State Representative
A member of the lower chamber of the state legislature, which writes state law and the state budget.
A member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, elected for two years from a district named for the county it sits in — the 2nd Barnstable, the 14th Essex (Amendment LXXXII). The House is one half of the General Court, which the governor must give a budget within three weeks of its convening (Amendment CVII).
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- To State Senator: A bill has to pass both chambers in the same form before it can reach the governor, so one chamber's vote only gets it halfway. In most states a bill that raises revenue has to start in the lower chamber.
State Senator
A member of the upper chamber of the state legislature. A bill has to pass both chambers.
A member of the Massachusetts Senate, elected for two years from a district the Commonwealth names rather than numbers — Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire; the 1st Essex and Middlesex (Amendment LXXXII). The Senate sits in the General Court, which “shall assemble every year on the first Wednesday in January” (Amendment LXXXII, Section 2).
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From State Representative: A bill has to pass both chambers in the same form before it can reach the governor, so one chamber's vote only gets it halfway. In most states a bill that raises revenue has to start in the lower chamber.
- To Governor: What both chambers pass goes to the governor to sign or veto. The share of each chamber needed to override a veto is set by this state's own constitution and is on the legislature's office page.
- To Counties, cities, towns and school districts: The legislature writes the property tax, local tax and budget rules that every county, city, town and school district in the state has to work inside. A local council choosing a rate is choosing among options set here.
Governor
The Commonwealth's chief executive, elected for four years (Amendment LXXXII).
The Commonwealth's chief executive, elected for four years (Amendment LXXXII). Two things make this office unlike most governorships. The budget starts here: “Within three weeks after the convening of the general court the governor shall recommend … a budget which shall contain a statement of all proposed expenditures of the commonwealth for the fiscal year” (Amendment CVII). And the power to appoint judges and to pardon is not the governor's alone — both require the consent of an elected Governor's Council (Part the Second, Chapter II, Section I, Articles VIII and IX; Amendment LXXIII).
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From State Senator: What both chambers pass goes to the governor to sign or veto. The share of each chamber needed to override a veto is set by this state's own constitution and is on the legislature's office page.
- To Attorney General: The state's lawyer is elected separately in most states, so the governor cannot pick or remove the person who decides which laws to defend, which cases to bring, and which opinions to issue. Where the office is appointed instead, that page says so.
- To Secretary of the Commonwealth: In most states this is the chief election official, elected on the same ballot it administers and not answerable to the governor. A few states put elections elsewhere; that office's page says which.
- To Treasurer and Receiver-General: The governor proposes a budget and the legislature appropriates, but the money itself sits with a separately elected treasurer. What that office may do with it is set by this state's own law.
- To Auditor of the Commonwealth: The officer who examines the state's spending is elected in their own right, so an administration cannot remove the person auditing it. That independence is the point of electing the office rather than appointing it. Some states call it auditor, some comptroller; this state's box says which.
- To Counties, cities, towns and school districts: State agencies under the governor license, inspect, fund and audit the counties, cities and school districts below. Much of what a local government can do in practice depends on a state agency's rules.
Secretary of the Commonwealth
Keeps the state's official records and, in most states, is its chief election official.
The Commonwealth's elected record-keeper and chief election official, serving four years and taking office on the third Wednesday in January after the election (Amendment LXXXII). The office's modern work — elections, public records, corporations, the state archives — is statutory rather than enumerated in the constitution.
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From Governor: In most states this is the chief election official, elected on the same ballot it administers and not answerable to the governor. A few states put elections elsewhere; that office's page says which.
Attorney General
The Commonwealth's elected chief legal officer, serving four years (Amendment LXXXII).
The Commonwealth's elected chief legal officer, serving four years (Amendment LXXXII). The constitution's original text made this an appointed office — “All judicial officers, [the attorney-general] … shall be nominated and appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the council” — and the bracketed words are there because voters later took it out of the governor's hands and gave it to themselves (Part the Second, Chapter II, Section I, Article IX).
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From Governor: The state's lawyer is elected separately in most states, so the governor cannot pick or remove the person who decides which laws to defend, which cases to bring, and which opinions to issue. Where the office is appointed instead, that page says so.
Treasurer and Receiver-General
The Commonwealth's elected treasurer, serving four years (Amendment LXXXII).
The Commonwealth's elected treasurer, serving four years (Amendment LXXXII). The constitution puts one hard rule around the money: “All money received on account of the commonwealth from any source whatsoever shall be paid into the treasury thereof”, and it leaves only “by warrant under the hand of the governor … with the advice and consent of the council” (Amendment LXIII, Section 1; Part the Second, Chapter II, Section I, Article XI).
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From Governor: The governor proposes a budget and the legislature appropriates, but the money itself sits with a separately elected treasurer. What that office may do with it is set by this state's own law.
Auditor of the Commonwealth
The Commonwealth's elected auditor, serving four years (Amendment LXXXII).
The Commonwealth's elected auditor, serving four years (Amendment LXXXII). The constitution makes the office elective and leaves what it audits to the General Court — which is why the scope of the job is itself a live political question in Massachusetts rather than a settled constitutional one.
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From Governor: The officer who examines the state's spending is elected in their own right, so an administration cannot remove the person auditing it. That independence is the point of electing the office rather than appointing it. Some states call it auditor, some comptroller; this state's box says which.
Counties, cities, towns and school districts
Every local government in the state. None of them can tax or spend outside what the legislature allows.
Elected separately, each at its own level.
Who it works with, and what passes between them:
- From State Senator: The legislature writes the property tax, local tax and budget rules that every county, city, town and school district in the state has to work inside. A local council choosing a rate is choosing among options set here.
- From Governor: State agencies under the governor license, inspect, fund and audit the counties, cities and school districts below. Much of what a local government can do in practice depends on a state agency's rules.