Representative Rogers currently serves at the Ranking Member of the Joint Committees on Education,[2] Children & Families,[3] and Labor and Workforce Development.[4]
He served as House Majority Leader from January 2005 until January 2009. He served as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee from January 2001 through January 2005. As Chairman, he was the chief budget writer for the Massachusetts House of Representatives. During his tenure in the Legislature, he has also served as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation (1999-2001) and Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary (1997-1999). Representative Rogers has also served as Vice Chairman of several committees – the House Committee on Steering and Policy, the House Committee on Housing and Urban Development and the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight – while also serving as a member of the Joint Committees on Banks and Banking; Energy; and Criminal Justice.
Rep. Rogers has also been chosen to lead several different caucuses and special legislative committees. From 1994–2001, he served as House Chair of the Legislative Caucus on Older Citizens' Concerns (also known as the "Elder Caucus"). In 1998, he was appointed by former Speaker Thomas Finneran to chair a special legislative committee to reform the adoption laws in Massachusetts so as to accelerate the adoption process and ensure that the best interests of the child are of paramount concern in the process. In 1999, he was recognized by the Massachusetts Families for Kids, the Legislative Caucus on Foster Care and the Department of Social Services for his efforts as Chairman of that Ad-Hoc Committee on Adoption and as author of the landmark Adoption Law of 1999.[5] In October 2004, he was chosen to co-chair the legislatively created Commission to Study the Provision of Counsel to Indigent Persons in the Commonwealth which issued a major report, now known as the "Rogers Report,"[6] recommending improvements to the so-called CPCS system in March 2006. In 2007, he chaired the special House Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect and authored the report First Do No Harm[7]
Unsuccessful 2009 bid for state house speaker
In early 2008, both Rogers and Robert DeLeo put themselves forward as candidates if the state house speakership, held by legally embattled lawmaker Salvatore DiMasi, became vacant.[8] When the position became available in January 2009, there was an animated competition for the position. While Rogers managed to receive backing from many state house Democrats, he ultimately conceded to DeLeo and urged lawmakers to vote for him as the house speaker.[9]
