Glossary

Council Ordinance: A city law. Once the council passes it and the mayor signs it, it becomes part of the city code and the city can enforce it.

Mayor Ordinance: The mayor proposed this one, but the council still has to pass it.

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Boston cannot change some rules on its own and has to ask the Massachusetts legislature for permission.

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Boston borrows money for big, long-lived things - school buildings, bridges, vehicles - and pays it back over years. The council has to approve the borrowing before the city can do it.

The council telling a city department to do something, or settling a piece of the council's own business. It is not a law and it does not bind residents.

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The council calling a public hearing on a subject. It schedules a hearing rather than deciding anything, and members of the public can testify at one.

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Section 17F of the city charter lets the council formally demand records or answers from the mayor's office.

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A directive the mayor issues to city departments. It needs no council vote, and a later mayor can undo it.

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The council putting its opinion on the record: marking an occasion, honouring someone, or taking a position on something the city does not control. It changes no law.

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It has been filed with the council and given a docket number. Nothing has been decided and no committee has taken it up.

Used for: New city law · Request to the state · City spending · City directive · Formal position, not binding

Boston's record says: New business

A council committee is examining it, usually with a public hearing, and decides whether to send it to the full council for a vote. Most items spend most of their life here.

Used for: New city law · Request to the state · City spending · City directive · Formal position, not binding

Boston's record says: Referred to committee · Pending in committee · Held in committee · Public hearing · Carried over

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It is out of committee and in front of the whole council, which votes it up or down.

Used for: New city law · Request to the state · City spending · City directive · Formal position, not binding

Boston's record says: Reported out of committee · On the agenda · On the consent agenda · First reading

It is approved and in force. What that means depends on the item: an ordinance becomes part of the city code, a loan order lets the city borrow, a resolution records the council's position, and an order tells a department to act.

Used for: New city law · City spending · City directive · Formal position, not binding

Boston's record says: Passed

The council voted for it. The mayor now signs it or vetoes it, and the council can override a veto with a two thirds vote.

Used for: New city law · Request to the state · City spending

Boston's record says: Passed

It has left Boston. The Massachusetts legislature decides whether to grant what the city asked for, and it can say no, change it, or never take it up at all.

Used for: Request to the state

An old record kept so it can be looked up. Nothing is happening to it.

Used for: New city law · Request to the state · City spending · City directive · Formal position, not binding

Boston's record says: Historical

It is going no further. The council voted it down, placed it on file, or tabled it.

Used for: New city law · Request to the state · City spending · City directive · Formal position, not binding

Boston's record says: Placed on file · Tabled · Failed

The councillor who filed it took it back. Nobody voted it down.

Used for: New city law · Request to the state · City spending · City directive · Formal position, not binding

Boston's record says: Withdrawn

Where the government's money comes from and where it goes: budgets, taxes, borrowing, and contracts with outside companies.

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Rules about how people are treated and protected, including discrimination, immigration status, and getting services in your own language.

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Schools and the people in them, from early childhood programs through high school, plus after-school and youth programs.

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Air, water, waste, and energy, and how the government prepares for heat, flooding, and storms.

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How the government runs itself: elections, public records, ethics rules, and the way decisions get made.

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Public health and the services people rely on, including mental health care, disability services, food access, and help for people in crisis.

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Where people live and what gets built: rent, tenants' rights, zoning, construction, and neighborhood planning.

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Jobs and the rules around them: pay, working conditions, hiring, benefits, and job training.

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Libraries, arts funding, cultural programs, historic buildings, and community events.

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Parks, playgrounds, trees, and the outdoor places anyone can use.

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Police, fire, and emergency response, and the programs meant to prevent violence before it happens.

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Running a business here: permits, licenses, street vending, restaurants and bars, and the rules they operate under.

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The technology the government buys and uses, what it does with data about people, and the rules on surveillance.

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Getting around: buses and trains, roads and sidewalks, traffic safety, parking, and bike lanes.

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A small group of members that examines one subject in detail before the whole body votes on it. Most proposals spend most of their life in committee, and most of the ones that never become law end there.

A public meeting where a committee takes testimony on a subject before deciding what to do about it. Anyone can normally sign up to speak, and what is said becomes part of the public record.

Also called: Public hearing

What someone says at a hearing, out loud or in writing. You do not have to be an expert or a resident of anywhere in particular to give it.

The government's own reference for one item, like 2026-0451. It is how the city's records refer to it, and it is what to quote if you contact someone about it.

Also called: Docket · File number

The member who formally puts a proposal forward. Sponsoring something is not the same as voting for it later, and several members can sponsor the same item together.

A change to the wording of a proposal while it is still being considered. Amending something is not the same as passing it: the amended version still has to be voted on.

Readings are numbered stages a proposal passes through on its way to a final vote. Nothing is read aloud - the number only says how far along it is.

Also called: First reading · Second reading · Third reading

A vote by every member of the body rather than by one of its committees. This is normally the vote that decides whether something passes.

Also called: The floor

A vote where each member is named in turn and their answer written down, so you can look up how any one of them voted.

Also called: Recorded vote

The number of members who have to be present before the body is allowed to vote on anything. Below it, a meeting can talk but cannot decide.

The mayor, governor, or president refusing to approve something the lawmaking body passed. It stops there unless the body overrides it.

A second vote that puts something into effect over a veto. It takes a larger majority than the first vote did, which is why most vetoes stand.

Also called: Veto override

The stretch of time a body works in, usually a year or two, before the next one begins. Anything not passed by the end of a session dies and has to be filed again from the start.

Also called: Legislative session

A member of the city council, elected either by one district of the city or by the whole city at once. The ones elected citywide are called at-large councillors.

Also called: Councilor · City councillor

The document that sets out how the city government is built and what it is allowed to do. It sits above ordinary city law, and changing it is harder than passing an ordinance.

Also called: City charter

The power a city has to run its own affairs without asking anyone. It has limits, and anything outside them needs the state's permission first.

The Massachusetts state legislature. It has been called the General Court since before the state was a state, and it is a lawmaking body rather than a court of any kind.

Also called: Beacon Hill · The State House

A small group drawn from both the House and the Senate, put together to settle the differences when each chamber has passed its own version of the same bill.

The final text of a bill, written out once the amendments are settled. A chamber "passes it to be engrossed" when it approves that text, which is a step before enactment rather than the end of the process.

Also called: Passed to be engrossed

A part of Boston's city charter that lets the city council formally demand records or answers from the mayor's office. An item filed under it is a request for information, not a proposed law.

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Also called: Chinatown · Leather District

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Also called: Fenway · Kenmore

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