193rd Session Legislative Accomplishments
Below you will find a brief overview of legislative accomplishments for the 193rd session, including a list of some of the issues on which I led. While this list is not exhaustive, it is a good representative of the work that has been done. If there are any specific areas you have questions or concerns about, please do not hesitate to contact me.
This legislation was passed by the Legislature on December 19th and is now laid before the Governor for her signature. This bill widely expands access to opioid reversal drugs, bolsters non-opioid pain treatments, and strengthens treatment for Massachusetts residents going through recovery. This legislation also included language that I worked closely on in my role as House Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Families & Persons with Disabilities to better support pregnant people who are using medication for addiction treatment or with a substance use disorder. This bill modifies mandated reporting requirements regarding substance-exposed newborns to make clear that encountering a substance-exposed newborn is not an automatic referral to the Department of Children and Families. This is important to ensure that people taking prescribed medications, including medications of OUD continue their treatment. I am thankful to my House and Senate colleagues for working on this compromise package and am proud to have played a role in this achievement. Please visit my website for further details on this bill.
This legislation will empower the Commonwealth in its fight against climate change and assist our transition to a clean energy infrastructure. By incentivizing innovative technologies such as battery storage, fusion energy, advanced metering and meter socket adapters, expanding the electric vehicle charging network and responsibly reforming the gas distribution system and permitting of clean energy facilities, this bill will accelerate progress towards the state’s goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Please visit my website for further details on this bill.
This legislation authorizes a nearly $4 billion infusion across major sectors of the Massachusetts economy and makes a range of policy changes related to improving the Commonwealth’s competitiveness. Provisions of this bill will stimulate cutting edge industries like climatech, artificial intelligence, and life sciences, while supporting small businesses, communities, and cultural development, to ensure the economic health of the Commonwealth as a whole. Please visit my website for further details on this bill.
This legislation includes more than a dozen reforms to modernize and increase access to benefit veterans, including expanding access to behavioral health treatment, allowing new local-option property tax exemptions for service members, and aligning the state’s definition of a veteran with the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department to cover a wider range of former veterans and their family members. Please visit my website for a blog post with further details on this bill.
This legislation extends the full rights of parentage to LGBTQ+ families and families created via assisted reproduction. The bill also 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. Please visit my website for a blog post with further details on this bill.
This legislation helps to close the gender and racial wage gap in the Commonwealth by requiring 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. Please visit my website for a blog post with further details on this bill.
This legislation builds on the critical reforms that we made in 2014 by strengthening the Commonwealth’s red flag laws, updating the definition of assault-style firearms, limiting the carrying of guns into polling places and government buildings, while updating our current prohibition of guns in schools to include school transport Please visit my website for a blog post with further details on this bill.
This $5.16 billion housing bond bill authorizes funding to modernize and rehabilitate state-aided public housing, support affordable housing and home ownership for low- and moderate-income individuals, enhance facilities for early education and out-of-school programs, and improve infrastructure to promote economic reinvestment. Please visit my website for a blog post with further details on this bill.
This legislation makes significant reforms to the long-term care and assisted living sectors by strengthening oversight over nursing homes, enabling the expansion of services and implementing anti-discrimination protections. Please visit my website for a blog post with further details on this bill.
This legislation seeks to improve maternal health outcomes by expanding birthing infrastructure and out-of-hospital birth options, as well as updating licensing procedures and midwifery and enables resources for addressing racial inequities among pregnant patients. Please visit my website for a blog post with further details on this bill.
This legislation allows the Commonwealth to more effectively compete for federal funding that could be invested in transformative projects related to transportation, housing, climate, economic development, and technology. For more information, please click here.
This legislation renamed the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) to MassAbility, a change that will define the agency’s role in supporting residents with disabilities to live independently. The legislation also removes offensive terminology in the General Laws referring to people with disabilities in sections that pertain to MassAbility. For more information, please click here.
This legislation enacted a $1.26 billion bond authorization to modernize the Commonwealth’s digital infrastructure and create safer and more accessible experiences for residents across the Commonwealth. For more information, please click here.
This legislation 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 6 years to 15 years. For more information, please click here.
This legislation gave municipalities around the Commonwealth a critical tool to make improvements to local transportation infrastructure by overwhelmingly passing a final bill to authorize Chapter 90 road funding. For more information, please click here.
This legislation provided financial relief to families and businesses across the Commonwealth while making Massachusetts more competitive with other states. For more information, please click here.
In addition, various bills that I filed were included in a larger bill to create an “package” or “omnibus bill” that includes many provisions on a specific topic area. I’m proud to share that several of the bills I filed this year were included in larger bills that became law, which I have outlined below.
H.4076, An Act enhancing the Historic Beacon Hill District was signed into law by Governor Healey on July 3rd, 2024. This bill expanded the existing boundaries of the Beacon Hill Historic District to include an additional 40-foot strip of the North Slope of Beacon Hill that had previously been excluded from the historic district over 60 years ago. This will help keep consistent standards throughout Beacon Hill and preserve the incredible historical legacy of Beacon Hill for future generations.
H.2876, An Act to promote high-impact community investment was included in the Housing Bond Bill (link) this past summer. This provision amended the Community Investment Tax Credit by eliminating the program's 2025 sunset and expanding the statewide cap on donations from $12 million to $15 million. This will allow the community development field to continue to flourish and meet the ongoing needs of residents across the Commonwealth.
H.2590, An Act to protect gender pay equity was included in the Legislature’s Wage Equity Legislation this past summer. This builds upon the Legislature’s Landmark 2016 Equal Pay Act, which I was the co-lead House Sponsor on. The addition of this provision ensures that public employees who receive raises pursuant to the Equal Pay Act receive the benefit of those raises in retirement.
H.1646, An Act to improve after hours bail procedures was included in the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget, which was passed by the Legislature in 2023. This language improves and clarifies the after-hour bail procedures as carried out by the Trial Court and persons authorized to take bail to administer through wire or electronic means.