Off we go

Greetings all,

We're two months into this new session and my team and I have been firing on all cylinders:

In February’s newsletter, I wrote to you about my swearing in, my nomination of Senator Karen Spilka for Senate President, and the bills my team and I filed on your behalf.

Things only got busier from there, including work we're doing now on extending SNAP benefits, universal school meals, and more, as the Senate takes up Governor Healey's first (and very important) filed bills.

Before I dive in, I want to join you in:

Celebrating the life and work of Congressman John Olver

Congressman John Olver, a beloved giant in our midst, died peacefully last week.

The Congressman served as a Massachusetts state representative from 1969 to 1972, as state senator from 1973 to 1991, and as a member of the U.S. Congress from 1991 to 2012.

Known for his boundless intellect and unparalleled call to public service, Congressman Olver dedicated his life to making the Commonwealth and the nation more just and equitable places for all. His long list of accomplishments is literally breathtaking.

John was also known for his wit, as evidenced in this pretty perfect campaign ad.

I am personally grateful for the countless ways he inspired me over many years, from when I was an organizer at AFSC appealing to him for help on a range of campaigns to when he came forward to endorse my campaign for state senate and nudge me forward on my current path.

You can find a beautiful tribute here. I send love to everyone who is grieving the loss and celebrating the life of such an exquisite force for good.

Committee assignments

Each legislative session, legislators receive new committee assignments. This session (2023-2024), I’m delighted to tell you that I’ve been appointed to the following committees:

Taken together, my committee assignments this session will allow me and my team to expand on regional equity work – focused on fair spending, education, the food system and farms, economic development, racial equity, and good government – that we’ve been doing since taking office.

I updated my bio to reflect my committee work during my first four years in office. As much as I remain passionate about Public Health, I'm tremendously excited to dig into the work of the Joint Committee on Higher Education as Senate Chair. It’s (beyond) time for an historic re-investment in public higher education.

Rules

One of the first Senate committees appointed at the start of a new legislative session is a Temporary Rules Committee. These rules govern how the Legislature functions, including how Massachusetts residents engage in the legislative process and how the Legislature debates and votes on pressing policy and budget matters.

This session, the Senate President appointed me to the Temporary Rules Committee. The product of our work is embodied in the Senate Rules (S.17) and the Senate’s proposal for the Joint Rules (S.18). The Joint Rules must now be reconciled with the House before taking effect.

In my role on the Committee, I focused on:

Access: I wanted and helped secure remote participation in public bill hearings so that western Massachusetts constituents could engage robustly on critical issues.
Transparency: I wanted and helped secure all votes – on the floor and in committees – to be posted publicly and to require committees to make testimony public upon request. This is absolutely critical for true accountability to our constituents.
Equity: In committees which take testimony from officials out of turn – meaning that some individuals may be afforded privileged ability to testify early or at a time that works for them – Indigenous tribal leaders must now be afforded that same privileged time and space to testify. This has been a change I’ve wanted for years and was finally able to achieve.

When the rules package came to the Senate floor for debate, an amendment was offered to end the term limit on the Senate Presidency. I’ve never been a fan of term limits. I’ve always thought that they take the democratic choice and power away from the electorate. I’m also mindful that – among the Speaker of the House, Governor, and Senate President – the Senate President was the only term-limited position, which reduces the Senate President’s leverage when negotiating on behalf of the Senate’s proposals. Finally, the Senate President must be elected every two years like all Massachusetts legislators, and must also ask colleagues to vote for them as President every two years. All this, considered together, led me to vote yes on the amendment.

The Governor's budget

Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll have filed a $55.5 billion budget blueprint (which includes projected Fair Share revenue). Their budget work began months ago as government agencies submitted their budget proposals to the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, followed by what is called a consensus revenue forecast to determine how much revenue we can expect in the coming year.

Our team’s advocacy also started months before now as we communicated with the Administration and legislative leadership about the important funding streams for western Massachusetts and the state.

We've put together a blog with links to the Administration’s "budget explainers" to make it easier to engage.

The Governor’s budget will now receive hearings before the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. As Assistant Vice Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, I will host and chair one of these hearings focused on the proposed education and local aid funding. I’m looking forward to hosting Administration officials in western Massachusetts, and my team and I are working already to unpack line items, funding levels, and what are called “cherry sheets” (local aid numbers) on behalf of constituents.

Our team put together a flow chart to help constituents track this process every step of the way. You can also track this online here: https://malegislature.gov/ (just click on “Budget” in the toolbar.)

Briefings and advocacy days

‘Tis the season of legislative briefings, as legislators and advocates hustle to make the case for why priority legislation deserves timely and favorable consideration.

Our team has focused on promoting the End of Life Options bill we re-filed in partnership with Senators Su Moran and Will Brownsberger, House Leader Jim O’Day, and Representative Ted Phillips. You can read the bill here.

We also joined with the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative to launch five farm and food system bills I’ve filed with Representatives Hannah Kane, Natalie Blais, and Paul Schmid. To learn more about the bills I have filed on farms, food, and equity, visit here.

It’s also the season of issue-focused briefings.

I was honored to join Rep. Hannah Kane and the Massachusetts Food System Caucus to host a timely briefing led by anti-hunger organizations on the end to the SNAP emergency allotment, an extra benefit issued to SNAP households by the federal government since the onset of COVID. My summary of the briefing and additional key resources are here. Governor Maura Healey has filed a supplemental budget with funding to help ease the abrupt end to these federal pandemic-related benefits. You can count on me to vote yes when the time comes.

And advocacy days are in full swing.

Hundreds of advocates, over the course of many hours on a frozen day, came to the State House, voices raised and signs in hand, to support the passage of a bill I’ve filed with Representative Chynah Tyler to put a moratorium on the construction of new prisons and jails in Massachusetts (remember both the House and Senate passed the bill last session but it was vetoed by a misguided Governor Baker). Families for Justice as Healing and allies like the folks at the Women & Incarceration Project at Suffolk University are calling us to build up people, not prisons. And I’m with them.

Paying too much for energy? Rep. Blais and I agree

Rep. Natalie Blais and I offered a look into our partnership to hold utilities accountable and lower energy prices – in the short and long term. We wrote an op-ed that was published in area newspapers (but we’ve also made it available here).

Fighting home equity theft

In Massachusetts, when homeowners fall behind in their property taxes, cities and towns can foreclose and take ownership of the entire property. We’re among only 12 states in the nation to engage in this practice.

Municipalities can then sell the home, keeping all of the profits – even if the amount greatly exceeds the back taxes owed. (It’s important to note that not all cities and towns do this.) My bill, An Act protecting equity for homeowners facing foreclosure, which I share with Representative Jeff Roy, ends this process in the Commonwealth. I learned about this issue from Greenfield constituents and wrote about it here. The Boston Globe editorialized in favor of the bill here.

Out and about

What do you call a room packed with women on Valentine's Day Eve – where heart-felt and powerful truths are shared? Senate President Karen Spilka called it Galentine's Day – and it was truly triumphant, soaring quickly to annual event status. Big love also to Senator Julian Cyr whose portrayal of 1848 befuddled and outraged Massachusetts Senate President Zeno Scudder was a show-stopper. Zeno kept looking for His Excellency the Governor or Mr. Attorney General or the Congressman in the room, but Zeno's days of a men-only Beacon Hill had vanished.

(Pictured below: Governor Maura Healey, Mayor Michelle Wu, and Senate President Spilka joined by members of the Governor’s Cabinet and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, who jumped up to take an informal team picture. Gov. Healey, Transhealth Northampton’s Executive Director Dallas Ducar, and me. And Sen. Cyr aka Zeno.)