republic-os/legislation/us/states/ma/192nd/s-2603.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "An Act further regulating hen welfare and establishing uniform cage-free standards"
description: "Senate, December 20, 2021 -- Report of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two branches with reference to the House amendment to the Senate Bill upgrading hen welfare and establishing uniform cage-free standards (Senate, No. 2481) (amended by the House by striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting in place thereof the text of House document numbered 4194; by inserting an emergency preamble and striking out the title and inserting a new title),-- reports, a “Bill further regulating hen welfare and establishing uniform cage-free standards (Senate, No. 2603)."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ma"
legislature: "Massachusetts General Court"
session: "192nd"
identifier: "S 2603"
citation: "Massachusetts S 2603 (192nd)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hen welfare and establishing uniform cage-free standards"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 13
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2021-12-20"
last_action: "2021-12-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/86cf2b60-6f1f-4a06-befc-ce1819e8edde"
source_url: "https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/S2603"
source_hash: "8232328e8015bf168bba8519271f17d94c807e2161cecc38b306f7cc3a09a8c1"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ma"]
---

# Massachusetts S 2603 (192nd) — An Act further regulating hen welfare and establishing uniform cage-free standards

Senate, December 20, 2021 -- Report of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two branches with reference to the House amendment to the Senate Bill upgrading hen welfare and establishing uniform cage-free standards (Senate, No. 2481) (amended by the House by striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting in place thereof the text of House document numbered 4194; by inserting an emergency preamble and striking out the title and inserting a new title),-- reports, a “Bill further regulating hen welfare and establishing uniform cage-free standards (Senate, No. 2603).

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/S2603.pdf)

## Sponsors

- Hen welfare and establishing uniform cage-free standards — primary (person)
- Adam J. Scanlon — cosponsor (person)
- Adrian C. Madaro — cosponsor (person)
- Alice Hanlon Peisch — cosponsor (person)
- Angelo J. Puppolo, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Ann-Margaret Ferrante — cosponsor (person)
- Bradley H. Jones, Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Brendan P. Crighton — cosponsor (person)
- Brian M. Ashe — cosponsor (person)
- Brian W. Murray — cosponsor (person)
- Carmine Lawrence Gentile — cosponsor (person)
- Carol A. Doherty — cosponsor (person)
- Christopher Hendricks — cosponsor (person)
- Daniel Cahill — cosponsor (person)
- Daniel J. Ryan — cosponsor (person)
- Daniel M. Donahue — cosponsor (person)
- Danillo A. Sena — cosponsor (person)
- David Allen Robertson — cosponsor (person)
- David Biele — cosponsor (person)
- David Henry Argosky LeBoeuf — cosponsor (person)
- David M. Rogers — cosponsor (person)
- Edward F. Coppinger — cosponsor (person)
- Erika Uyterhoeven — cosponsor (person)
- Jack Patrick Lewis — cosponsor (person)
- Jacob R. Oliveira — cosponsor (person)
- James Arciero — cosponsor (person)
- James B. Eldridge — cosponsor (person)
- James K. Hawkins — cosponsor (person)
- Jason M. Lewis — cosponsor (person)
- Jay D. Livingstone — cosponsor (person)
- Jessica Ann Giannino — cosponsor (person)
- Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture — cosponsor (person)
- Josh S. Cutler — cosponsor (person)
- Kay Khan — cosponsor (person)
- Kenneth I. Gordon — cosponsor (person)
- Lenny Mirra — cosponsor (person)
- Lindsay N. Sabadosa — cosponsor (person)
- Mathew J. Muratore — cosponsor (person)
- Michael P. Kushmerek — cosponsor (person)
- Natalie M. Higgins — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick Joseph Kearney — cosponsor (person)
- Patrick M. O'Connor — cosponsor (person)
- Paul F. Tucker — cosponsor (person)
- Peter Capano — cosponsor (person)
- Richard M. Haggerty — cosponsor (person)
- Ruth B. Balser — cosponsor (person)
- Sal N. DiDomenico — cosponsor (person)
- Sean Garballey — cosponsor (person)
- Senate Committee on Ways and Means — cosponsor (person)
- Sheila C. Harrington — cosponsor (person)
- Steven C. Owens — cosponsor (person)
- Steven G. Xiarhos — cosponsor (person)
- Steven Ultrino — cosponsor (person)
- Tami L. Gouveia — cosponsor (person)
- Thomas M. Stanley — cosponsor (person)
- Tommy Vitolo — cosponsor (person)
- Tram T. Nguyen — cosponsor (person)
- Tricia Farley-Bouvier — cosponsor (person)
- Vanna Howard — cosponsor (person)
- Walter F. Timilty — cosponsor (person)
- William C. Galvin — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-12-20** Reported from the committee of conference
- **2021-12-20** Reported on S2481
- **2021-12-20** Rules suspended
- **2021-12-20** Committee of conference report accepted
- **2021-12-20** Referred to the committee on House Steering, Policy and Scheduling `referral-committee`
- **2021-12-20** Committee reported that the matter be placed in the Orders of the Day for the next sitting, the question being on acceptance
- **2021-12-20** Rules suspended
- **2021-12-20** Committee of conference report accepted, in concurrence
- **2021-12-20** Emergency preamble adopted
- **2021-12-20** Emergency preamble adopted
- **2021-12-20** Enacted `passage`
- **2021-12-20** Enacted and laid before the Governor `passage`
- **2021-12-22** Signed by the Governor, Chapter 108 of the Acts of 2021 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/86cf2b60-6f1f-4a06-befc-ce1819e8edde`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Massachusetts legislature records).