On July 31 (really 9:57 a.m. on August 1), the Massachusetts Legislature technically finished its 2023-2024 formal legislative session.
Highlights of what passed the Legislature and is awaiting the Governor’s signature:
Highlights of what has recently been signed by the Governor into law:
Highlights of bills that have already passed both branches of the Legislature and could still be completed:
- Long term care bill
- Maternal health care bill
- Substance use disorder treatment and care bill
- Health care bill
- Economic development bond bill
- Clean energy bill
*****
Bills that passed the Legislature in July and now await the Governor’s review and signature:
Parentage bill
On July 30, the Senate passed S.2912 — An Act to ensure legal parentage equality unanimously. This bill, also known as the Massachusetts Parentage Act, will update Massachusetts’ outdated parentage law so that it is clear, equitable, and provides legal protection for all families, including LGBTQ+ families. The bill allows all children to access the security of legal parentage, regardless of the circumstances of their birth.
The Legislature passed the negotiated version of the bill (H.4970) and sent it to the Governor for her consideration early on August 1.
Veterans bill
Earlier this summer, I joined my colleagues in the Senate to vote unanimously in support of H.4671 — An Act Honoring, Empowering and Recognizing our Servicemembers and Veterans (the HERO Act). This legislation will increase benefits for disabled veterans, bolster support for businesses that hire veterans, update the definition of a veteran, expand the scope of the Veterans Equality Review Board, and codify medical and dental benefits.
The Legislature passed the agreed upon version of the bill (H.4976) and sent it to the Governor for her review early on August 1.
What is officially signed by the Governor:
Housing bond bill
On June 27, I joined my colleagues in the Senate to pass comprehensive housing legislation, S.2834 — An Act relative to the Affordable Homes Act, authorizing $5.4 billion in borrowing and making policy changes with the goal of building new housing, accelerating the rehabilitation of existing housing, reducing barriers to development equitably, and promoting affordable housing. After grappling with more than 300 amendments, the Senate passed the legislation, also known as the Affordable Homes Act, unanimously.
Read more here about the Senate’s version of the Affordable Homes Act, including the five key amendments I filed and nearly $10 million in bonding authorizations that my team and I were able to secure.
The House and Senate compromise bill is H.4977. The Governor signed the bill into law on August 6.
I was pleased that my priority bonding authorizations were included:
- $500,000 for Valley Community Development for the design and construction of solar energy systems and development at the Amherst Community Homes project,
- $2,000,000 for Way Finders for an affordable housing project at East Street and the Belchertown Road in Amherst,
- $1,000,000 for housing development or redevelopment in Leverett, and
- $1,470,000 Valley Community Land Trust for land acquisition and construction and development of affordable housing in Franklin County.
Also included in the bill are multiple directives to ensure that funding decisions take geographic equity into account, as well as an expansion of the HousingWorks program to rural and small towns. The program supports local infrastructure critical to expanding housing, such as sewers, utility extensions, roads, water treatment systems, transit improvements, public parks, and pedestrian and bicycle ways, among others.
The work now is to understand the impact of this sweeping final legislation and to put it to work in our region.
None of this work would be possible without the stellar and strategic work of the Western Mass Network to End Homelessness and the Western Mass Housing Coalition. Both entities came together to influence the Governor’s base bill.
Firearm safety bill
On July 25, Governor Healey signed into law H.4885 — An Act to sensibly address firearm violence through effective reform — the SAFER Act.
This comprehensive gun safety bill passed the Senate back in February. More on that here.
I heard from many constituents about this legislation in the weeks and months leading up to the Senate’s debate and beyond. As part of my work on this legislation, driven by my interest in reducing gun violence, my team and I met with constituents and advocates including the Western Mass Police Chiefs, the Northwestern District Attorney’s office, sport shooting advocates, hunters, Moms Demand Action, Giffords Center for Violence Intervention, and Everytown for Gun Safety. I shared their advocacy and their ideas with my colleagues.
Read more about this legislation here.
IT bond bill
On July 24, the House and the Senate sent H.4889 — An Act to provide for the future information technology needs of Massachusetts to the Governor for her signature. Also known as the FutureTech Act, this $1.26 billion bond bill will modernize the Commonwealth’s digital infrastructure and create safer and more accessible experiences for residents and employees alike.
Funding in the FutureTech Act will allow state agencies to deliver services more efficiently to residents, enhance cybersecurity on statewide platforms, and broaden access to services used by hundreds of thousands of residents statewide. The bill would also invest in emerging technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) and create a fund to secure anticipated federal funding to bolster health and human services-related projects.
I was proud to serve as the Senate Chair for the Conference Committee and helped negotiate the final version of this legislation. The Governor signed the legislation on July 29. The signing party is pictured below.
Wage transparency bill
On July 24, the Massachusetts Legislature took a powerful step towards closing the gender and racial wage gap in the Commonwealth by passing H.4890 — An Act relative to salary range transparency. The legislation requires employers with 25 or more employees to disclose a salary range when posting a position and protects an employee’s right to ask their employer for the salary range for their position when applying for a job or seeking a promotion.
When signed into law, H.4890 makes Massachusetts the eleventh state to mandate pay transparency by requiring employers to disclose salary ranges, according to the National Women’s Law Center. H.4890 builds on the Legislature’s 2016 passage of the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, which prohibited wage discrimination based on gender and brought long-sought fairness and equality to workplaces in the state.
Governor Healey signed this bill into law on the afternoon of July 31.
What is still pending before the Legislature:
Conference committees have been appointed for all of the following bills. I will be advocating for action on all of these bills.
Long term care bill
On July 25, the Senate approved sweeping reforms to the Commonwealth’s long term care and assisted living sectors.
The legislation, S.2889 — An Act relative to long term care and assisted living, substantially strengthens state oversight and enforcement of long term care and assisted living facilities while also requiring facilities to create outbreak plans should a health issue arise.
My amendment to extensively scale back the state’s Medicaid estate recovery program to the federally-required minimum was adopted into the bill that passed the Senate. “Estate recovery” is the policy where MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program, demands repayment for the costs of medical care provided to people over age 55 after the beneficiary has died. The funds must be paid by the heirs, often requiring the forced sale of the family home. This process perpetuates intergenerational poverty. Massachusetts has one of the most aggressive estate recovery programs nationally.
More on the amendment and the Senate bill here.
Maternal health care bill
On July 30, the Senate joined the House and passed a sweeping maternal health care bill. The bill, S.2899 — An Act relative to increasing access to perinatal health care, focuses squarely on racial inequities in maternal health. The bill includes provisions affecting post-pregnancy depression screening, doula care, infant wellness visits, and paid sick time. I’m particularly pleased that the bill creates a licensure program for professional midwives and strengthens stand-alone birth centers. Working with the Seven Sisters Birth Center in Northampton, I filed a bill to update birth center regulations to national standards, and my initiative was included in the Senate bill.
You can see/listen to my brief remarks on the bill here.
And look at this joyous scene from the evening of July 30.
It is imperative that birth center regulations are updated in Massachusetts to allow for more centers to open and provide quality care for pregnant and birthing people. My team and I will continue to work on this legislation into the fall.
Substance use disorder treatment and care bill
On July 30, the Senate passed legislation S.2898 — An Act relative to accessing harm reduction initiatives, which expands support for residents coping with substance use disorder, and addresses the opioid crisis which claims thousands of lives each year. The bill passed unanimously in a vote of 38-0.
Read more about the Senate’s version of the impactful bill here.
Health care bill
On July 18, the Senate debated and passed S.2871 — An Act enhancing the health care market review process by a vote of 38-2.
While much of the bill focuses on increasing oversight of private equity ownership of health care practices and facilities, I am really grateful for the additional focus on primary care, pediatric care, health equity, small hospitals, and regional equity included in the legislation.
Economic development bill
On July 11, the Senate debated and unanimously passed omnibus economic development legislation.
The legislation, S.2856 — An Act Relative to strengthening Massachusetts’ economic leadership, includes $2.86 billion in bond authorizations to make bold investments in all sectors of the economy — including an important rural focus — and to create an environment where businesses and workers thrive.
Read more here about four successful amendments that my team and I filed to the Senate’s version of the bill, $10 million in bonding authorizations for our region, and major wins baked into the initial draft legislation thanks to our advocacy.
Clean energy bill
On June 25, the Senate debated and passed omnibus clean energy legislation, S.2829 — An Act upgrading the grid and protecting ratepayers.
I heard from more than 400 constituents about this legislation, and my team and I shared, before the bill was debated, updates on our work on clean energy siting and permitting as well as the changes that we had won together that were already included in the bill.
Read more about the clean energy bill that passed the Senate, which included four of my priority amendments, here.
