To kick off Advocacy Week, Rep. Stanley addressed members of the Alzheimer’s Association this week. Rep. Stanley expressed his support for the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement to increase public awareness and to help improve government response to the serious conditions of Alzheimer’s and dementia. He congratulated Representative Balser on her well-deserved recognition as a true champion for those with Alzheimer’ s and dementia. The meeting also featured a panel discussion with Senator Lewis, Representative Gregoire, Representative Farley-Bouvier and Representative Ayers.

As Chairman of the Elder Affairs Committee, Rep. Stanley helped secure increased funding in the FY22 budget for needed mental health services and substantial investments in the human service and senior health delivery workforce. By increasing compensation to frontline workers, homemakers, personal care and home health aides we increase opportunity for elders to live safely in their own homes and for families to get assistance. Moving forward we are committed to expand funding for skilled nursing facilities, home care, family support services, and community health resources.

Rep. Stanley, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, was sworn in as a member of the Home Care Licensing Commission during the group’s first meeting on Wednesday, June 2. The purpose of the Home Care Licensing Commission is to study and make recommendations to establish a statewide licensing process for home care agencies across the Commonwealth. The Commission will study current licensure, reporting, and oversight requirements across the long-term care services industry, specifically related to home care agencies and services and submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including drafts of proposed legislation, by October 1, 2021.

At the meeting this week, Rep. Stanley and the Commission discussed broad goals including addressing existing gaps in oversight which may affect hundreds of providers who do not currently contract with the state’s 28 Aging Service Access Points (ASAPs). Members also discussed the resources needed to provide adequate and effective oversight of home care agency licensure processes as well as strategies and best practices other states are using to address these issues.

In a letter to the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, Rep. Stanley voiced his support for H.1959/S.1179, legislation to prevent wage theft; promote employer accountability, and enhance public enforcement. The bill will update our state’s labor laws to reflect the reality of these new employment practices by clarifying who is ultimately responsible for upholding fair labor standards in any given workplace. The bill also improves government enforcement by streamlining the enforcement power of the Attorney General’s office by allowing it to bring wage theft cases directly to court and seek damages on behalf of workers.

Passing this bill will uplift low-wage workers and families, strengthen the state’s economy and ensure Massachusetts remains the leader it has always been in passing strong labor laws and workplace protections. Currently, one in seven Massachusetts employers underreport workers or misclassify them as independent contractors which costs the Commonwealth an estimated $259 million annually in payroll taxes. Misclassification also costs the state $87 million annually in unemployment insurance taxes, a figure you don’t want to see considering the pandemic’s impact on the Unemployment Trust Fund’s solvency.

Rep. Stanley attended a celebration in May to commemorate Gov. Baker’s recently submitted the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Year Two Age-Friendly Progress Report detailing our efforts to advance our goal of becoming an age- and dementia-friendly state. This report represents the work of 2020, a year where the global pandemic changed everything. The COVID-19 pandemic created enormous challenges, especially for older adults. It brought economic calamity, isolation, anxiety, and fear, but also resilience, collaboration, and creativity. In the midst of this public health emergency, we witnessed the resilience of communities, including older adults, family caregivers, and the professionals who serve them. Read the report. 

Rep. Stanley is pleased to announced that the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum are the recent recipients of Mass Cultural Council Cultural Facilities Fund Grants. The Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. received a $100,000 capital grant while the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum received a $200,000 capital grant. Managed in collaboration with MassDevelopment, the Cultural Facilities Fund provides major improvement grants to nonprofit cultural organizations, in recognition of their profound economic impact on communities across Massachusetts.

Rep. Stanley was recently appointed to serve on the statewide Malnutrition Prevention Commission Among Older Adults. Members met on June 8^th to discuss ways to identify evidence-based strategies that raise public awareness of older adult malnutrition including educational materials, social marketing, statewide campaigns and public health events. The commission also received a federal update from Robert Blancoto, executive director of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs, national coordinator for Defeat Malnutrition Today and national board member of AARP. 

The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) is required by the CARES Act to identify and recover CARES Act benefits, such as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits that were overpaid. An overpayment, or improper payment, occurs if a claimant was paid unemployment benefits and DUA later determines that the claimant was not eligible to receive them. Even if the overpayment is not the claimant’s fault, they will be required to repay the amount of benefits that they received unless they apply for and receive a waiver of the obligation to repay. Learn more.

On June 8^th, Rep. Stanley chaired the quarterly meeting of the LGBT Aging Commission. Commission members analyze and study the health, housing, financial, psychosocial and long-term care needs of older LGBT adults and their caregivers, and with making recommendations to improve access to benefits and services where appropriate and necessary. June’s meeting focused on the LGBTQ Long Term Care Bill of Rights, The Executive Office of Elders Affairs roll out for LGBT Aging in MA training module and other work group priorities.

In a letter to the Joint Committee on Education Joint Committee on Education, Rep. Stanley expressed his support for the Healthy Youth Act. The legislation seeks to ensure that if a school in Massachusetts teaches sexuality education, it must provide students with medically accurate and evidence-based information about abstinence, delaying sexual activity, healthy relationships, and healthy behaviors free of coercion, effective contraceptive use, and sexually transmitted infections. The bill establishes a Massachusetts Comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework and tasks the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with implementing and administering this curriculum with school districts to ensure compliance.

Currently, sex education in Massachusetts is taught using a patchwork of curricula that primarily rely on ineffective abstinence-only programs. The lack of a comprehensive curriculum for sex education is contributing to several public health problems including sexual assault, STIs, and LGBTQ discrimination. Few young people have an adequate understanding of what sexual harassment and assault which prevents survivors from seeking help and perpetrators from being held accountable. Moreover, many students are not receiving the tools they need to prevent STIs. LGBTQ youth are disproportionately affected by STIs, as well as sexual assault and bullying.

The Baker Administration announced that work search requirements will be reinstated for all regular Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants effective the week of June 15, 2021. This requirement applies to UI claimants receiving Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) and those on Extended Benefits (EB). Massachusetts temporarily suspended these work-search requirements in March 2020, following updated federal guidance at the outset of the pandemic.

The reinstatement of the work search requirement for UI claimants means that beginning with the benefit week of June 13, 2021 through June 19, 2021, claimants must attest each week that they are making at least three work-search activities per week and provide proof of work search activity to the Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA) if requested. These requirements will be necessary to maintain eligibility for UI benefits. Learn more.

Rep. Stanley attended a memorial service honoring the life, memory, and spirit of John Scott who was buried at the MetFern Cemetery. The memorial service was held as part of an ongoing effort to help families repair the wounds of the past and solve unanswered questions concerning loved one who have been buried at MetFern.

Rep. Stanley cosponsored two bills at the State House to help these families. H.3150/S.2009 will open up historical public records that are currently sealed when they are 90 years old. The second bill, H.2090/S.1257 will create a disability-led state commission to create a report that tells--for the first time--the history of these institutions, and identifies the barriers for families like John's to gaining access to existing records.

With summer weather approaching, and as COVID-19 related restrictions on daily activities begin to lift, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) reminds residents to take recommended precautions to keep young children safe this summer. The guidance features helpful information on preventing tick bites, preventing mosquito bites, water and pool safety, window fall prevention and car safety. Read the full update. 

If you are seeking information about the recent ruling against the Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA), please read carefully. The Worcester Superior Court in Marrero v. Jeffers has ordered the DUA to offer claimants an opportunity for an interview before it can stop paying their benefits. If DUA stopped paying your benefits when you had weeks remaining, but didn’t offer you an interview with a DUA agent, this order may affect you. To learn more, please visit Community Legal Aid’s website.