Rep. Stanley is pleased to announce that Waltham and Lincoln will receive grant funding from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) and the Department of Fire Services (DFS) to purchase of firefighter safety equipment. Waltham received a $35,000 grant while Lincoln received nearly $12,000.

Fire departments in every city, town, fire district, and eligible state authority fire departments were eligible to apply for grant funding in State Fiscal Year 2022. The total amount of funding available was $5 million, and grants were awarded on a competitive basis. The maximum amounts of grant funding were determined by the population of the community being served.

A new tool will give residents a new way to access their COVID-19 digital vaccine card and vaccination history. The new tool, called My Vax Records, allows people who received their vaccination in Massachusetts to access their own vaccination history and generate a COVID-19 digital vaccine card, which would contain similar vaccination information to a paper CDC card. The COVID-19 digital vaccine cards produced by the system utilize the SMART Health Card platform and generate a QR code that can be used to verify vaccination. The Administration is not requiring residents to show proof of vaccination to enter any venue, but this tool will help residents who would like to access and produce a digital copy of their record. Access the new tool at MyVaxRecords.Mass.Gov.

Gov. Baker announced an order was placed with iHealth to supply the state with 26 million rapid antigen tests over the next three months. The tests will be prioritized to support K-12 schools and childcare settings. The agreement allows for shipments of tests to arrive on a rolling basis in the Commonwealth, but the Administration warns that the timing and shipment amounts will vary depending on international shipping and production variables.

Governor Baker also activated 500 additional members of the Massachusetts National Guard to support the state’s health care system. This order expands the National Guard activation of 500 members announced on December 21 to support non-clinical functions in the Commonwealth’s hospitals. Prioritized uses for the newly activated 500 members will be to provide additional non-clinical staffing at community hospitals and high-volume emergency departments, public hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and dialysis centers. These guard personnel will be deployed beginning the week of January 17.

The Mass Cultural Council (MCC) recently awarded Gore Place and Waltham Partnership for Youth (WPY) with FY22 Fall/Winter Festivals grants. MCC recently announced $148,500 in grants to 99 Fall/Winter Festivals. Festivals strengthen our sense of community; allow us to celebrate heritage, culture, and traditions; entertain through music and film; and provide educational opportunities for attendees.

In the shadow of COVID-19, festival programmers made the decision to move forward and hold in-person, hybrid, and/or online festivals understanding the importance now more than ever of celebrating the arts and their communities. For the Fall/Winter grant cycle, the Agency increased the grant amount from $500 to $1,500 per festival. Of the 126 applications received, 44% are new applicants to the program. Of the 99 grantees, 39% are first-time Festival grantees.

The next round of festival grants, the Spring/Summer grant cycle, will open on January 10, 2022 for festivals taking place between March 1 and August 31, 2022. Learn more.

Rep. Stanley testified at the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture hearing in support of two bills he sponsored: H.1103 relative to the conservation of striped bass and H.1104 relative to the conservation of Atlantic striped bass. The bills seek to preserve the Commonwealth’s striped bass population and promote a strong, controlled recreational fishing industry.

H.1104 would create a commission to examine and assess the impact that commercial harvesting and recreational fishing have on the population and viability of wild striped bass in MA. H.1103 further defines a commercial striped bass license holder to ensure that the striped bass population remains sustainable for the commercial and recreational fisherman in MA.

Rep. Stanley’s assessor certificates legislation (H.2206) cleared both the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government and the House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling last month. Rep. Stanley recently delivered written testimony to Chair Garlick and Speaker Mariano urging for the House to advance the bill which is currently before the House Committee on Bills in the Third Reading. This legislation improves the profession, enhances the assessor’s skillset, and improves taxpayer efficiency and service to the property owner. H.2206, as a local option, recognizes the additional certificates/professional development designations that assessors can now attain and grant an accompanying stipend as they move up the ladder.

H.2206 allows communities to increase the stipend for those assessors that attain higher level certifications and designations, upon local approval by that community. More specifically, the bill acknowledges all three certifications are eligible for the certification and increases the “up-to” limit of each certification (typically percentage of salary up to a certain amount). The bill is local option, and it would be the decision of the community to award the stipend.

As COVID-19 cases continue to climb in Massachusetts, please note that the Commonwealth offers employees a COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave program. This program requires employers to provide up to one week of paid sick leave to employees who need leave for a covered COVID-19 related reason (quarantine, recover, get vaccinated, or help a sick family member). Employers may then apply for reimbursement from the state. this benefit remains in effect through April 1, 2022. For a detailed overview of the sick leave benefit with FAQ, click here.

The Mass Cultural Council (MCC) launched the FY22 Artist Fellowship grant application period for Drawing & Printmaking, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Painting. The Artist Fellowships are unrestricted awards to individual Massachusetts artists. The awards are reviewed anonymously, based solely on the creative work submitted. This year, Artist Fellowships are $15,000 and Finalist awards are $5,000. The deadline to apply is Monday, January 24, 2022. The application process and eligibility is detailed here. More information on the grants can be found here.

In a letter to Department of Housing and Community Development Undersecretary Jennifer Maddox, Rep. Stanley expressed his support of 2Life’s proposal to redevelop the former Leland Home rest home (21 Newton Street in Waltham, MA) into 68 affordable apartments for seniors in the Waltham Community. There is a tremendous need in the Waltham community for more affordable housing for our older adults. The City will provide $6 million in CPA funding.

Located next to the Waltham Senior Center and the commercially diverse corridor along Main Street, this apartment community will allow residents to age in place. 2Life plans on including the highest standards of universal design, adaptability, resiliency, and sustainability in Leland Home redevelopment to enable new residents to remain there regardless of physical ability as they age. The ground Village Center features flexible spaces for fitness and wellness activities, arts, and culture programs, communal dining programs and community events.

Rep. Stanley submitted written testimony to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy in support of the Green Future Act (H.3292), legislation striving to achieve a green future with infrastructure and workforce investments. Rep. Stanley is a co-sponsor of the bill. The legislation will raise substantial funds to invest in the transition of green energy alternatives to build a 21st century climate resilient economy and workforce.

Passage of the 2050 Next Generation Climate Roadmap bill charts a course for MA to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. However, there is no dedicated funding source to assist the state in meeting these climate goals. H.3292 would place a fee on fossil fuel imports once they enter the Commonwealth, seeking to eliminate a loophole that allows current importers of fossil fuel to not pay any taxes. Such a fee is estimated to generate $700m per year and $9.6b by 2030. This revenue would then be used to support a $500m per year green bonding program as part of the state’s capital budget and establish a Green Infrastructure Fund (GIF) to invest in projects that electrify transportation, increase renewable energy, and create consumer heating efficiency rebates.

In a letter to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, Rep. Stanley lobbied in support of the 100% Clean Act (H.3288/S.2136) to transition Massachusetts to clean energy, heating and transportation. Rep. Stanley is a co-sponsor of the bill which would set a goal of 100 percent renewable electricity by 2035, and 100 percent renewable energy economy-wide, including heat and transportation, by 2045. The bill would also set interim renewable energy targets along with regulations to meet those targets.

To support workers displaced in the transition away from fossil fuels, the 100% Energy Act establishes a Just Transition Office tasked with offering training and job placement assistance. the bill also creates a Clean Energy Equity Office to ensure that clean energy incentive programs benefit environmental justice communities. Seven States including Maine, New York and Virginia have passed similar legislation committing to 100 percent clean electricity.

Rep. Stanley submitted written testimony to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in support of legislation he co-sponsored, the Massachusetts Parentage Act (H.1714/S.1133). This legislation updates the state's statutes to clarify who can be a parent and how to establish parentage, based on the Uniform Parentage Act (UPA) which provides a uniform framework for ensuring the protection of the relationship between parents and children.

The bill is critical to ensuring that all children can access the security of legal parentage, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. Moreover, it also provides equality for LGBTQ families so that they can establish their parentage like other families, including through a voluntary acknowledgement of parentage. The bill provides a path to parentage through birth, adoption, acknowledgement, adjudication, genetics, assisted reproduction, surrogacy, de facto parentage, and presumptions. This ensures that children born through assisted reproduction technology (i.e., in vitro fertilization) have a clear route to establish their parentage. The bill also codifies parentage precedents from the Supreme Judicial Court to provide clear standards for family courts to apply to parentage matters.