Governor Baker Signs Legislature’s Expansive Mental Health Bill

Legislative leaders and advocates joined Governor Baker for the ceremonial bill signing of the Mental Health ABC Act: Addressing Barriers to Care, comprehensive legislation to continue the process of reforming the way mental health care is delivered in Massachusetts, with the goal of ensuring that people get the mental health care they need when they need it. The Governor officially signed this legislation into law on August 10, 2022.

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Sarah Blodgett
Landmark Judiciary IT Bond Bill Signed into Law

Following action by House and Senate lawmakers, An Act to Improve and Modernize the Information Technology Systems and Capacities of the Judiciary was signed into law this week. The legislation makes a once in 25-year investment in modernizing the technology and security of court houses across Massachusetts. Additionally, this bill responds to the controversial U.S. Supreme Court New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen decision by tightening Massachusetts safety standards to comply with the decision while ensuring that local police chiefs personally interview each applicant for a license to carry.

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Sarah Blodgett
Legislature Passes Landmark Mental Health Reform 

The Legislature passed the Mental Health ABC Act: Addressing Barriers to Care (ABC), comprehensive legislation to continue the process of reforming the way mental health care is delivered in Massachusetts, with the goal of ensuring that people get the mental health care they need when they need it. The Mental Health ABC Act is driven by the recognition that mental health is as important as physical health for every resident of the Commonwealth and should be treated as such.

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Sarah Blodgett
Massachusetts Legislature Passes Legislation to Foster Greater Equity in the Cannabis Industry

The Legislature passed legislation, An Act relative to equity in the cannabis industry, that encourages and facilitates participation in the cannabis industry from communities disproportionally harmed by marijuana criminalization by creating a Social Equity Trust Fund. The bill also strengthens the host community agreement process and clarifies procedures for permitting social consumption sites.

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Sarah Blodgett
Legislature Passes $11.3 Billion Transportation and Infrastructure Bill

The Legislature’s final version of the transportation bond bill, which was released from conference committee on Saturday, was enacted by both the House and Senate on Sunday. It authorizes over $11.3 billion for transportation and infrastructure projects, including $400 million for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to address ongoing safety concerns identified by the Federal Transit Administration’s Safety Management Inspection and $275 million for the East-West passenger rail project.

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Sarah Blodgett
Senate Passes Judicial Modernization Legislation

The Senate passed legislation to modernize aspects of the Massachusetts court system, including by closing loopholes around the Commonwealth’s gun laws. The bill supports Massachusetts courts’ increased use of technology in courtroom proceedings by investing in information technology for the judiciary branch and allowing certain administrative proceedings to be done electronically. Following renewed national scrutiny of state gun control laws in the wake of mass shootings and the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down gun control legislation in the state of New York, this bill also takes steps to strengthen Massachusetts’ gun control laws.

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Sarah Blodgett
Senate Passes Bill to Limit the Use of Step Therapy

The Massachusetts State Senate passed legislation to limit the use of step therapy, or ‘fail first’ protocols that too often direct patients to cheaper medications rather than those more suitable to treat their condition. The bill gives health care providers more leverage in determining the most effective treatment options for patients, saving patients expensive and painful regimens on medications they know to be ineffective or harmful. This bill builds on similar legislation passed by the Senate in 2020.

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Sarah Blodgett
Senate Passes Legislation to Strengthen Local Public Health Services

The Senate passed legislation to address disparities in local and regional public health systems. The bill would encourage wider technical coordination among Massachusetts’ 351 separate boards of health, establish common standards among these boards, and ensure that these boards of health are funded equitably. This legislation implements the unanimous recommendations of the Special Commission on Local and Regional Public Health and was a key recommendation of the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management’s July 2022 report.

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Sarah Blodgett
Senate Passes the SAVE Students Act

The Senate passed legislation to strengthen school safety and protect students from being harmed. To address the issues of school violence and teen suicide, the bill expands violence prevention and suicide awareness programming in schools, creates an anonymous reporting system for tips related to student safety concerns, and tasks the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) with developing a model threat assessment policy for responding to dangerous activity.

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Sarah Blodgett
Massachusetts Legislature Passes Bill Supporting Veterans and Military Families

The Massachusetts Legislature passed comprehensive legislation addressing the Commonwealth’s most immediate needs in the veteran community and making necessary updates to service member quality-of-life issues and acknowledgements of our military branches and individual service, including supporting military families who relocate to the Commonwealth with expedited licensure and school enrollment, creating education awareness programs, and establishing the Massachusetts Medal of Fidelity.

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Sarah Blodgett
Senate Passes Legislation Supporting Special Needs Trusts for Disabled Seniors

The Massachusetts State Senate passed legislation to promote the wellbeing of senior citizens with disabilities by clarifying their right to create and access pooled trusts while also receiving MassHealth benefits. Pooled trusts can provide funding to help seniors with disabilities to pay for items and services which are not covered by MassHealth, such as home care services, uncovered medical, dental and pharmacy costs, transportation, clothing, and household items.

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Sarah Blodgett
Massachusetts Legislature Passes Comprehensive Legislation Protecting Access to Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Care

The Massachusetts Legislature passed comprehensive legislation designed to further protect and expand reproductive health care and gender-affirming services in the Commonwealth. Although abortion remains legal in Massachusetts due to the Legislature’s efforts to codify and expand access to reproductive rights in 2020, the Legislature today took additional action to further protect these rights and establish additional safeguards following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

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Sarah Blodgett
Senate Passes Legislation to Promote Economic Growth and Give Residents Relief

The Massachusetts State Senate passed a $4.57 billion spending package to promote economic development in the Commonwealth and give relief to residents facing the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic turbulence. The bill includes a broad-based tax relief package that will result in permanently lower taxes for many households and hundreds of thousands of residents receiving rebates from the state.

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Sarah Blodgett
Massachusetts Legislature Passes Major Clean Energy Legislation

The Massachusetts Legislature passed a sweeping clean energy bill, An Act driving clean energy and offshore wind. The legislation bolsters green transportation, green buildings, and clean power production, including offshore wind, solar, storage and networked geothermal, while creating thousands of new jobs and economic benefits in the process.

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Sarah Blodgett
Massachusetts Legislature Passes FY23 Budget

The Massachusetts Legislature unanimously passed a $52.7 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23). This budget upholds fiscal responsibility and makes targeted investments to strengthen the state’s economic foundation, protect the most vulnerable residents and support the everyday needs of communities and families in the Commonwealth.

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Sarah Blodgett