Commonwealth Report Legislators Method

House · Democrat

Steven J. Ouellette

Current member · 8th Bristol

Data through FY2026; built October 19, 2026.

Residence

Westport

First elected

House 2024

Prior public offices

Westport Call Fire Fighter; Westport Reserve Police Officer; 8 Term Westport Selectman

Occupation

Municipal Facilities Director

Seats held, General Courts 189–194 (the FY2017–FY2026 budgets)
SessionChamberDistrictLinesNote
194th (2025–26)House8th Bristol2021 lines

Posts and stipends

No stipend payments to Steven J. Ouellette are recorded for 2016–2026.

Posts and stipends by session (stipends by calendar year)
SessionPostsFirst yearSecond year
194th (2025–26)No post recorded$0$0 (to date)

Posts: the Legislature’s leadership and roster records as compiled for this project; where those name no post, the member’s committee chair, vice-chair and ranking roles from the Legislature’s member profiles. Stipends: additional compensation in the Comptroller’s payroll data (CTHRU dataset 9ttk-7vz6), 2016–2026; 2026 is the year to date. Stipends for 2015 are not available. Base salary is not included.

The district

8th Bristol on its 2021 lines: 5 cities and towns, 42,005 residents (2020).

Westport · Fall River · Acushnet · Freetown · New Bedford

Percentages are each place’s share of the district’s 2020 residents; for a town split between districts, the share of the town inside this one follows.

Population-weighted Fairness Index of the district’s cities and towns: 47 for all state aid and 32 for discretionary money (50 is a fair share).

Local earmarks are counted three ways. District money uses the first, clauses that name a place in the district; the second table adds organizations located in the district (placed in the district) and state facilities located there (everything placed). Three ways to count a local earmark.

District money, first measure: enacted earmarks in clauses naming a place in the district, by session (district money, not the member’s)
SessionDistrictDollarsIn corrective clausesPer resident per budget, rankWithout corrective clauses, rank
194th (2025–26)8th Bristol$274,000$86,000$6.51 · 84th of 160$4.47 · 118th of 160

District money is where enacted earmarks land, by the place a clause names, mapped to districts by 2020 population; it is not attributed to the member and does not include leadership’s base-text money that names no place. Ranks are of district money per resident among the chamber’s districts, 1 = most. “In corrective clauses” is the part carried by a Ways and Means chair’s corrective amendments, which is leadership’s money; the last column gives the per-resident figure and rank without it. Sessions are labeled by the General Court that enacted each budget. Per-resident figures use the district as drawn for each session (2011 lines through the 192nd General Court, 2021 lines from the 193rd), so they will not equal a session’s dollars divided by the resident count above.

The same district on the other two measures, by session (enacted; includes any corrective-clause money)
SessionDistrictPlaced in the districtPer resident per budget, rankEverything placedPer resident per budget, rank
194th (2025–26)8th Bristol$270,000$6.43 · 104th of 160$274,000$6.51 · 109th of 160

Budget amendments

Steven J. Ouellette sponsored six budget amendments in FY2017–FY2026, asking for $200,000 in all.

Amendments sponsored

6

FY2017–FY2026 budgets

Adopted, known outcomes

80%

4 of 5

Chamber rate, same ask sizes

64%

expected at the chamber’s rates

Of the five with a known outcome, four were adopted (80%). At the chamber’s adoption rate for amendments of the same size, about three (64%) would have been.

Largest enacted items matched to an amendment Steven J. Ouellette filed (strong text matches)
YearAmountEnacted budget text (excerpt)Amendment
FY2026$25,000“the engineering to address a interior/exterior structural issue at Acushnet elementary school”H4000 #1238

Strong matches: 1 enacted item, $25,000 (the member’s share where several amendments claim one clause). A further one weaker text match is not listed; attribution is inferred from amendment text and is less certain there. House attribution is inferred throughout, because the House adopts most amendments inside consolidated amendments.

5 outcomes are inferred by matching amendment text to the House’s consolidated amendments, because the House records most amendments only as “Consolidated A–G.” Ask size is the larger of the earmark dollars and the line-item change an amendment requests; bands: no dollar amount, under $50,000, $50,000–$250,000, $250,000–$1 million, $1–5 million, $5 million or more. Leadership’s unattributed base-text and corrective-amendment money is never assigned to a member. The comparison describes outcomes; it is not a measure of merit.

Bills sponsored

Steven J. Ouellette filed 3 bills as lead sponsor in these sessions; zero were enacted on their own. Only the 194th General Court, still in session, is covered, so no enacted rate is given.

Most bills die in every legislature, and many policies pass inside other bills; the chamber median for the same session is the fair comparison.

Bills filed as lead sponsor, by session and outcome
SessionChamberLead billsSent to studyPending (session open)Enacted rateChamber medianCosponsored
194th (2025–26)House3120%*1%74

Outcomes are the furthest point each bill reached in the record. “Folded into an enacted bill” means the history names the enacted bill that absorbed it. “Passed both branches; no chapter recorded” means the bill was enacted by both branches and laid before the Governor, with no chapter or veto in the history; in the 194th General Court such bills are shown as laid before the Governor (pending). The 194th General Court is in session until January 2027, so its open bills are pending, not dead, and its rates (*) are not comparable with completed sessions. Chairs and leaders control the calendar, which raises their rates. Source: malegislature.gov bill histories.

Recorded votes on accountability measures

Steven J. Ouellette cast 14 yes-or-no votes on the 14 accountability roll calls in this file (four yes, ten no).

Roll calls on rules, audits, public records, term limits and pay
DateMeasureVoteChamber result
February 25, 2025Amendment 2.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Roll CallsNoYeas 23, nays 128
February 25, 2025Amendment 3.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Formal Session NotificationNoYeas 23, nays 128
February 25, 2025Amendment 4.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): General Court AuditsNoYeas 23, nays 128
February 25, 2025Amendment 5.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Opinion of the JusticesNoYeas 23, nays 128
February 25, 2025Amendment 6.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Committee PollsNoYeas 23, nays 128
February 25, 2025Amendment 7.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Committee Poll NotificationNoYeas 23, nays 128
February 25, 2025Joint rules (H2026), rules package: on adoption of the order (contested meaning)YesYeas 128, nays 23
February 25, 2025Amendment 18.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Time to Review LegislationNoYeas 23, nays 128
February 25, 2025Amendment 17.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Audit by State AuditorNoYeas 24, nays 127
February 25, 2025Amendment 2.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Committee PollsNoYeas 23, nays 128
February 25, 2025Amendment 3.0 (Bradley H. Jones, Jr.): Committee Poll NotificationsNoYeas 23, nays 128
February 25, 2025House rules (H2024), rules package: on adoption of the order (contested meaning)YesYeas 128, nays 23
June 26, 2025Joint rules (conference report) (S2545), rules package: on acceptance (contested meaning)YesYeas 147, nays 2
June 3, 2026Engross H.5469 (public records law applied to the Legislature). Reform advocates split (contested meaning)YesYeas 125, nays 28

Votes marked “contested meaning” are rules-package and public-records passage votes; reform advocates were on both sides of them. Descriptions are the project’s plain summaries of each question, or the question as recorded for rules-package roll calls; the official record is on malegislature.gov. Votes are facts; no score is computed.

Campaign money in

Steven J. Ouellette’s committee reported $18,000 in contributions of $250 or more in years the member served, 2025–2026.

By year (years in the Legislature)
YearContributions
2025$4,400
2026$14,000
By kind of contributor
KindTotalShare
Individuals$13,00072%
Political committees and PACs$3,00017%
Unions and associations$2,00011%
Individuals’ money by the employer they reported
Employer reportedShare
A named employer43%
Self-employed4%
Retired20%
Not reported or withheld33%

The same committee also reported $6,720 in years the member was not in the Legislature (2024), for example while running for another office. Those receipts are not in the totals above.

Largest employers and organizations
Employer or organizationKindTotalContributions
BOSTON HOUSING AUTHORITYindividuals, by employer$2,0002
DSGindividuals, by employer$1,0001
NEW BEDFORD PLUMBING SUPPLYindividuals, by employer$5001
GREATER SOUTHEASTERN MASS LABOR COUNCILunion or association$5001
MA & NO NEW ENGLAND LABORERS COUNCILunion or association$5001
GREATER S E MA LABOR COUNCILcommittee or PAC$5001
MA & NORTHERN NE LABORERS' DISTRICT COUNCIL POL ACTION COMMcommittee or PAC$5001
MASSACHUSETTS BRICKLAYERScommittee or PAC$5001
WESTPORT DEMOCRATIC TOWN COMMITTEEcommittee or PAC$5001
WESTPORT DEMTCcommittee or PAC$5001

Source: Office of Campaign and Political Finance, itemized receipts of $250 or more since 2015; OCPF filer record: Ouellette Committee (CPF 18803). Individuals are grouped by the employer they reported; no individual contributor is named, and an employer field that is a person’s name is withheld. Massachusetts bars business contributions to candidates. Employer shows affiliation, not instruction.

Sources

Every figure traces to a public record.

Facts only: posts, stipends, sponsored amendments, enacted items, roll-call votes and district money. No score or grade is computed. Associations shown here are not evidence of cause. Method.