BOSTON – House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. (R-North Reading) continued to maintain a perfect voting record during the 2021-2022 legislative session, participating in all 286 roll calls taken in the Massachusetts House of Representatives between January 28, 2021, and August 1, 2022.
Representative Jones has never missed a roll call while serving as a member of the House. His current unbroken streak of consecutive roll calls now stands at 7,835.
“It is truly an honor to represent the residents of North Reading, Lynnfield, Reading and Middleton, and to advocate for their interests on Beacon Hill,” said Jones. “My voting record reflects my ongoing commitment to be a strong and effective voice for all four communities that comprise the 20th Middlesex District.”
During the 2021-2022 legislative session, Jones cast votes on many key policy issues, including proposed reforms to the governance and leadership structure of the Holyoke and Chelsea Soldiers’ Homes. Signed into law as Chapter 144 of the Acts of 2022, this bill will help ensure the delivery of quality services to the state’s veterans and prevent another tragedy like the one that claimed the lives of dozens of veterans at both facilities at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On June 16, Jones recorded his milestone 7,750th roll call vote when he supported the engrossment of the Mental Health ABC Act, which seeks to improve access to mental health services and establish insurance coverage equity for behavioral health services. Signed into law on August 10 as Chapter 177 of the Acts of 2022, the ABC Act contains a Jones-sponsored initiative developed in conjunction with a group of Lynnfield High School sophomores establishing a permanent student stakeholder advisory committee on mental health.
A Jones-sponsored amendment to ban child marriage in Massachusetts was adopted on a unanimous House roll call vote in April and included as part of the final Fiscal Year 2023 state budget signed into law as Chapter 126 of the Acts of 2022. Between 2000 and 2018, more than 1,246 children, some as young as 14, were married in Massachusetts, 89.9 percent of whom were girls wed to adult men. Jones’ amendment makes Massachusetts the seventh state to ban child marriage, which the U.S. State Department considers to be a human rights abuse.
