pages, committee news, and hearings are accessible on each individual conference committee page. Once the conference report is out, you can find it under the “Reported Out” tab.
You have the option to track the committee, which will send updates right to your inbox when they report out or schedule new hearings.
If you’d like to learn more about the MassTrac legislative intelligence service, book a demo with our team!
