We kicked off the 194th legislative session on New Year's Day. It’s my fourth term as your state senator and I am very grateful to serve our district for another two years. Thank you for the honor.

That’s me, below, in the rust jacket on January 1, fifth from the left, between Senators Cindy Friedman and Jason Lewis, being sworn in. 

This is my first letter to you in this new year, the 60th letter I’ve written since first elected. (You can now read all six years worth of newsletters here. Have mercy.)

I’ve been thinking a lot about building muscle — emotional muscle, intellectual muscle, spiritual muscle, organizing muscle, physical muscle, muscle memory — all of it. 

My team and I have also thought a lot about what it takes to be in “fighting shape” for the work ahead — to stoke the momentum we’ve built at the state-level and to take on new challenges at home, nationally, and globally.

Those challenges are upon us. And then some.

Our job is to be ready, strong, and nimble. Our work will demand focus, fortitude, strategic thinking, hard choices, and sharp prioritization.

Let’s get into it.

(Make it to the P.S. and I’ll opine about Community Action’s Clare Higgins and make a fashion confession.)

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

• Final updates from the end of the 2023-2024 legislative session 
• 65 new bills filed for the 2025-2026 legislative session 
• The moment for co-sponsorship
• Governor Healey’s FY26 budget proposal and other spending bills
• Navigating the Trump-Vance Administration
• Working on the Senate and Joint Rules 
• K-12 education funding reform 
• Cabinet Secretaries visit Athol and Erving
• Responding to the draft Water Quality Certificate for FirstLight hydro relicensing process
• Recognitions and awards 
• Ways to engage
• My team and I were Out and About 

How the legislature wrapped up the 2023-2024 session

In the weeks before the end of the 2023-2024 legislative session, my colleagues and I sent several significant bills to Governor Maura Healey for her signature. 

On December 30, the House and Senate passed two health care bills, An Act relative to pharmaceutical access, costs and transparency and An Act enhancing the market review process. These bills were signed into law in early January, and I was delighted to join the ceremonial bill signing on January 9.

Earlier in December, Governor Healey signed An Act relative to treatments and coverage for substance use disorder and recovery coach licensure. This new law expands non-opioid pain treatment and training, establishes a licensure process for recovery coaches, and makes other important changes to support individuals who are in recovery, including a bill I filed, An Act to support families, which supports new parents.

Learn more about each of these health care bills here. 

If you missed our year-end round-up, 24 wins for 2024, it’s here.

People Powered Progress: the legislation we developed together

Starting in July 2024, my team and I began working on new bills that respond to the diverse and emerging issues we’ve learned about from constituents and advocates — while also refining bills from last session that didn’t yet pass. 

By the bill filing deadline for this new legislative session, we filed 65 bills across key policy areas, including agriculture and food security; civil rights and protections; democracy and transparency; education; energy and environment; families; health and health care; and housing, infrastructure, and economic development. Many of our bills will have a direct impact on western and north central Massachusetts. 

You have a right to know what’s in the legislation that my team and I filed. That’s why we’ve written short bill summaries and posted them on our website.

Sure, this work is about transparency and accountability. We also believe that there is nothing more powerful than an informed, active, and engaged public. It’s our job to give you the information and tools you need and deserve to engage.

Read our 2025-2026 legislative agenda, People Powered Progress, here. 

Congratulations and thanks to Legislative Director, Rachel Klein for leading this work. 

It is one of the most heartening times of session: Co-sponsorship

As of January 17, more than 6,800 bills were filed for the 2025-2026 legislative session. Over the next weeks, our team will focus on launching our bills and on supporting the bills filed by other legislators that constituents ask us to consider. This process is called co-sponsorship. We love it because we hear from constituents who let us know about smart bills that weren’t yet on our radar. 

Please email jo.comerford@masenate.gov to let us know the bills you’re supporting.  

New year, New budget: Digging into the Governor's FY26 budget proposal

On January 16, I joined my colleagues in the State House for Governor Healey’s annual State of the Commonwealth address, where the Governor outlined her administration’s priorities for this coming year. 

Shortly after the State of the Commonwealth, the Healey-Driscoll Administration filed its Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget, a $59.6 billion proposal for state spending for the coming fiscal year. 

See a summary of the Administration’s proposal here. Read the spending proposed here. 

My team and I are digging in, with an eye towards equity for western, north central, and rural municipalities and the programs and services our people count on. 

Soon, the Joint Ways and Means Committee will begin a series of hearings across Massachusetts to unpack the Governor’s proposal and to inform the House and Senate versions. I look forward to attending these hearings and representing the interests of our communities.

Remember, the annual budget is a four-part budget process that begins with the Governor, moves to the House proposal, then to the Senate proposal, and then to a Conference Committee which reconciles the House and Senate budget proposals.

What else has the Governor filed?

Governor Healey has also filed other bills which are pending before the legislature, including a borrowing bill to repair and decarbonize facilities on higher education campuses and a road and bridge funding bill.

With constituents and colleagues, we’ve been advocating for a change to the road and bridge repair funding formula (otherwise known as Chapter 90), which currently considers not just the number of road miles in a community but also population and employment as weighted factors in the formula.

The Governor’s proposal demonstrates that we’re beginning to break through. It includes $100 million that will be allocated according to a strictly road mileage-based formula. Going forward I’d like to see all road and bridge funding allocated using a strictly road mileage-based formula, but I’m glad for this $100 million downpayment. 

The Governor has also filed two supplemental budgets. One is focused on the emergency assistance shelter program. I’ve heard from many constituents on this — and I’m grateful for your advocacy in support of the right to shelter. I’ve been digging deeply into this spending and policy with colleagues.

The other supplemental budget would spend $1.32 billion in surplus Fair Share revenue. I’m sorry to say that the Governor has proposed $780 million of the total to pay the MBTA’s bills. 

Folks in western and north central Mass already pay one penny of our sales tax toward the MBTA. Sending 59% of our surplus Fair Share revenue to the MBTA would leave the region without our fair share. It’s not just ironic, it’s unacceptable. 

Finally, I am hopeful that the Governor will file a final supplemental budget to address deficiencies in current Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations — specifically the cuts to the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP). I have filed legislation to codify HIP in statute, making it harder to cut abruptly.

Navigating the Trump-Vance Administration

Thank you to Attorney General Andrea Campbell for her willingness to open up a line of communication with me and my team. As news breaks of a new executive order or new law, my team and I have the benefit of collaborating with the AG’s office to understand potential impacts.

For example, our teams met this week to discuss the impact of Donald Trump’s executive order on gender, his order blocking federal funding for health insurance coverage for gender affirming care, and the Gender X legislation we passed into law last session. We must be able to move quickly and decisively, so I am especially glad at this moment for such tireless partners.

I won’t always have answers — like on Tuesday when President Trump’s (now rescinded) “pause” on federal funds caused chaos in every state in the nation.

But I promise I’m continuously pressing and prodding for how we can be prepared for anything. On Wednesday, January 29, Politico resurfaced a question I asked at a December hearing about how the state can best prepare for any disruption in federal spending. 

Rules, rules, rules

The House and Senate operate according to rules passed in each individual chamber and those passed jointly. I have been appointed to the Senate’s temporary Committee on Rules where we are drafting Senate and joint proposals for the coming session, responding to the Senate President’s call for reform during her opening remarks this session. I am advocating for a broad range of reforms including, but not limited to: 

• Posting all committee and floor votes online.
• Releasing all testimony received by a committee from an organization or lobbying firm.
• Moving the deadline by which committees must report out the legislation that has been sent to them to the end of the first year of the two-year session. (Currently this deadline is in February of the second year of session which does not always allow enough time for bills to make it to the floor for a vote.)
• Continuing to allow remote testimony at hearings.
• Allowing those who are incarcerated to testify. (You may remember that our Chief of Staff, Jared Freedman, and I worked to ensure that currently-incarcerated individuals spoke at a hearing on our prison moratorium bill. Many believe that it was the first time in the history of the legislature when this happened. It was incredibly powerful. Read more here.)
• Ensuring Indigenous leaders are afforded the same privileges as state elected officials during bill hearings.  

I am hopeful that we’ll make significant progress given the public’s strong and important demand for transparency, accountability, and productivity. 

At last, education funding reform

On January 1, during the opening ceremony for the 2025-2026 legislative session, I was inspired by what I heard from Senate leadership about our chamber’s priorities for the coming two years.

Senate President Karen Spilka and Minority Leader Bruce Tarr both spoke boldly and unequivocally about taking up K-12 education funding reform this session.

The Senate President said, “… it has been some time since we closely examined some aspects of the K-12 policy and funding formulas. I hope to tackle that this session …” 

The Minority Leader said, “… we have a Chapter 70 formula that needs revision. We need to understand that many districts have decreasing enrollment but increasing costs …”

Listen to their full remarks here.

Watch my reaction to this news here. 

My team and I were so heartened by their words that we wanted to say thank you — and, it turns out, so did more than 500 constituents, representing every city and town in our Senate district. Students, families, educators, superintendents, school committees, finance directors, selectboards, town administrators, and more signed on to a thank you card. Some even sent pictures. 

Public school districts across western and north central Massachusetts are in crisis. Our districts are rural, struggling with declining enrollment — or both. 

We need the legislature and the Administration to help us chart the way forward so that our students receive equitable access to excellent public education and so that costs don’t break municipal budgets.

It’s been a decade since the state last reviewed the foundation budget formula (what the state contributes to K-12 education, often referred to as Chapter 70) and 18 years since the last amendments were made to the local education contribution formula (what cities and towns contribute).

Reviewing what municipalities receive from the state and how they contribute to public education is timely, necessary, and at the very top of my list of pressing priorities for the new session.

Take a look at some of the miraculous support outpouring from our region:

One short day in Athol and Erving

On January 28, I spent the day with state officials touring Athol and Erving. Inviting Boston officials to travel west is ALWAYS a good idea.

We started the morning at LifePath in Erving, where I joined Aging & Independence Secretary Robin Lipson and her team to tour LifePath’s Meals on Wheels kitchen. Secretary Lipson grappled with daily rural meal delivery routes that are 100 miles long and yet only reach four people. 

Right after, I joined municipal officials and Representative Susannah Whipps to welcome Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus and Director of Rural Affairs Anne Gobi to Athol. We met at the North Quabbin Chamber of Commerce for a presentation on economic development and housing goals for downtown Athol before taking a walking tour to visualize future potential.

Following our time in Athol, Secretary Augustus, Director Gobi, Rep. Whipps, and I joined Secretary Lipson and Western Massachusetts Director for the Governor Kristen Elechko in Erving for a presentation by the Town of Erving and Rural Development Inc. on the proposed Evergreen Circle multi-generational affordable housing project.

More on our day here. Thanks to District Director Elena Cohen for leading the day’s organizing in partnership with municipal and organizational leaders.

Attention needed: Public comment period for FirstLight hydro relicensing

On January 24, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) published a DRAFT Water Quality Certification (WQC) decision for FirstLight Power’s Turners Falls Dam and Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage facilities. 

This triggers MassDEP’s third and final public engagement event in the relicensing process: a hybrid public hearing and a written public comment period on the DRAFT WQC decision. (More information below.)

My team and I have been advocating with members of the western Massachusetts legislative delegation for many provisions which constituents have brought to our attention. You can read our public comment to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission here. 

Hybrid Public Hearing

The hybrid public hearing will occur on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, at 6:00 p.m., at the Cohn Family Dining Commons, Greenfield Community College, One College Drive, Greenfield, MA. 

Members of the public can participate in-person or remotely. Rules for the hearing will be published on MassDEP’s web page one week before the hearing. I believe constituents should expect time-limited oral testimony with no limits for written testimony, a request to sign up if you want to speak, and other provisions which mirror legislative hearings.

Registration is required for remote participation in the hearing: Click here for the Zoom registration form.

Public Comment Period

Written comments on the Draft WQC are currently being accepted. The comment period began on January 24, 2025 and submissions will be accepted through February 24, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.

MassDEP encourages electronic submission of comments by email to dep.hydro@mass.gov which must include “FirstLight 401 WQC” in the subject line. 

In lieu of electronic submittal, paper comments may be mailed to:

Elizabeth Stefanik

Attn: FirstLight 401WQC, MassDEP-BWR

100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900

Boston, MA 02114

Recognitions

Cheering for fall interns and fellows

Our team is BLESSED to have a cadre of interns who lend their hearts and their smarts to the work. These interns help us correspond with constituents, research breaking issues, and lead discrete projects. Please join us in thanking Bareha Abbas Naqvi, Becca Rosenbaum, Samara Smith, and Amelia Anderson who joined the team in the fall of 2024. They are pictured below. Right now, we’re onboarding spring interns and fellows who we’ll cheer together as they head off in May after contributing hundreds of hours of student power.

An award from the MMA

On January 24, I was honored to receive the 2025 Municipal Advocate Award from the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) at its 2025 Annual Conference, alongside my colleagues Senator Michael Brady and Representatives Natalie Blais and Ken Gordon. 

Rep. Blais and I were recognized by the MMA for passing legislation to establish a state program for disaster recovery. We filed legislation in the wake of the devastating 2023 floods in the Connecticut River Valley when we recognized that Massachusetts was one of very few states with no such program. Rep. Blais and I also partnered to help secure $20 million in state funds for relief to affected farms and $15 million for municipalities. 

The legislation, signed into law last session, was a critical first step in advancing the state’s disaster preparedness. Yet it did not include a dedicated revenue stream for the fund as Rep. Blais and I envisioned.

That’s why Rep. Blais and I again filed legislation, An Act maintaining the state disaster relief and resiliency trust fund, which would solidify the fund’s long-term stability so that state support is always available to help people and communities in the wake of natural disaster.

I look forward to continued collaboration with MMA to ensure that the legislature works equitably on behalf of all municipalities in the Commonwealth.

Ways to engage

Our team is debuting a new section that highlights opportunities to engage and take action. 

As I wrote to you above, people power is what makes our democracy work. So let’s flex that muscle. 

• Introducing: Cup o’ Jo
• My team and I are piloting a new project: a discussion-based livestream show called Cup o’ Jo (I know, corny), where I interview experts on timely policy issues. The first episode will be livestreamed on Tuesday, February 4, 2025 beginning at 12:00 p.m. on my Senate Facebook page and will feature the formidable Senator Cindy Friedman. We’ll talk about two critical health care bills Sen. Friedman shepherded through the Senate at the end of 2024 and discuss the work ahead. Be on the lookout for more information on social media, and be sure to tune in on February 4 (or catch the recording). Thanks to Director of Communications & Engagement Katelyn Billings from our team for leading. 
• Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) Know Your Rights Training 
• This training will cover basic Know Your Rights information, including your rights in interactions with immigration officials — including if Immigration and Customs Enforcement comes to your home or stops you while driving, family preparedness, public charge, where to get legal help, and information on notario fraud and immigration scams. Register here for Thursday, February 6 at 12:00 p.m. 
• Constituent briefing on the Safe Communities Act, and the Dignity Not Deportations Act
• I have partnered with the ACLU and MIRA to invite Senators Jamie Eldridge and Adam Gomez to brief us on the bills they’ve filed to protect immigrants and refugees in Massachusetts.
• Save the date: Tuesday, March 4, beginning at 6:00 p.m.
• Are you a grandparent raising a grandchild?
• Please don't miss this tremendous opportunity to speak directly with members of the Healey-Driscoll Administration and a representative from Social Security on grandparents and family members who serve as caregivers. Delighted to partner with The United Arc, Rep. Blais, Congressman Jim McGovern, and state colleagues. Please note the RSVP requested.

• Office hours in February and March 2025
• Director of Constituent Services Jessie Cooley will be hosting remote office hours in February and March via Zoom on Friday, February 21 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and Tuesday, March 11 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sign up here. Thanks to Jessie for leading.
• If you are interested in receiving emails from our office with updates and opportunities to engage in specific areas of our work, fill out the form here and indicate your policy topics of interest.

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 spoken at the Rockridge Retirement Community, met with LGBTQIA+ organizations on state policy protections, participated in panels at the new legislators academy, attended a Shutesbury Select Board meeting, and much more.

On December 17, I joined Representative Natalie Blais at the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative’s Annual Meeting in Worcester, where we spoke about the legislation we were able to pass in 2024, what we’re planning for this coming legislative session, and how those of us focused on farming, food security, and the food system can be most powerful. 

On December 19, I was incredibly proud to join members of the Northampton Youth Commission in my State House office so that they could advocate with Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler for more funding for Northampton schools specifically and for all schools in the region — in the short- and longer-term. 

The Secretary was impressed by the depth of the students' knowledge and commitment, and he promised to visit Northampton in the new year. The students are organizing as I type.

On New Year’s Day (also the opening day of this session), I had an opportunity to thank Senator Ed Markey for his leadership role in the passage of the landmark, bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act signed into law by President Joe Biden.

On January 8, I met with inspiring undergraduate students from UMass Amherst in our State House office. This rising generation is passionate and ready to lead.

On January 9, I spoke alongside Rep. Blais and Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Undersecretary of Energy Michael Judge at a webinar hosted by the Nature Conservancy. The webinar focused on the new clean energy policy signed into law last year. You can watch it here. Rep. Blais and I focused on the safeguards in the new law and what more must be done. 

Shout out to our Chief of Staff, Jared Freedman, for being a remarkable clean energy wonk and for leading our clean energy and climate work.

On January 14, District Director Elena Cohen attended the Leverett Emergency Management Team’s tabletop exercise conducted by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). MEMA officials presented a storm scenario and each member of Leverett’s emergency management team expertly walked through every step they would take during this hypothetical disaster. My team and I are grateful to MEMA and to all of the emergency management officials and volunteers throughout the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district who keep us safe. 

While Elena attended the tabletop exercise, I had the opportunity to join Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robbie Goldstein and Representative Mindy Domb for a tour of the nursing simulation lab at UMass Amherst. I am advocating for funding for an expanded simulation lab and training capacity to benefit the western Massachusetts region — and the entire Commonwealth. 

On January 17, I again joined Rep. Domb at UMass for a day-long meeting with Massachusetts Life Sciences Center's new CEO Kirk Taylor focused on the University’s cutting edge work at the Institute for Applied Life Sciences and the Center for Nursing Innovation and Engineering Innovation, as well as the campus’ Future of Food Science initiative. 

Picture by: Thomas Kendell

I could go on, but we’ll end here and send our love to you. 

Onward, 

Jo, Rachel, Jared, Jessie, Elena, and Katelyn 

P.S. I promised you a fashion confession. Clare Higgins has long been my teacher and continues to set an example for me of life well-lived. Clare’s service at Community Action, as well as regionally and statewide, has been exemplary.

One of my very favorite Clare-isms is her description of herself as a “workhorse not a clotheshorse.” I have adopted this as my own, much to the chagrin of some friends and my teenagers who point out in painful detail the woes of my repeating wardrobe. The truth is that I get into fashion ruts and for days (weeks) will wear and wash and wear the same thing over and over again. Thus the ubiquitous rust jacket appears throughout this letter. I can’t imagine that I’m going to change this behavior. And if I could never pose for a picture again, I’d be absolutely delighted. But that’s not going to happen just yet. So we’re all going to have to pardon this quirk of mine.  

P.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.

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