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H4108 • 2025

An Act relative to the death of a candidate running for public office

An Act relative to the death of a candidate running for public office

Elections
Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Kate Donaghue
Last action
2026-03-19
Official status
Accompanied a study order, see H5253 (under House Rule 27)
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act relative to the death of a candidate running for public office

An Act relative to the death of a candidate running for public office By Representative Donaghue of Westborough, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act relative to the death of a candidate running for public office By Representative Donaghue of Westborough, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
  • 4108) of Kate Donaghue relative to the death of candidates running for public office.
  • Election Laws.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-03-19 House

    Accompanied a study order, see H5253 (under House Rule 27)

  2. 2025-06-10 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 06/17/2025 from 01:00 PM-05:00 PM in B-1

  3. 2025-05-15 Senate

    Senate concurred

  4. 2025-05-12 House

    Referred to the committee on Election Laws

  5. House

    Reported by committee to Clerk’s Office for processing, will accompany a study order

Official Summary Text

An Act relative to the death of a candidate running for public office
By Representative Donaghue of Westborough, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 4108) of Kate Donaghue relative to the death of candidates running for public office. Election Laws.

Current Bill Text

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Bill H.4108

SECTION 1. Section 14 of chapter 53 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 32, the word “compromising” and inserting in place thereof the following word:- comprising.

SECTION 2. Said chapter 53 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 14 the following section:-

Section 14A. If a candidate for the office of state representative or the office of state senator of the general court dies after the primary election and the vacancy has not been filled pursuant to section 14 and the candidate receives the most votes in the general election then it shall be a failure to elect and an election shall be held to fill the vacancy pursuant to section 147 of chapter 54.

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