The Massachusetts State Senate on Thursday passed legislation that would support parents running for public office by recognizing childcare as a valid campaign expense.
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The Massachusetts Legislature passed legislation to prevent individuals who default on their student loans from having their license or professional certification revoked as a result.
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The Legislature on passed legislation that protects open and public spaces throughout the Commonwealth and ensures their conservation for future generations. This legislation, known as the Public Land Preservation Act, permanently preserves and protects the amount of land designated as open spaces and prevents it from being used for other purposes.
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Leaders from MetroWest Medical Center and Tufts Medicine today announced continued progress in their plans to ensure that cancer services remain open in Framingham without any disruption to care in the community.
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The Massachusetts Legislature passed a wide-ranging $3.76 billion relief package to provide targeted energy assistance, support ongoing transportation needs, and invest in the state’s small businesses, caregivers, health care system, affordable housing, and efforts to fight climate change.
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The Senate passed two bills to help people with disabilities live independently in Massachusetts. The first takes steps to ensure that people with physical disabilities who rely on wheelchairs are not stranded for long time periods in the event of the breakdown of an in-warranty wheelchair. The second recognizes supported decision-making as an alternative to guardianship, allowing certain people with disabilities to retain greater decision-making power over their lives.
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The Massachusetts Senate enacted 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.
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Senate President Spilka’s 55+ Fair: Health and Wellness for Active Agers and Those Who Love Them will be held on Saturday, October 22, 2022 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Keefe Regional Technical School (Keefe Tech), located at 750 Winter Street in Framingham, Massachusetts.
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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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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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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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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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The Massachusetts Legislature passed legislation which would allow individuals under the age of 18 to access life-saving HIV prevention medication, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or postexposure prophylaxis (PEP).
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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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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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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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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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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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The Senate passed legislation to ensure that all adoptees will have access to their original birth certificates. Under current state law, an adopted person born between July 17, 1974 and January 1, 2008 cannot access their original birth certificate without obtaining a court order that unseals their record.
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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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