BOSTON (AP) - The Massachusetts Senate has held its first session in temporary quarters while the ornate chamber closes for a $20 million renovation.
Senators met on Wednesday in Gardner Auditorium, located below ground in the Statehouse. They approved several bills including one that funds local road repairs.
Democratic Senate President Stan Rosenberg said he believed it was the first time the body has met in a different part of the historic capitol building since it opened in 1798.
The Senate chamber isn’t expected to reopen for business until the start of the next biennial legislative session in January 2019.
Rosenberg says the primary reason for the renovation is to shore up “structural weaknesses” that have developed in the walls of the chamber, though a number of cosmetic improvements will also be made.
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