There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week.

This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on the percentage of times local representatives voted with their party’s leadership in the 2026 session through Sept. 11.

Beacon Hill Roll Call uses 125 votes from the 2026 House session as the basis for this report. This includes all roll calls that were not votes on local issues.

The votes of the 130 Democrats were compared to the votes of House Speaker Ron Mariano, D-Quincy. Mariano missed eight roll call votes so on those eight roll calls, the vote of Mariano’s Majority Leader Rep. Mike Moran, D-Brighton, is used instead.

The votes of the 24 Republicans were compared to the votes of House Republican Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading.

On the 125 roll calls, Mariano and Jones voted the same way on 75 roll calls (60%) and voted the opposite way from each other on 50 roll calls (40%).

Democrats

A total of 100 (76.9%) of the 130 Democrats voted with Mariano 100% of the time. There were only 30 Democratic representatives who voted differently than Mariano on any roll calls, and 14 of those only voted differently from Mariano just one time.

The Democratic representative who voted least frequently with Mariano was Rep. Colleen Garry, D-Dracut, who voted with Mariano only 86% of the time. Garry did not respond to requests from Beacon Hill Roll Call asking her for comment.

The other four Democrats who voted the opposite of Mariano the most often are Reps. Alan Silvia, D-Fall River, who voted with Mariano 93.1% of the time; David Robertson, D-Tewksbury, who voted with Mariano 94.4% of the time; Erika Uyterhoeven, D-Somerville, who voted with Mariano 95.1% of the time; and Mike Connolly, D-Cambridge, who voted with Mariano 95.2% of the time.

Republicans

None of the 24 GOP members voted with Jones 100% of the time.

The Republican representative who voted least frequently with Jones is Rep. John Gaskey, R-Carver, who voted with Jones only 78.4% of the time.

Rounding out the GOP representatives who voted with Jones least frequently are Reps. Nick Boldyga, R-Southwick, and Marc Lombardo, R-Billerica, who both voted with Jones 86.7% of the time; David DeCoste, R-Norwell, who voted with Jones 88% of the time; Donald Berthiaume Jr., R-Spencer, who voted with Jones 88.7% of the time; and Joe McKenna, R-Sutton, who voted with Jones 88.8% of the time.

Unenrolled

Rep. Susannah Whipps of Athol is the only unenrolled House member, and is not affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic party.

Beacon Hill Roll Call based her record on how many times she voted with Democratic House Speaker Ron Mariano. She voted with Mariano 97.5% of the time.

Local voting record

The percentage next to the representative’s name represents the percentage of times the legislator supported his or her party’s leadership in 2026 through Sept. 11. The number in parentheses represents the number of times the representative opposed his or her party’s leadership.

Some representatives voted on all 125 roll call votes. Others missed one or more roll calls. The percentage for each representative is calculated based on the number of roll calls on which he or she voted.

  • Rep. Aaron Saunders, D-Belchertown — 100% (0)
  • Rep. Susannah Whipps — 97.5 % (3)

Also up on Beacon Hill

Streamline new housing

The Pioneer Institute issued a report that it says identifies 10 straightforward permitting and administrative changes that can be initiated by cities and towns without waiting for lawmakers on Beacon Hill to act. The report says action by municipalities can “reduce the time and cost of building new homes, at a time when housing costs are helping drive residents to lower-cost states.”

“We keep hearing the same story: families and employers are choosing New Hampshire, Rhode Island or states farther afield because it’s simply cheaper to live and build there,” said Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute. “Municipalities can’t single-handedly fix the state’s housing shortage, but they don’t have to wait for Beacon Hill to stop making it worse. This paper gives them a concrete roadmap to clear out the friction in their own back offices.”

The suggested changes include making online permitting information clear, easily accessible and consistent with zoning; using a standardized online portal for permit application submittals; offering developers a pre-application meeting with municipal department heads and local board members; coordinating peer reviews early in the process; requiring training for local board members; and minimizing the number of local officials who hold sway over subjective criteria.

“Much of the delay and added cost in residential permitting is invisible to the public,” said Andrew Mikula, Pioneer Institute’s chief housing economist and the author of the report. “Contentious town meeting and city council votes make headlines, but there is real potential for streamlining and standardization in the back-office interactions between applicants, staff and volunteer board members that happen long before any public hearing.”

$10 billion in marijuana sales

The Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) announced that Massachusetts marijuana establishments have exceeded $10 billion in all-time gross sales. The milestone comes nearly a decade after voters approved adult-use cannabis in the November 2016 election, and nearly eight years after the November 2018 opening of the state’s first two adult-use retail stores in Northampton and Leicester.

“The adult-use cannabis market has grown quickly since the first retail stores opened in 2018, and now reliably generates more than $1.5 billion in gross sales annually,” said CCC Executive Director Travis Ahern. “As the industry enters its next phase with new license types and operators, we look forward to continuing our mission of overseeing a safe, equitable cannabis market for Massachusetts consumers and patients.”

“The licensees that comprise the adult-use industry deserve congratulations for safely growing the industry from scratch and providing a significant return to Massachusetts taxpayers through sales, excise and local taxes along the way,” noted Commissioner Anthony Wilson. “As commissioners, we will continue the work of making sure the industry continues to grow carefully, safely and equitably.”