Greetings,

This is a true story.

A few days ago, I sat down to work on this March newsletter and found that our team’s Chief of Staff, Jared Freedman, had drafted an opening from me. It read, “I would say I’m like a grizzly bear in March. A grizzly bear who has been denied hibernation and kept awake all winter. And I’m hungry. Hungry and sleep deprived.”

I texted Jared, “Do you think I’m a grizzly bear?”

He replied, “The federal government just cut food bank funding and I thought people needed a nonviolent metaphor for their anger.” A little while later he wrote, “And I see our district as one of your cubs.”

I’m certainly hungry for justice, equity, security, and care for the people I represent. And these raw winter days have been long, long, long with a sparsity of rest.

So I guess I’m a grizzly. And this is a window into my temperament.

There’s a lot to tell you.

Let’s get into it.

TL;DR (that's a "too long; didn't read" digest)

• Digging into the Governor’s FY26 budget proposal for our people
• The Massachusetts Senate launches Response 2025
• Joint committee hearings on bills have begun 
• Assessing the impact of federal climate cuts
• Connecting with the Commission on Antisemitism
• Remote meeting extension passed into law 
• Five years later: Reflecting on COVID-19 
• Celebrating local farmers and growers during Ag Week 2025 
• Addressing a shortage of judges in western Mass
• The hope of Pi Sigma Alpha
• Additional ways to engage
• My team and I were out and about 

Ways and Means hearings on the Governor's Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal

On March 6, the Joint Committee on Ways and Means kicked off a series of eight hearings (two in the State House and six across the state), focused on Governor Maura Healey’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget proposal. 

As Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, I am well-positioned to drive work on budgets and any bill that costs money — work I approach with an eye toward equity for north central, western, and rural Massachusetts communities. You will see that ethos reflected in the questions I ask of state officials and other testifiers throughout these hearings. 

This first hearing, hosted in the State House, featured testimony from Governor Healey herself, along with remarks from other constitutional officers and the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, the Inspector General, and the Secretary for the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security. You can watch the full hearing here. 

The FY26 budget process will be one of the most challenging I’ve faced. State revenue growth has slowed and inflation has been biting. Health care costs have increased. Federal cuts require recalculations almost daily. I’m pictured above asking the Governor for her theory on navigating this volatile budgeting year.

During the initial hearing, I also asked Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin about his office’s appointment to the new Advisory Commission to redesign the flag and seal of the Commonwealth. Watch our exchange here. 

(As an aside, the new Advisory Commission charged with completing the work on a new flag, seal, and motto had its first meeting on March 20. Hallelujah. I was truly moved to be asked to join Senator Jason Lewis and Representative Lindsay Sabadosa to launch this final push.) 

On March 24, I brought the full Committee and the Administration to UMass Amherst for an education and local aid focused hearing, which I co-chaired alongside my colleague Representative Pat Duffy. 

The largest room on UMass Amherst’s campus was absolutely packed with community members as we heard testimony from our Education Secretary, the Commissioners of Higher Education, Elementary and Secondary Education, and Early Education, as well as from early educators, community colleges, school committees, teachers, superintendents, local officials, and others. 

Over seven hours, we covered the inequities in the K-12 education funding formula, waitlists for child care, higher education vulnerabilities, municipal needs, and more.

I asked Secretary Patrick Tutwiler about re-examining the K-12 education funding formula. Watch our exchange here. 

Read more about the six Ways and Means hearings we’ve had so far here. I’m pictured below in Gloucester, Amherst, Worcester, Clinton, and Barnstable, with Attleboro and the public hearing at the State House still to come.

The graphic below highlights with a red star where we are in the budget process:

The Massachusetts Senate launches Response 2025

On April 1, Senate President Karen Spilka, Senator Cindy Friedman, and I spoke with members of the media to launch the Massachusetts Senate’s Response 2025.

As we did during the COVID pandemic, the Senate has moved into a formation that will allow us to be nimble and move more quickly and efficiently. 

The Senate President proposed that the Senate’s Steering and Policy Committee, on which I serve as the Vice Chair, become the hub of work to prioritize necessary policy changes to protect our residents, defend our values, and lead Massachusetts forward.

We’ll have much more in the days ahead as our team pivots to embrace this massive new focus and the work it will entail.

Entering hearing season

Joint Committees have begun holding public hearings on the bills filed for the 2025-2026 legislative session. 

If you would like to be notified about opportunities to testify on legislation, sign up here to be added to an email list corresponding with your priority issue areas. 

Expanding agricultural and horticultural lands

On March 25, I testified before the Joint Committee on Revenue in support of a constitutional amendment I filed in partnership with Representatives Natalie Blais and Hannah Kane, S.11/H.71 – Proposal for a legislative amendment to the Constitution relative to agricultural and horticultural lands. 

Currently, the Massachusetts Constitution recognizes the importance of agriculture by allowing farmland to be taxed based on its value as agricultural or horticultural land, rather than as commercial or residential land. However, farms must be at least five acres to qualify. 

This constitutional amendment allows smaller-sized farm parcels to qualify for the agricultural tax rate. This change would benefit farmers who often pay exorbitant property taxes for small parcels of land, new farmers who cannot find or afford large parcels of farmland, and urban farmers.

Watch my testimony here. Read my joint testimony with Representatives Blais and Kane here. 

Dignified end of life options 

On April 2, I testified before the Joint Committee on Public Health in support of one of my top priority bills, An Act relative to end of life options (S.1486/H.2505). 

I filed this bill in partnership with Leader Jim O’Day, Representative Ted Philips, and Senators Will Brownsberger, Dylan Fernandes, and Jake Oliveira. 

As Senate Chair of the Public Health Committee for four years, I had the opportunity to thoroughly research medical aid-in-dying and listen deeply to Commonwealth residents. The Committee heard harrowing stories from people whose relatives suffered during their last days of life. We also heard from individuals living with a terminal illness who wanted a voluntary medical option to control the timing and manner of their death. 

The bill allows someone who is mentally capable and terminally ill to choose a peaceful death by requesting medication from a doctor that may be self-administered at a time of their own choosing. 

This bill safeguards patients and medical professionals, affords dying people autonomy and compassion during the most difficult time, and protects potentially vulnerable people from coercion. To learn more about the legislation, and the important safeguards included in it, please visit here.

Watch my testimony here. Read my joint testimony with Leader O'Day and Representative Philips here. 

Assessing the impact of federal climate cuts

As a member of the Senate Committee on Climate Change and Global Warming, on Tuesday, April 1, I participated in an oversight hearing on the impact of federal climate policy and funding retrenchment. We heard from the Office of the Attorney General on the status of lawsuits related to federal climate funding and learned about legal options available to the Commonwealth as the federal administration moves to rescind climate policies and regulations.

We also focused on recent federal policy changes related to electric vehicles and offshore wind and on how Massachusetts might adjust its own policies and plans in response. 

I was especially grateful for the testimony of constituent Sherry Morgan on behalf of Elders for Climate Action.

Connecting with the Commission on Antisemitism

Many constituents have sent in testimony to the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism, cc’ing me and my team. Thank you so much for your engagement. You can find information about the Commission here.

Please know there is an opportunity for the public to submit written testimony in advance of a hearing on April 7 beginning at 1 p.m. in Newton. Here is how to watch the livestream on April 7.

You can send in written testimony via this email: SCCA@malegislature.gov.

An update on remote meeting provisions

In the last newsletter, I shared that we were still pushing to extend optional remote public meeting provisions for municipalities which enable hybrid and remote participation in local meetings. On March 20, the legislature passed legislation extending this option through June 2027. Governor Healey has signed it into law. 

Now the work begins in the legislature to enact a permanent hybrid meeting law, to forestall the need to renew this extension further. 

Five years later: Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. I saw what was happening and, as then-Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Health, organized an oversight hearing seven days prior to the WHO declaration to focus the state’s attention on what was needed to protect our people. You can watch it here. I find it chilling.

Take a look at the first newsletter I shared with you about COVID-19, from March 2020. Here’s an interview I did with Monte Belmonte on March 11. 

As I reflected on this five year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, I thought back to the lifetime’s-worth of lessons I learned as a then first-term Senator. Here are five of those lessons on this fifth anniversary. 

One of the lessons I write about is the need to invest in local public health infrastructure so that we're prepared to respond to threats. The Trump Administration does not agree. Last week it announced significant cuts to public health funding that will reduce public health nursing and epidemiology services statewide.

This month’s Cup o’ Jo podcast also focused on this topic, as I spoke with my colleague Senator Bill Driscoll who served alongside me as the House Chair of the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management from January 2021 - December 2022 and now serves as Senate Chair of the Public Health Committee. 

Watch our full conversation here. 

Quick plug for Cup o’ Jo: my team and I would love to hear from you on guests and/or topics you would like to see on the podcast. Please email Director of Communications and Engagement Katelyn Billings (katelyn.billings@masenate.gov) with your suggestions. 

Celebrating local farmers and growers during Ag Week 2025

Throughout the week of March 17, my team and I partnered with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) to celebrate Ag Week 2025 and spotlight farms in the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district affected by federal and state funding cuts. 

Farming is hard enough without cuts to vital programs. Read messages from our farmers here, and as you do, please consider the ways that you can support area farms at this difficult time. #BuyLocal

Calling attention to our judicial system

I was glad to join Representative Todd Smola and western and central Massachusetts House and Senate colleagues in a letter to Governor Healey asking her to expedite work to fill regional judicial vacancies. 

“Our understanding is that four of the 11 seats on the western Massachusetts Superior Court are vacant. An additional seat on the District Court, serving both Northern and Southern Berkshire County, is also vacant.”

Justice delayed is justice denied. 

Read the full letter here, with thanks to the colleagues who signed on. 

The hope of Pi Sigma Alpha

On Monday night, at UMass Amherst, I became an honorary member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the honor society for political science students nationwide. It was both thrilling and hopeful to join these brilliant young people. (The awardees are pictured below.)

They asked for a keynote address. I shared six very personal life lessons I’ve learned, offering them with love for this rising generation who are emerging amid such turbulence.

You can read my remarks here.

Ways to engage

New opportunities to engage and take action on the issues that matter most. 

• Office hours in April 2025 — Director of Constituent Services Jessie Cooley will be hosting remote office hours in April via Zoom on Friday, April 25 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Sign up here. Thanks to Jessie for leading.

• Public Ways and Means Hearing — On April 8, the Joint Committee on Ways and Means will hold a hearing open to the public at the State House, where folks can testify on their funding priorities for FY26. For more information and to register to testify or submit your written testimony, visit here. 

Out and about

As always, we’re only able to share a few highlights of the past month. But as you scroll through, please know that my team and I have also attended the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts annual briefing; the Hampshire, Hampden & Franklin County Farm Bureau legislative lunch; the Connecticut Valley Superintendents roundtable annual luncheon; the Western Massachusetts Labor Federation legislative breakfast; the Hampshire County Regional Tourism Council legislative breakfast; the legislature’s Women’s Caucus fiftieth anniversary celebration; a listening session focused on funding for programs to prevent and support survivors of domestic violence hosted by Representative Mindy Domb; and much more. 

On Thursday, March 6, Katelyn met with constituent and Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council (MDDC) Vice Chairperson Cody Rooney, MDDC Disability Policy Specialist Joshua Gladstone, and MDDC Deputy Director Jennifer Bertrand to speak further about ways in which our team can continue supporting people with developmental disabilities and their families. 

On Friday, March 7, Jared met with UMass Amherst students organizing with the Food Bank of Western Mass and MassPIRG for the Hunger Free Campus Initiative.

On Monday, March 10, while I was at a Ways and Means Committee hearing in Gloucester, District Director Elena Cohen joined the Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness for a presentation on the network's legislative and budget priorities. Our team has so much gratitude for Pamela Schwartz's leadership and for the housing leaders in our region, all of whom make us smarter and propel us to fight harder every day.

On March 12, Elena joined the Massachusetts Water Works Association Quarterly Meeting for a panel discussion on water operator shortages and challenges and opportunities around recruitment, retention, and retirement. We’re grateful to the drinking water operators in the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district who keep our drinking water safe.

On March 13, Elena and I were at the beautiful Beals Memorial Library in Winchendon for a regional library legislative breakfast and to celebrate all the Beals offers the community, including its groundbreaking autism inclusion initiative. Elena and I are pictured below with Winchendon Selectboard member, Erika Eitland, and Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioner, Karen Traub.

On March 18, I joined in the Ag Day celebrations at the State House, which was made much more exciting and vibrant by the rising generation of students from Smith Vocational Agricultural High School and Franklin County Technical High School.

On March 19, I welcomed students and staff from the Center for New Americans to the State House as part of Immigrants Day.

Later in the afternoon on March 19, I joined Senators Brownsberger and Oliveira, Leader O’Day, and Representative Philips in speaking at an advocacy kickoff for the End of Life Options Act in the State House.

On March 21, Elena attended a briefing for legislators by the North Central Chamber of Commerce in Fitchburg. Discussion centered on the Chamber’s priorities and work to support small businesses through providing loans and technical assistance (close to 80% of the businesses that received loans from the Chamber are owned by women, People of Color, and immigrants).

On Saturday, March 29, I joined Representatives Lindsay Sabadosa and Homar Gomez and District Attorney David Sullivan at a YELO forum. YELO stands for Youth Engage with Legislators & Officials. And engage they did — talking about everything from the negative impact of social media, education funding cuts, and Native athletic mascots.

These days, I hang on to a passage I read many years ago from author Annie Dillard, in a piece titled The Abundance. Dillard wrote about writing, but I have long internalized it as a lesson about life. 

She wrote, “One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place…Something more will arise for later, something better.”

I try always to imagine my life as a well which fills up from beneath and never ever runs dry.

We’ll end here and send our love to you. 

Onward, 

Jo, Jessie, Elena, Rachel, Katelyn, and Jared (who thinks I'm a grizzly bear)

P.S. For timely updates, you can always follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky (no longer Twitter/X), and LinkedIn. Never hesitate to email jo.comerford@masenate.gov to let me know what matters most to you.

P.P.S. The fourth annual Power of Truths Festival returns April 4 and 5 to continue celebrating the transformative power of the arts and education in the fight for racial and social justice.

Join in for this beautiful community-building event at Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity, organized by Self-Evident Education.

I was proud to be an early supporter of this through an earmark years ago and prouder still to be an attendee as this more-important-than-ever event continues to go strong.



More information on the event and to purchase tickets in advance here.

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