END OF SUMMER LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

State Rep. Kate Hogan, 3rd Middlesex District

Bolton Hudson Maynard Stow

September 2024

Dear Friends,

Autumn is always a busy season: back to school time is mingled with harvests and local festivals in the Third Middlesex District, while at the State House the Legislature's formal sessions have ended, but the work goes on and we continue to deliberate and push for legislative solutions on economic development, clean energy, healthcare, and other important policies.

I'm happy to share updates on a number of important bills that were recently finalized by the Legislature, including a critical bond bill to address our housing crisis, an update to the laws on parentage in Massachusetts, a ban on PFAS in firefighter gear, landmark Veterans legislation, and legislation to strengthen the long-term healthcare sector, maternal health, our firearm safety laws, and wage transparency.

I'm especially proud of legislation that I filed in the House that will be signed into law, including a bill to stop sexual assault by medical professionals. We also finalized a $58 billion FY25 budget that is focused on affordability for residents and economic competitiveness for the Commonwealth.

Details on all of these legislative efforts are included below, as well as an update on the 21st Century Agriculture Commission that I co-chair with Sen. Comerford.

Of course, it's also time to VOTE! Please check your voter registration and make a plan to cast your ballot in the general election on November 5.

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact me at Kate.Hogan@mahouse.gov or 617-722-2600. Please also visit my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/RepKateHogan

I was proud to stand at the rostrum and oversee the passage of numerous bills, covering a wide array of public policy concerns. In recent months, the Legislature has sent the following bills to Governor Healey for her signature:

The Affordable Homes Act, a $5.1 billion housing bond bill that will add 65,000 homes over the next five years, invest significantly in upgrades to public housing and support affordable housing development

The HERO Act, landmark veterans legislation that increases benefits and modernizes services for the first time in two decades. It expands access to behavioral health treatment, increases the disabled veteran annuity, and boosts the vet-hire tax credit, among several other provisions.

The Parentage Act, legislation to modernize laws on parenting rights and privileges in Massachusetts so blended families, parents using IVF and surrogacy, and LGBTQ+ parents are afforded parental rights.

A comprehensive firearm safety bill that 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.

A bill with multiple reforms to the long-term care and assisted living sectors, including measures to increase oversight, expand services at assisted living residences, and boost the workforce in these sectors. Included in the legislation is a bill that I filed to offer financial assistance to disabled seniors through the use of pooled trusts – restoring the ability of disabled seniors to receive support from special needs pooled trusts for care and needs that are not covered by MassHealth. 

An omnibus bill to address racial inequities in maternal health, expanding access to midwifery care, out-of-hospital birth options, and postpartum care

Pictured (l-r): Emily Anesta, President of Bay State Birth Coalition; Rebecca Herman CPM, MPH, Co-Chair of Massachusetts Chapter of National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM); Representative Kate Hogan; Tiffany Vassell RN, Vice President of Bay State Birth Coalition, Outreach Coordinator for Neighborhood Birth Center, author of Preparation for a Hospital Birth

Photo credit: Stefanie Belnavis of Birthlooms

The Francis Perkins Workplace Equity Act, which aims to strengthen Massachusetts' Equal Pay Act of 2016 by requiring that job postings include salary or hourly pay range - one of the best tools to close wage gaps. The bill's provisions make good policy for both employees and employers and helps make Massachusetts more equitable and competitive.

Pictured: Rep. Hogan with former Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Murphy, who has devoted much of her career to attaining pay equity

An act to criminalize the non-consensual sharing of explicit images known as “revenge porn.” The legislation 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.

A bill to eliminate PFAS in firefighting protective gear - addressing PFAS contamination is a top priority of mine and I am proud that Massachusetts took this important step

The FutureTech Act, a $1.26 billion IT bond bill to provide for the future information technology needs of Massachusetts

A bill prohibiting the use of elephants, big cats, primates, giraffes and bears in traveling exhibits and shows 

My bill to prevent sexual assault by fraud of medical professionals, which I filed in the House with D.A. Marian Ryan to address a gap in state law preventing the prosecution of doctors who sexually assault a patient under the pretense that it is for medically-necessary treatment

Several important bills were passed in both Chambers and are currently under deliberation in conference committee and could come to the floor again for a vote, including legislation on clean energy, economic development, prescription drug pricing and healthcare reform.

Massachusetts' $58 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) builds upon efforts from previous years to prioritize residents and our goals for achieving an equitable and competitive commonwealth. It invests in programs that support families across Massachusetts, provides strong support for our cities and towns, and includes meaningful funding for education, transportation, health care, housing, and workforce development.

Notable policy provisions in the budget include:

• Universal free community college
• Universal free school meals in K-12 schools
• Fare-free regional transit service and funding to incentivize connections between regional transit routes
• Legal online Lottery sales to fund a permanent Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grant program

Also included is a policy allowing individuals to be identified with a non-binary ‘X’ sex designation on their birth certificate and enshrine into law the current practice of allowing an individual to select a non-binary ‘X’ gender designation on their driver’s license. Another policy provision ends the practice of ‘home equity theft,’ a practice where cities, towns, and even private companies can foreclose on a home for taxes owed, sell it, and pocket the profits.  

The FY25 budget includes $1.3 billion for Unrestricted General Government Aid (UGGA) to municipalities, an increase of $38 million over FY24. Towns in the Third Middlesex District will receive the following amounts:

Bolton - $243,110

Hudson - $2,455,382

Maynard - $1,934,459

Stow - $518,357.

The FY25 budget also includes Rep. Hogan’s earmarks for the Third Middlesex District, including:  

$150,000 to enhance public safety with new fire-fighting cisterns in Stow 

$75,000 to repair and replace culverts in Bolton for road safety 

$50,000 to support seniors at the Maynard Council on Aging 

$20,000 to Warm Hearts of Stow to assist Stow residents facing financial difficulties 

$50,000 to Hudson’s Business Improvement District (BID) to support our local economic development projects and small business in Hudson 

$75,000 to Fresh Start Furniture Bank to provide free furniture and home goods to those in need, including women and children escaping domestic abuse and victims of fires, floods, and natural disasters, as well as refugees  

$50,000 to the MetroWest Food System Collaborative for maintaining and expanding programs that bring fresh foods to those most in need 

$30,000 to the watershed Organization for the Assabet Sudbury and Concord Rivers (OARS) to assist stewards of the Assabet River with funds for water quality monitoring 

Additional and full details on the House FY25 budget are available here:  https://www.mass.gov/news/governor-healey-and-lieutenant-governor-driscoll-sign-5778-billion-fiscal-year-2025-budget

The Legislative Commission on Agriculture in the 21st Century that I co-chair this session with Senator Jo Comerford has completed its hearings. We held eight hearings on topics ranging from economic and community development, climate change and natural disasters, and food security to education, research and technical assistance for farmers, farm energy and legislation. The Commission's aim is to investigate opportunities in renewable energy production, streamlining grant process, reviewing our extension services, and many other challenges and opportunities in the Massachusetts agricultural sector. We expect to meet this fall and tour farms across the Commonwealth and we have begun working on a final report of our findings and recommendations.

Although it's rare that a bill is passed through both chambers and signed into law in the same session that it is first filed, the legislation I filed with Sen. Cyr, An Act to protect Massachusetts public health from PFAS, or the Mass PFAS Act, came close. A provision from our bill that eliminates PFAS in firefighting protective gear was passed in a separate bill. We continue to work with counsel to strengthen the remaining omnibus bill and will re-file it in January.

I am grateful to my colleagues in the Legislature for their support and to all of the advocates for their efforts in drawing attention to this important health safety issue, including those who attended and spoke at a briefing on PFAS at the State House in June.

Pictured (l-r): David Melly, Legislative Director for the Environmental League of Massachusetts; Deirdre Cummings, Legislative Director at Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG); Dr. Abigail Bline, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Silent Spring Institute and Northeastern University; Alison Field-Juma, Policy Advisor to OARS—Watershed Organization for the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord rivers; Rep. Kate Hogan; Sen. Julian Cyr; Richard McKinnon, President of Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts (PFFM); Connor Read, Town Administrator, Easton, Massachusetts Municipal Association‘s representative on the Massachusetts PFAS Interagency Task Force; and Jason Burns, Executive Director of Last Call Foundation in Memory of Fallen Firefighter Michael Kennedy, Fall River firefighter

Photo credit: Liam Louis, ElleVignette Photography

Rep. Hogan toured Stow’s Randall Library, which is undergoing renovations this summer. The Library has been the center of community life for over 130 years and will soon have a children’s floor, a teen room, and improvements to make it more fully accessible. Thanks to all who are making this possible: Town Administrator Denise Dembkoski, Randall Library Director Tina McAndrews, Project Manager Dale Kratzsch, the Randall Library Friends Association, the Randall Trustees, the Stow Selectboard, and the taxpayers of Stow

Rep. Hogan was delighted to present Bolton Police Chief Warren E. Nelson, Jr., with a House Resolution to mark his career accomplishments over 32 years of loyal service and congratulate him on his retirement

Rep. Hogan joined the remarkable celebration of the Holy Ghost Society in Hudson on the occasion of their 50th anniversary. A procession from St. Michaels to the Hudson Portuguese Club was filled with tradition, religion, music and the culture of the Imperio Mariense from the Island of Santa Maria in the Azores. This feast has been taking place in Hudson since 1974 through the dedication of volunteers of the Santa Maria Holy Ghost Society and the group and the events strengthen the foundation of Portuguese Heritage in our town and Commonwealth

Each year, Rep. Hogan has the honor of nominating incredible women in her district for their contributions to community and the Commonwealth and she is pleased to honor Maynard’s Ellen Duggan as the 2024 MCSW Commonwealth Heroine. This award recognizes women across the state who don’t always make the news but who are truly making a difference. Thanks to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women (MCSW) for providing legislators this opportunity to show our gratitude to women like Ellen Duggan!

Rep. Hogan was proud to nominate Paul and Olga Freitas of Hudson for a Portuguese Heritage Award for their lifelong dedication to Hudson’s Portuguese people through volunteering and organizing the Imperio Espirito Santo Mariense and strengthening the foundation of Portuguese Heritage in Hudson. The award was presented at the Massachusetts Portuguese-American Legislative Caucus' 40th Heritage Day of Portugal in the House Chamber

This summer Team Hogan welcomed a wonderful cohort of young student interns to our office!

Four college students joined our office to assist with various research and writing projects, attend briefings, and learn the day-to-day duties of a busy state legislative office. We are grateful to them for their time & efforts. Thank you: Brianna Moran of Hudson, Gracie Gilligan from Maynard, Larissa McMahon from Stow, and Calvin Cochrane of Bolton.

We also welcomed three high school students to spend a ‘Week on Beacon Hill’ with our office where they toured the State House, attended events and worked with our office. We were pleased to have Will Cahill of Maynard, Leah Compton-Horan from Bolton and Harper Hellerman of Hudson join us this summer.

All of the students participated in the State House’s summer intern speaker series – a bipartisan seminar series organized specifically for State House interns in which constitutional officers, legislators, and advocates speak about their jobs and responsibilities.

Massachusetts has just completed its state primary election and is gearing up for the November 5 general election.

Please be sure to register to vote if you have yet to do so — and cast your ballot by mail or in person.

Check your registration status here:

https://www.sec.state.ma.us/VoterRegistrationSearch/MyVoterRegStatus.aspx

View a sample ballot, apply for a mail-in ballot, or track your ballot here:

https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/elections/elections-and-voting.htm

Keep these dates in mind:

October 26 - Voter registration deadline for the general election

October 29 - Vote by mail application due for the general election