Dear friends-
As we close out the 193rd session of the Massachusetts General Court, I want to share the progress we have made. With your support, we tackled some of the most challenging and pressing matters facing our Commonwealth. While there is more still to come in the upcoming legislative session, please take a moment to review what we have accomplished this year.
Substance Abuse Disorder Legislation
H.5143, An Act relative to treatments and coverage for substance use disorder and recovery coach licensure, will expand non-opioid pain treatments, establish licenses for recovery coaches, and support pregnant people and their children who have been exposed to substances.
It will vastly expand access to opioid-reversal drugs like naloxone. In 2023, 2,125 lives were lost as a result of an overdose, 232 fewer than in 2022, according to the Department of Public Health (DPH). Since 2023, naloxone has reversed more than 10,000 overdoses in Massachusetts.
Breast Cancer Screening/Down Syndrome Insurance Coverage
The Massachusetts Senate passed two bills expanding services that must be covered by health insurers in the state.
One requires that insurers provide coverage for the treatment of Down syndrome through speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and applied behavior analysis services. The other requires insurers provide coverage for diagnostic examinations for breast cancer.
EL4918 – An Act relative to medically necessary breast screenings and exams for equity and early detection, requires health insurance providers, including the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) and MassHealth, to provide coverage for diagnostic examinations for breast cancer, digital breast tomosynthesis screening, and medically necessary and appropriate screening with breast magnetic resonance imaging. Although access to routine preventive screening mammograms is currently covered under the Affordable Care Act, this legislation would go further and require coverage for certain screenings and exams currently not uniformly covered by law.
S.617, An Act relative to applied behavioral analysis therapy, requires health insurance providers to provide coverage for the treatment of Down syndrome through speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and applied behavior analysis services.
According to UMass Memorial Health, approximately 5,000 people in Massachusetts live with Down syndrome.
According to studies performed by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, speech therapy intervention improved decoding skills for word reading and had a positive impact on articulation in children with Down syndrome.
Economic Development Bill
H.5100, An Act relative to strengthening Massachusetts’ economic leadership, will stimulate new and proven industries, support workforce development and talent retention, and modernize economic growth strategies. Provisions of the bill will support small businesses, communities, and cultural development, ensuring that businesses Main Streets across the Commonwealth benefit from the economic boost.
Climate Bill
The legislation includes a total of $3.96 billion in capital authorizations for leading Massachusetts industries including life sciences and climatetech.
The bill provides $400 million in capital resources to the MassCEC (Massachusetts Clean Energy Center) to utilize over the next ten years, with $200 million authorized to support innovation and deployment of climatetech technologies and $200 million to support the offshore wind industry. It also establishes a new tax credit to invest in climatetech companies. A new program housed at MassCEC will develop and expand employment opportunities in climatetech and promote climatetech-related economic development by supporting and stimulating research, development, innovation, manufacturing, deployment and commercialization in the climatetech sector. The credit will be subject to a $30 million annual cap.
Supplemental Budget
Passed a supplemental budget closing out Fiscal Year 2024, fulfilling the state’s obligations to critical programs and services used by residents statewide.
The funding supports treatment for substance and alcohol misuse, public health hospital investments, universal school meals, and targets $12 million for fiscally distressed community health centers, among other investments. Boosting funding for health centers will help provide equitable care in cities and towns across the state.
The bill makes several changes to benefit the state’s veterans, allowing veterans to receive free license plates and clarifying that municipalities can create veteran housing preferences within existing affordable housing frameworks. It also ratifies several approved collective bargaining agreements.
The legislation’s $700 million allocation includes:
$11 million for tax abatements for veterans, widows, blind persons and the elderly.
$12.7 million for the Municipal Regionalization and Efficiencies Incentive Reserve.
$7.6 million for health and human services and MassHealth administration.
$565.4 million for MassHealth caseload ($0 net cost after federal reimbursements).
$5 million for public health hospitals.
$1.3 million for labor and workforce development administration.
$7.3 million for Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT).
$8.7 million for universal school meals.
$690,000 for the Chief Medical Examiner.
$200,000 for the National Guard.
$622,000 for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.
$1 million for the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association.
$2.5 million for start-up costs for online lottery.
$14 million for Section 35 treatment for substance and alcohol use disorder.
$400,000 for mosquito-borne disease prevention.
$46,000 for the county sheriffs.
$12 million for fiscally strained community health centers.
Child Custody Modernization
The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act would simplify custody jurisdiction laws and bring Massachusetts into conformity with other states around the country. By doing so, the Commonwealth would be creating a more streamlined process for families going through challenging times while supporting the safety and well- being of children who find themselves in custody challenges.
Under the new law, clear rules would be established for multi-state custody cases, prioritizing the home state of the child and ensuring Massachusetts courts can work effectively with courts in other states nationally and in other countries for international child custody orders. Going forward, once Massachusetts courts have exercised jurisdiction over custody, those courts would maintain jurisdiction over potential changes in the judgment or order, so long as a parent or the child remain in state. This will prevent forum shopping and competing lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions.
DCF/Breed Restrictions
Under the new law, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) would consider factors such as a pet’s history of dangerous behavior and their health records, instead of a pet’s breed. Currently, a family who is thinking of adopting cannot do so if they own breeds including Rottweilers, pit bulls, German shepherds, or a dog which mixes at least two of these three breeds.
According to 2021 census data, nearly one in every three households (30%) in Massachusetts has a dog. Boston ranked eleventh nationally among metro areas with the highest pet ownership ranks, with 38.7% of households owning a pet. The legislation also clarifies that human service workers are able to report instances of animal abuse when acting in their professional capacity.
Federal Funds
An Act to provide for competitiveness and infrastructure investment in Massachusetts, takes advantage of the interest accrued from the Commonwealth’s Stabilization Fund and leverages that interest to ensure the state receives the maximum possible share of federal funds. The Commonwealth’s Stabilization Fund has an all-time high balance of over $8 billion. It is currently estimated that Massachusetts could receive up to $17.5 billion through historic, once-in-a-generation federal funding opportunities.
Over the coming years, this bill is expected to unlock more than $800 million in funds that will be used to fund the state or municipal match requirement for federal competitive grant opportunities, as well as planning work that will help municipalities with the process of preparing applications for federal grants. Once federal grant opportunities expire, money in this fund will go toward reducing the Commonwealth’s long-term liabilities. Through three pieces of federal legislation—the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act—over $2 trillion in spending is being made available to states through competitive grant programs and formula allocations. With this bill, the Commonwealth will be maximizing its position to capitalize on these substantial federal funding opportunities.
Massability
Passed legislation to rename the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) to MassAbility, a change that will define the agency’s role in supporting residents with disabilities live independently.The name change reflects the intention to empower individuals living with disabilities and move away from outdated terminology as the office undergoes broad changes towards a more expansive model for disability employment services and independent living. The legislation also removes offensive terminology in the Massachusetts General Laws referring to people with disabilities in sections of the law that pertain to MassAbility.
Alcohol Licenses
final passage to compromise legislation adding 225 new
alcohol licenses for the City of Boston over the next three years.
The licenses would be distributed across 13 Boston zip codes, expanding equity for restaurant owners in historically underrepresented parts of the city and boosting economic opportunity in communities of color that have been systematically excluded for decades.
The compromise legislation includes a total of 225 new licenses in the coming three years for the city, including:
12 new unrestricted licenses.
195 new restricted licenses for 13 Boston zip codes, distributed as five per year, per zip code, for three years. Of the five licenses, three would be for all alcohol sales, and two would be for sales of beer and wine. 15 community licenses for non-profits, small theaters, and outdoor spaces, for all alcohol sales.
3 for Oak Square in Brighton, for all alcohol sales.
Long Term Care Reform
Passed sweeping reforms to the long-term care and assisted living sectors, taking a powerful step towards delivering high quality and safe care for older residents across the
Commonwealth.
An Act to improve quality and oversight of long-term care strengthens the Commonwealth’s oversight of nursing homes, provides critical anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ nursing home residents, and permanently allows assisted living residences to offer basic health services.
Veterans’ Benefits
An Act Honoring, Empowering and Recognizing Our Service Members and Veterans (HERO Act), legislation designed to boost support for hundreds of thousands of individuals across the state who have served in the United States military, including nearly 30,000 women veterans and thousands of LGBTQ+ veterans.
This compromise legislation increases and simplifies benefits and opportunities, modernizes services, and promotes inclusivity for Massachusetts veterans while reaffirming the Commonwealth’s commitment to recognizing and serving all service members and their families. It increases benefits for disabled veterans and Gold Star family members, bolsters new and existing initiatives for municipalities and businesses to support veterans, creates comprehensive services for active-duty service members and military families, expands the scope of the Veterans Equality Review Board, updates the Chapter 115 definition of a veteran to expand eligibility, and codifies medical, behavioral health, and dental benefits.
Further, it establishes new recognitions for military service in the Commonwealth and requires several working groups to review post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans, mental health treatments for veterans, and overall quality of life for veterans in Massachusetts
Parentage Equality
An Act to ensure legal parentage equality, extending the full rights of parentage to LGBTQ+ families and families created via assisted reproduction.
The bill dismantles archaic legal barriers to basic parenting responsibilities for modern families, opening the door to legally attend and make decisions during medical appointments, manage a child’s finances, participate in educational decisions, and provide authorizations for a child’s travel.
Despite leading the nation by legalizing same-sex marriage 20 years ago, LGBTQ+ residents continue to face significant barriers in obtaining full legal recognition as a parent.
In response, the legislature’s bill updates the Commonwealth’s laws so common paths to parentage may be utilized equally by all families, regardless of marital status. It also creates a new path to parentage for
individuals who are ‘de facto’ parents and ensures that every child and parent has the same rights and
protections without regard to the marital status, gender identity or sexual orientation of their parents, or the circumstances of their birth.
FutureTech Act
Took action on a $1.26 billion bond authorization to modernize the Commonwealth’s digital infrastructure and create safer and more accessible experiences for residents and employees alike.
Funding and projects included in H.4889, an act to provide for the future information technology needs of Massachusetts, would 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.
Wage Equity
Took a powerful step towards closing the gender and racial wage gap in the Commonwealth by passing 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 would make 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.
First Responders
Unanimously passed legislation to ensure that first responders who are permanently injured by violent acts in the line of duty receive their full regular compensation until they reach retirement age. S.2887, An Act relative to disability pensions and critical incident stress management for violent crimes, enshrines into law financial security for first responders and their families after a critical or life-threatening injury occurs while serving their state, county, city, or town.
The legislation authorizes any employee considered a member-in-service of a retirement board to be eligible for accidental disability retirement if they sustain a catastrophic, life-threatening, or life-altering and permanent bodily injury, and are no longer able to perform their duties. Retirement boards would review evidence deemed appropriate, such as a medical panel finding that the member is physically unable to perform the essential duties of their job due to a violent act injury, and that this inability is likely to be permanent.
The bill also requires that following any incident involving exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence, a member must receive notice of critical incident stress management debriefing programs. This provision ensures that first responders have access to the mental health support they need after traumatic events.
Health Care Reform
Passed urgent reforms to the Commonwealth’s health care system to boost oversight and transparency in the market and improve patient access to prescribed medication and treatment.
The reforms in S.2871 come as Massachusetts continues to manage challenges related to private equity’s mismanagement in health care, which has created uncertainties for patients receiving care and the communities that the healthcare facilities serve. The legislation passed by the Senate would create strong systemic safeguards around private equity in healthcare, a significant step towards preempting future mismanagement.
FIrearm Safety
Passed a firearm safety reform bill that cracks down on the sale of ghost guns, strengthens the Commonwealth’s red flag laws, updates the definition of assault-style firearms, and limits the carrying of guns into polling places and government buildings while updating our current prohibition of guns in schools to include school transport.
Economic Development
Unanimously passed a comprehensive economic development bill that makes bold investments in life sciences, climate tech, and small businesses, building on Massachusetts’ national leadership and creating an environment where businesses and workers thrive.
The $2.86 billion in bonds authorized in An Act Relative to strengthening Massachusetts’ economic leadership will stimulate new and proven industries, support workforce development and talent retention, and modernize economic growth strategies.
The support in S.2586 extends to small businesses, communities, and cultural development, ensuring that main street businesses across the Commonwealth benefit from the economic boost.
Affordable Homes Act
Took action today to address the state’s housing crisis. S.2834, An Act relative to affordable homes—also known as the Affordable Homes Act—authorizes $5.4 billion in borrowing and makes crucial policy changes with the goal of building new housing, accelerating the rehabilitation of existing housing, reducing barriers to development, and promoting affordable housing.
The legislation makes important investments in public housing; housing affordability; sustainable building
initiatives; initiatives for first-time homebuyers; essential infrastructure; geographic equity; and incentivizing local best practices. Additionally, the bill includes policy proposals to further housing equity for both homeowners and renters.
Preventing Abuse and Exploitation, Enhancing Protections for Surviors
Enacted comprehensive legislation that criminalizes the non-consensual sharing of explicit images known as “revenge porn,” creates a diversion program for teens who share explicit images, statutorily defines coercive control as an element of domestic abuse, and extends the statute of limitations to pursue criminal charges for certain domestic violence offenses from six years to 15 years.
Plastic Reduction Act
Passed legislation that builds on the state’s climate and environmental leadership by banning single-use plastic bags, making straws and plasticware available by request only, and making it easier to recycle.
The legislation will prohibit carry-out plastic bags at retail stores statewide and require stores to charge 10 cents for recycled paper bags, five cents of which will be allocated to environmental protection measures.
The bill provides unlimited exemption from the requirement to collect 10 cents for small local retailers. As of May 2023, 162 Massachusetts cities and towns, making up nearly 70 per cent of the state’s population, already regulated single-use plastic bags. The bill will also prevent plastic utensils and straws from automatically being given to consumers, prohibit single-use plastic bottle purchases by state agencies, and create a statewide program for recycling large plastic objects such as car seats.
Further, it increases statewide bulk plastic recycling by creating a statewide program for the recycling of large plastic objects, such as car seats. In an effort to reduce the $10 million annually in avoidable costs directly caused by the flushing of non-flushable wipes, the bill will require non-flushable wipes to be clearly labeled with “Do Not Flush” warnings to prevent disruptions to the
Commonwealth’s sewer system. The legislation also asks Massachusetts to lead by example, eliminating the purchasing of plastic bottles by state agencies, and codifying the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s 2023 Executive Order on single-use plastic bottles.
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It is an honor to serve you in the Massachusetts Senate. Thank you for your unwavering support and the vote of confidence to send me back for two more years. As we enter 2025, please don’t hesitate to reach out if I or my team can be of help or assistance.
Happy New Year,
Nick Collins.
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