THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon Hill Roll Call records local representatives’ and senators’ votes on roll calls from the week of Nov. 3-7.
CHANGE ARCHAIC LANGUAGE REFERRING TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (H 4704): House 152-0, approved and sent to the Senate a bill that would modernize and remove archaic language in state laws to reflect the evolution of terminology relating to persons with disabilities. The Senate has already approved a different version of the measure, and the House version now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Changes include replacing “handicapped persons” with “persons with disabilities;” replacing “the mentally retarded” with “persons with an intellectual disability;” replacing “retarded children” with “children with an intellectual disability;” and replacing “disabled American veterans” with “American veterans with disabilities.”
“As lawmakers, we know that words matter,” said Speaker of the House Ron Mariano (D-Quincy). “This legislation is our latest effort to ensure that our state laws do not use antiquated words that carry negative connotations, words that also serve as a reminder of past injustices.”
“Removing out-of-date and offensive language from the Massachusetts General Laws to describe people with disabilities is an important step in ensuring that our values are also reflected in our statutes,” said Rep. Jay Livingstone (D-Boston), House Chair of the Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities. “As legislators, it is our job to help make sure that people with intellectual or developmental disabilities feel included, accepted and embraced for who they are, and this is an important step in doing so.”
(A “Yes” vote is for the bill.)
Rep. Natalie Blais, Yes; Rep. Mindy Domb, Yes; Rep. Homar Gomez, Yes; Rep. Kelly Pease, Yes; Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, Yes; Rep. Aaron Saunders, Yes
HOME CARE (H 4706): House 153-1, approved and sent to the Senate a bill that would establish a licensure process for home care agencies that supporters say will ensure that consumers receive quality non-medical services, and that home care workers are protected.
The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) would implement the licensure process and have the authority to approve licenses, survey and investigate home care agencies and impose fines. The measure also would require EOHHS to conduct a suitability review for all licensure applicants, including for all individuals with at least a 5 percent ownership interest in the agency; review applicants to ensure that they have sufficient financial capacity to provide a minimum standard of care; and require EOHHS to publish a list of all licensed home care agencies on its website.
Other provisions require minimum standards for home care workers by mandating several background screening checks on them; training and competency requirements for home care workers including confidentiality and privacy rights of home care consumers; infection control and communicable diseases; handling of emergencies, including safety and falls prevention; identifying and reporting suspected abuse, neglect or theft; and understanding Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, including person-centered care, activities of daily living, safety and dementia-related behaviors and communication.
The legislation implements workforce protections for employees including establishing procedures to ensure home care workers have safe working conditions, adequate training and a process for submitting complaints; requiring licensed home care agencies to have coverage for worker’s compensation and liability insurance; creation of the Home Care Worker and Consumer Abuse Stakeholder Advisory Committee to study and make recommendations on standards and procedures for addressing abusive treatment, including physical, verbal, mental abuse and bullying of home care workers, personal care assistants, home care consumers and family members; and informing home care workers of potentially unsafe working environments.
“This legislation could not have been passed at a more critical time,” said Rep. Tom Stanley (D-Waltham), House Chair of the Committee on Aging and Independence. “With our aging population expected to grow exponentially in the coming years and the number of family caregivers shrinking, the demand for home care will subsequently increase. It is critical for the commonwealth to have the proper standards and protections in place for home care agencies to ensure consumers receive quality care and our dedicated home care workers are properly trained and supported in the field.”
“With persistent staffing shortages and projections of growing need, urgent legislative action is needed to establish improved oversight over home care agency employers, better prepare to meet future care demands and to reduce the far-too-common abuse and workplace bullying of home care workers and/or their consumer clients,” said Cari Medina, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU, the union which represents more than 60,000 home care worker members. “[We] strongly support this bill to establish a new state process for the licensure of Massachusetts home care agencies, to implement improved operational standards for these agencies and to direct the adoption of new minimum standards and operational procedures for addressing abusive treatment and bullying of home care workers and/or their consumers.”
Betsey Crimmins, Executive Director of Mass Aging Access, said that Mass Aging Access and its statewide network of 24 Aging Services Access Points strongly support the bill.
“Massachusetts does not license non-medical home care services, even though these services are essential to helping older adults and people with disabilities live safely and independently in their own homes, resulting in better health outcomes and an improved quality of life,” said Crimmins. “The passage of [this legislation] will fill longstanding gaps in the commonwealth’s current system, bring Massachusetts in line with the majority of other states and strengthen our long-term services and supports network. “
Rep. John Gaskey (R-Carver), the only representative to vote against the bill, did not respond to repeated requests from Beacon Hill Roll Call asking him why he opposed the measure.
(A “Yes” vote is for the bill. A “No” vote is against it.)
Rep. Natalie Blais, Yes; Rep. Mindy Domb, Yes; Rep. Homar Gomez, Yes; Rep. Kelly Pease, Yes; Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, Yes; Rep. Aaron Saunders, Yes
MORE SUPPORT FOR MILITARY FAMILIES (S 2709): Senate 39-0, approved and sent to the House a bill that supporters say would provide enhanced safety, stability and educational opportunities for military families, and position the Bay State for greater federal defense investment and economic growth around its six military bases.
The bill would guarantee that a child of a military family would retain a seat in the classroom at their current school in Massachusetts, even if their parent or guardian is temporarily transferred elsewhere on official orders. If a military family moves permanently and arrives in a Massachusetts community, the bill also requires a timely and seamless transition for students who receive special education services.
Other provisions allow certain information from the military to be admissible as evidence in state courts for people seeking temporary domestic violence restraining orders; allow for federal judges to transfer juvenile cases to Massachusetts courts for offenses that occur on military bases; and direct National Guard leadership to track and report suicide data among veterans of the Massachusetts National Guard.
Sen. John Velis (D-Westfield), Senate Chair of the Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, said the bill bolsters the way that Massachusetts cares for its military families and in turn helps improve our Department of Defense scorecard to maintain critical federal military investments in our state.
“As we approach Veterans Day, I am incredibly proud to be a part of a legislative body that prioritizes not only our veterans and servicemembers but also our military families as well,” said Velis. “At the end of the day, my focus as Chairman of the Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs continues to be on ensuring that our commonwealth is not only the very best state for a veteran to call home, but also a welcoming and supportive home for our active-duty service members and their families.”
“I’m proud that Massachusetts continues to seek out ways to support our active military members and veterans and their families,” said Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland). “In advance of Veterans Day, it was important that the Senate reinforce our commitment to meeting veterans, active military members and their families where they are and provide support to those who have served and are serving our nation.”
“Military families very often face difficult situations when parents are called to duty, never knowing when or where their service to our country will take them,” said Sen. Mike Rodrigues (D-Westport), Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “This bill will help create a more stable environment for military serving families by ensuring continuous education and a smooth transition for special education services when changing school districts.”
“I have seen firsthand the power of legislation that seeks to improve the lives of our military and military-connected families,” said Jeffrey Chin, Executive Director of Blue Star Families of New England. “[The bill] will provide our military families a vital component that has all too often been missing in their ability to properly provide educational resources for their children. These families are often required to move to various duty stations as part of their duty and lifestyle, and this legislation will allow our military families to access the same choices that non-military families have available to them with regard to schools and access to appropriate educational resources for their children.”
(A “Yes” vote is for the bill.)
Sen. Joanne Comerford, Yes; Sen. Paul Mark, Yes; Sen. Jacob Oliveira, Yes; Sen. John Velis, Yes
DUTIES OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL (S 2675): Senate 38-0, approved and sent to the House a bill that supporters say would clarify the duties of the state’s Adjutant General. The measure provides that the Adjutant General, Massachusetts’ highest-ranking military office, has command of all troops in the state National Guard while carrying out the orders of the governor. The bill also brings state laws about the National Guard chain of command into line with the model used by the vast majority of other states.
“The legislation currently before us … seeks to make a technical change to streamline our National Guard’s chain of command structure and bring Massachusetts in line with the vast majority of our sister states,” said Sen. John Velis (D-Westfield). “As currently written, [Massachusetts law] states that the Adjutant General shall not personally excercise command of troops.”
Velis continued, “This legislation clarifies that the Adjutant General, in carrying out the policies and orders of the governor, has command of all Massachusetts National Guard troops — ensuring that the leadership of the Guard is unified and capable of implementing directives with precision. Currently, the Adjutant General lacks the clear statutory authority to personally command our troops during state missions. This gap can cause confusion in command structure and limits the Adjutant General from enforcing the Massachusetts code of military justice.”
“It [is] important to make a technical clarification to the command structure of the Massachusetts National Guard that brings us in line with most other states,” said Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland).
(A “Yes” vote is for the bill.)
Sen. Joanne Comerford, Yes; Sen. Paul Mark, Yes; Sen. Jacob Oliveira, Yes; Sen. John Velis, Yes
GUARD MEMBERS MUST FOLLOW ONLY LAWFUL ORDERS (S 2675): Senate 38-0, approved an amendment that would require that Massachusetts National Guard service members undergo training on their obligation to follow only lawful orders and that they receive guidance on how to respond to orders that violate Americans’ constitutional or statutory rights.
“National Guard troops across the country are being asked to violate the sovereignty of other states and the constitutional rights of ordinary Americans by a president who wants to use them like pawns in his game of intimidation,” said amendment sponsor Sen. Mike Moore (D-Millbury). “This amendment is simple. By creating a comprehensive training curriculum for servicemembers, Massachusetts is empowering our National Guard with the knowledge they need to determine, in the event that they are federalized, whether the orders they receive are lawful. The rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution are non-negotiable – the commonwealth of Massachusetts will not let our Guard be illegally used against its own people.”
(A “Yes” vote is for the amendment.)
Sen. Joanne Comerford, Yes; Sen. Paul Mark, Yes; Sen. Jacob Oliveira, Yes; Sen. John Velis, Yes
Also Up on Beacon Hill
GRADUATE STUDENTS AND FAMILY LEAVE AND UNEMPLOYMENT (S 747): The Financial Services Committee held a hearing on a measure that would strike the exclusion of graduate student workers from the definition of “employee” in order to allow for graduate student workers to have access to paid family and medical leave and unemployment insurance.
“Graduate students are workers, plain and simple, oftentimes with families, mortgage and the same health, economic and life challenges that most working people face,” said sponsor Sen. Paul Feeney (D-Foxborough). “They put in long hours and perform critical work. Despite the fact that they are working for educational institutions with abundant endowments, many don’t have the same paid family and medical leave and unemployment insurance benefits that are afforded other hard-working people in the commonwealth. This bill would rightfully close that loophole and allow them the same rights as everyone else.”
LIFE INSURANCE (S 760): Another bill heard by the Financial Services Committee would allow the holder of a life insurance policy to update their beneficiaries using an online tool if one is provided by the life insurance company, as long as the company takes reasonable steps to verify that the identity of the requester matches the holder of the policy. This bill would abolish a current law that requires all beneficiary changes to be made in person, with a “wet” signature and witness present.
“Technology has significantly developed since life insurance beneficiary practices were set in the commonwealth,” said sponsor Sen. Barry Finegold (D-Andover). “Many life insurance companies are now able to accept requests to change designated beneficiaries under life or endowment insurance policies, and this bill brings our legislation up to speed with the industry. While we move toward more technologically advanced processes, we can maintain safety and identity verification in similarly advanced ways. This bill will help make this process more convenient and time-efficient for all parties.”
DECEASED ANIMALS ON STATE HIGHWAYS (H 3678): The Transportation Committee held a hearing on a proposal that would require any State Department of Transportation highway employees who find deceased dogs or cats with identification, to either attempt to directly contact the owner or to notify local animal control officers or the police department.
“When a pet is hit on a highway and has a collar or microchip, the family should be notified,” said sponsor Rep. Richard Haggerty (D-Woburn). “Right now, there’s no requirement for that to happen, leaving families wondering what happened to their beloved pets. This bill would give them answers and closure.”
BILL RUSSELL AND BOB COUSY HIGHWAY (H 3727): Legislation that would name the portion of the Massachusetts Turnpike between Boston and Worcester, “The Bill Russell and Bob Cousy Highway,” was also before the Transportation Committee.
“I believe we should pay homage to celebrated Boston Celtics teammates and NBA champions, Bob Cousy and the late Bill Russell, who were not only exceptional athletes who brought many championships home to Boston, but who were also two great pillars of our community here in the commonwealth,” said sponsor Rep. David Linsky (D-Natick).
Linsky continued, “Bill Russell, as the first Black coach in the NBA, was a frequent target of racially motivated harassment and abuse. Even as he received death threats and hate crimes from his own fan base, he courageously continued to pioneer player activism. Russell marched alongside civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Medgar Evans, and continued to fight for civil rights his entire life. Bob Cousy was also much more than a basketball player. He played a tremendous role in organizing the first player’s union in the NBA which helped kickstart a new era of player empowerment in sports. Russell and Cousy both risked their careers and their lives to fight for what they believed in, and we should continue to honor them for their incredible work for our community.”
PROHIBIT RECORDING OR BROADCASTING WHILE DRIVING (S 2349):The Transportation Committee’s agenda also included a bill, known as Charlie’s Law, which would prohibit anyone from video recording or broadcasting live while driving a vehicle.
“I filed this legislation to honor my constituent, Charlie Braun of Northampton – a beloved partner, father, grandfather and community member – who was struck and killed by a motor vehicle while riding his bicycle,” said sponsor Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton). “Reports indicate that the driver of the vehicle was engaged in a FaceTime conversation while driving. Charlie’s tragic death underscored a gap that remains in our distracted driving laws, one that this bill seeks to close.”
Comerford continued, “In recent years, there has been a rapid rise in what’s known as ‘vlogging,’ or video recording or live broadcasting, while behind the wheel. A 2021 report from State Farm’s Auto Insurance Research Department found that between 2015 and 2020, the number of drivers recording videos while driving more than doubled, from 10 percent to nearly one in four. The data are particularly troubling among younger drivers: 44 percent of drivers aged 18 to 29 and 37 percent of those aged 30 to 39, reported recording videos while driving. Other states, including Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee and Utah, have taken action to explicitly prohibit this behavior. Massachusetts should do the same.”
BREASTFEEDING AND JURY DUTY (H 2021): The Judiciary Committee held a hearing on legislation that would exempt breastfeeding mothers from jury duty.
Supporters said that current law only allows breastfeeding mothers to delay jury duty up to one year with a medical exemption.
“Jury duty is a civic responsibility that is a crucial component of our justice system and democracy,” said sponsor Rep. Steven Ultrino (D-Malden). “But breastfeeding parents should not have to jump through excessive administrative hoops simply to request an exemption or postponement. Currently, breastfeeding parents are not guaranteed opportunity for postponement or a hardship transfer to a more convenient location to complete their juror service. This bill will ensure that our court system becomes more family-friendly and does not pose an undue burden on new parents and their infants.”
PROHIBIT REVOCATION OF, DENIAL OF OR REFUSAL TO RENEW A STATE-ISSUED PROFESSIONAL LICENSE AS A RESULT OF STUDENT LOAN PAYMENT DELINQUENCY (S 2139): The State Administration and Regulatory Oversight Committee’s hearing included a proposed measure that would repeal the state’s current law that allows for professional licenses to be revoked from, denied to or refused to be renewed for individuals due to a delinquent student loan. Under the terms of the proposed measure, with the exception of the Division of Banks, no state board of registration or agency would be permitted to revoke, deny or refuse to renew any professional license.
Under current state law, a borrower’s state-issued professional license cannot be revoked from, denied to or refuse to be renewed for only a borrower who is in default on an education loan. It does not exempt students who are delinquent but have not yet defaulted.
Many professionals including electricians, plumbers, accountants, real estate appraisers, real estate brokers and massage therapists are required to be licensed by the state.
“This is a commonsense bill that would extend those unemployment protections to individuals who are behind on their student loan payments,” said sponsor Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton). “It ensures they don’t fall further behind, or risk defaulting, if their professional license is at risk of being withheld.”
RANKED CHOICE VOTING (S 531): The Elections Laws Committee held a hearing on legislation that would allow any city or town to adopt and implement ranked choice voting for local elections just by approving a local bylaw to do so — without having to go through the current process which requires a city or town to first pass a local home rule petition and then requires approval by the Legislature. Under current law, any municipality seeking to adopt ranked choice voting for local elections must go through this lengthy and uncertain process. The bill will empower communities to adopt ranked choice voting without having to do so.
Ranked choice voting is a system under which voters rank one or more candidates in order of preference. If one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the first-place votes, that candidate would be declared the winner and no other rounds would be necessary. If no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes, the candidate that receives the least number of first-choice votes is eliminated. The second choice of the voters who supported the eliminated candidate now becomes their first choice and is added to the totals of the remaining candidates. The same process is repeated, if necessary, until a candidate is the first choice of a majority of voters.
“Ranked choice voting empowers voters and enhances ballot access, improving representative democracy,” said sponsor Sen. Becca Rausch (D-Needham). “It supports positive campaigns and bolsters voters’ confidence in our electoral system. Massachusetts voters understand and support ranked choice voting, especially for their local elections. I’m proud to sponsor the bill to clear the red tape preventing municipalities from implementing the election system that voters want for their communities.”
Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com.