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SUPPORT LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH!
PLEASE SIGN ON TO WMPHA's SAPHE 2.0 BILL SUPPORT LETTER!
As we did last year, WMPHA is asking all members to consider signing on to a letter to the legislature supporting the passage of the Statewide Accelerated Public Health for Every Community Act (SAPHE) 2.0 filed in the Senate by Senator Jo Comerford and in the House by Representatives Hannah Kane and Denise Garlick. The SAPHE Bill passed unanimously in the House and Senate last year but got stalled in the last few months of the session. This legislation is urgently needed to create a truly equitable local public health system for every resident of our state, and to protect and make permanent the great work happening under the Public Health Excellence (PHE) grants.
What does it do? The SAPHE 2.0 Bill provides the policy reforms needed to permanently fix our underfunded local public health system. It will:
- establish minimum public health standards in every community,
- incentivize municipalities to share services,
- create a uniform data collection and reporting system, and
- dedicate sustainable state funding to local public health.
Many Western MA communities are already doing this work through the PHE grant program, but what we want is a system that makes sure EVERY community has this support forever, not just through a grant program. Every resident of our Commonwealth deserves the same level of public health services -- your protections should not be dependent on your zip code or your tax base.
Click below to read the letter, and to sign on to it.
Please ask your Mayor, City Council, Select Board Members and Town Administrator to sign on as well.
Thank you!
CLICK HERE TO READ THE LETTER
CLICK HERE TO SIGN ON TO THE LETTER!
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