Legislative Update
185th General Court (2007-2008)
The legislation below has been sponsored or co-sponsored by Rep. John Keenan for the 185 th session of the Massachusetts legislature. For more information about any of these bills – or any late-filed petitions, which are not included here – please contact Rep. Keenan’s State House office at (617) 722-2575.
Consumer Protection & Insurance Reform
Protect Children from Toxic Toys – Sponsor
This legislation would phase out the use of phthalates and bisphenol-A in childcare products and children’s toys. Currently, many plastic products intended for babies and young children – including baby bottles and teethers – contain these harmful chemicals. Safer alternatives to these products do exist, so we could feasibly phase out the use of these chemicals and better protect the health and safety of children in the Commonwealth.
Rebate Reform and Consumer Protection – Sponsor
This bill allows consumers who purchase a retail product that has a rebate available to claim in full the complete rebate at the point of sale. Specifically, retailers advertising a manufacturer’s rebate on any product must apply the rebate amount at the time of the sale and complete the rebate redemption process themselves, rather than requiring the consumer to do it. It also prohibits retailers from advertising a “net” or final price for an item that includes a payment from a manufacturer, unless the retailer gives the buyer the manufacturer’s payment at the time of the sale.
Protect First Party Claimants from Bad Faith Insurers – Sponsor
This bill seeks to protect consumers by reforming the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act to allow for the financial punishment, through the awarding of punitive damages, of insurers who commit acts of bad faith in dealing with first party claimants. Such protections currently exist under case law for third party claimants. This legislation would allow an arbitration award against a malicious insurer to serve as the basis for a court to multiply for punitive damages, even if such award is never reduced to judgment.
Commercial Rebate Expiration – Co-sponsor
As it currently stands, there is no minimum time given consumers to submit paperwork to claim a rebate. In fact, companies that offer rebates count on the fact that many consumers will miss their short window of opportunity. In order to protect the interests of the consumer, this bill will mandate a period of no less than one year from the date of purchase to submit all paperwork necessary to receive a rebate.
Relative to Consumer Rebates – Co-sponsor
This bill requires retailers who advertise a manufacturer’s rebate for a product by displaying the net price of the advertised item to present the rebate at the exact time of purchase.
Automatic Mail-In Rebates – Co-sponsor
This legislation makes rebates in the Commonwealth automatic at the time of purchase of a retail good or product that carries an advertised rebate.
An Act to Ban Lead in Toys – Co-sponsor
This bill would establish a special commission that would investigate and study the ban on certain levels of lead in children’s toys and jewelry. After the commission has completed the investigation and study, it will submit recommendations and drafts of legislation to carry its recommendations into effect.
Protect Consumers from Identity Theft – Co-sponsor
This bill allows consumers to place a credit freeze in the event of possible identity theft and receive prompt notification of security breaches. They are also able to receive added protection from disclosure of Social Security numbers and added protection through penalties for negligent release of private information and enhanced criminal penalties.
Cell Phone Users’ Bill of Rights – Co-sponsor
This bill recommends a “Bill of Rights” for cell phone users, which would include more information on charges, minutes included in the plan, contract terms, taxes, surcharges, and any other information the Department of Telecommunications and Energy deems appropriate, before entering into any contract with a consumer for wireless telephone service.
Relative to Wireless Telephone Service – Co-sponsor
This legislation would mandate that all wireless telephone service providers keep records of all dropped calls, any dead zones, signal strength, etc. Further, it would allow any customer who has experienced five or more dropped calls in a 30-day period to cancel their service without incurring a termination fee.
Relative to Cellular Telephone Service – Co-sponsor
This bill would amend existing laws to prohibit cellular telephone service providers from requiring a customer to sign a new contract when the customer seeks only to replace or upgrade a phone.
Do Not Knock Bill – Co-sponsor
This bill requires door-to-door sales crews to register with local police and requires companies to perform background checks on employees. It also includes penalties and empowers the police to arrest for violations. It excludes non-profits and non-commercial solicitations and is based on the existing “do not call” law already on the books; it includes a local option provision.
Relative to the Sale or Leasing of Motor Vehicles – Co-sponsor
This bill requires that, prior to the discussion of the pricing of the sale or lease of a motor vehicle, a retail seller must inform the potential buyer or lessee of gap insurance costs and the cost of any other additional coverage.
Professional Licensure in the Commonwealth – Co-sponsor
This bill requires any person applying or attempting to renew any professional license by the Commonwealth to have all state taxes paid in full prior to the issuance of the license or renewal.
An Act Improving Playgrounds – Co-sponsor
This bill will upgrade current playgrounds to national safety standards.
Rock Wall Climbing Safeguards – Co-sponsor
This bill would not allow licenses granted for operation of portable fabricated rock walls (including inflatables), unless climbers wear protective headgear and are fitted with a safety harness and belay safety system. It also requires n inflatable protective base and guardrail for inflatable rock climbing walls. The Commissioner of Public Safety would establish minimum safety requirements.
Criminal Justice & the Courts
Reform the Commonwealth’s Bail System – Sponsor
As there is currently no prohibition regarding the posting of bail in cash, regardless of the amount, bail commissioners may be out at night holding thousands of dollars in cash bails posted by overnight arrestees. Persons being bailed from court can have sureties come into court with thousands of dollars in cash bail. This can lead to a situation liable to corruption. It also poses a danger to public employees who must safeguard and transport large sums of cash currency to the bank daily. Finally, there may be problems with the accountability of these funds, particularly in narcotics cases. The courts are often put in the unenviable position of having to comply with federal Internal Revenue Service requirements for certain large cash transactions and may even unwittingly be, in effect, laundering drug money through the bail system. As justices across the Commonwealth set bail amounts higher every year, especially in narcotics and violent crimes cases, the problem becomes more and more serious. This bill stipulates that bail posted in amounts over $10,000 must be paid only by cashier’s check, treasurer’s check, certified check, or surety bond and not by cash. The amount of $10,000 was determined based on the current minimum IRS threshold for reporting of cash transactions under current banking regulations.
Penalizing Domestic Abusers – Co-sponsor
This bill would empower DAs to seek felony charges in certain domestic abuse cases, primarily with repeat batterers. This would lengthen and strengthen the sentences available to the court in punishing such criminals. Current law limits sentences to a maximum of 2 ½ years in prison and does not permit prosecutors from bringing felony charges unless there is severe bodily harm. This legislation would broaden the statute to include repeat abusers, regardless of the severity of the physical harm inflicted.
The Public Safety Act – Co-sponsor
This legislation is a comprehensive bill dealing with CORI reform, reducing criminal recidivism, and increasing inmates’ access to rehabilitative programs. It would change the CORI system to ensure that the information distributed is correct and pertinent. It would reduce repeat offenses by addressing the need for rehabilitation. Offenders would be able to enter drug treatment within a correctional facility after two-thirds of their sentence has been completed.
Enhancing Victim and Witness Rights – Co-sponsor
This bill contains provisions to raise awareness of victims’ and witness rights following a crime and establishes as system of support persons for victims and witnesses who are adults with disabilities or who are children.
An Act Relative to the Crime of Identity Fraud – Co-sponsor
This bill would amend the present identity theft statute to close some existing loopholes and to create a new crime to penalize “phishing,” a type of identity fraud in which the offender sends out blanket emails and poses as the customer’s bank looking for information and then utilizes that information to commit other crimes.
Regulating Sex Offender Registration Name Changes – Co-sponsor
This bill closes an existing loophole in the Sex Offender Registry Statute. Present law allows registered sex offenders to escape detection by simply changing their names. This bill requires name change notification and imposes penalties for failing to do so.
Verification of Eligibility for Taxpayer Assumption of Court Costs – Co-sponsor
This bill would require an independent credit check before anyone can declare themselves indigent and eligible for the Commonwealth to assume their court costs.
Operation of Recreational Vehicles Under the Influence – Co-sponsor
This bill will bring snow and other recreational vehicles under the same restrictions and laws as motor vehicles and watercraft in terms of prohibitions on operations under the influence of alcoholic or narcotic substances.
Economic Development & Small Business
Flood Relief Bill – Co-sponsor
This bill would provide relief and tax assistance to businesses, municipalities, and individuals who suffered losses from the May 2006 floods on the North Shore and in the Merrimack Valley.
Loans for Waterfront Development – Co-sponsor
This legislation provides up to $10 million through the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency to establish a revolving loan fund to make interest free loans to revitalize and redevelop industrial and commercial property on the waterfront.
Renewal Communities and Smart Growth Zoning – Co-sponsor
Some communities amended their local zoning ordinances or by-laws to enact overlay districts which incorporate Smart Growth principles before the Smart Growth law was passed in 2004. These communities are not permitted to take advantage of all the benefits of Ch. 40R. This legislation would allow communities with existing overlay districts that incorporate Smart Growth principles as defined by the existing law to be eligible for all the zoning and financial benefits of a defined Smart Growth District.
Small Business Technical Assistance Grants – Co-sponsor
This legislation would extend the Small business Technical Assistance program created in the 2006 economic stimulus bill by allocating an addition $2 million for the program to the Department of Business and Technology.
Professional Services for Small Businesses – Co-sponsor
This legislation would establish a $2 million grant fund for low- to moderate-income small businesses for the purpose of helping these businesses access professional services needed to start or expand the business, such as accounting or legal services. The legislation would also provide $300,000 for the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation to develop a web-based licensing portal.
Relative to Special Development Districts – Co-sponsor
This legislation provides a totally local option for municipalities acting on petition of property owners to establish a self-taxing mechanism to fund a wide array of public infrastructure such as roads, parks, water, and sewer facilities. Last year, some $15 billion in land-secured tax-exempt bonds financed infrastructure improvements in states other than Massachusetts. The local city or town would have no financial liability for bonds issued pursuant to this law.
Education
Encouraging Tomorrow’s Teachers – Sponsor
This bill would reform the “Tomorrow’s Teachers” scholarship program to allow substitute teaching experience to qualify towards the program’s obligations equal to regular teaching experience. While many eager participants signed up for the “Tomorrow’s Teachers” scholarship program when it was instituted by the state several years ago, they are now struggling to find full-time teaching positions in Massachusetts. Many are turning to substitute teaching in the interim; however, such experience does not satisfy the scholarship program’s current requirements for the recipients to teach in a Massachusetts public school upon graduating. This bill would amend that to encourage tomorrow’s teachers to stay in Massachusetts, keep pursuing full-time teaching opportunities, and avoid the poverty and discouragement that so often drives young teachers out of the profession and feeds our existing teacher deficit.
Amending the Salem State College Assistance Corporation – Sponsor
This bill would amend the statutes regulating the Salem State College Enterprise Center to enable it to expand and grow. The SSC Enterprise Center is a small business incubator that also focuses on workforce and economic development for Salem and the entire North Shore region.
An Act Relative to Early Education and Care – Co-sponsor
This comprehensive proposal outlines the effective development of a coordinated system of early education and care in Massachusetts. It establishes the Massachusetts Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program – a voluntary, high-quality, universally accessible early education program for preschool-aged children, to be delivered through a mixed system of providers and meeting high program quality standards. The bill also further delineates powers and duties of the Board, Department, and Commissioner of Early Education and Care and makes technical changes necessary for the effective development of a coordinated and streamlined early education and care system.
An Act Relative to Board of Education Reform – Co-sponsor
This legislation would dissolve the current board and replace it with a 15 member board whose membership must reflect the population of students to be served by the Commonwealth’s public school systems. The board will be geographically, ethnically, racially, economically, and political diverse. It will include representation from students, teachers, principals, superintendents, and experts in educational policy, as well as local officials, business leaders, higher education administrators, and educational policy experts.
Establish an Executive Office of Education – Co-sponsor
Currently there is no cabinet level position accountable for education policy in the Commonwealth. This bill establishes an Executive Office of Education and brings all of the agencies that offer educational services in the Commonwealth under the purview of one executive office.
Providing Free Tuition for Public School Teachers – Co-sponsor
This legislation establishes a tuition waiver program for public school teachers for public institutions of higher education. The 1993 Education Reform Act mandated recertification for teachers in the Commonwealth’s public schools. This bill would provide a practical way of fulfilling this previously unfunded mandate.
Disclosure of Information of Interscholastic Athletic Authorized Agents and Post Season Competitions – Co-sponsor
This bill would require the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association to file a yearly report with the Department of Education detailing all financial matters relative to interscholastic post-season events and selection processes. In addition, this bill would prohibit home field advantage to a school in any semi-final or final round tournament, playoff, or “superbowl” event.
Establishing a Health Education Program in Public Schools – Co-sponsor
This bill places a health education program among the core subjects of mathematics, science and technology, history and social science, English, foreign languages, and the arts, for which academic standards must be developed.
Establishing Local Control of Health Education Curriculum – Co-sponsor
This bill requires each public school district to establish a Health Education Curriculum Committee to research and recommend a health education curriculum, adopt a policy ensuring parental notification of the contents of the curriculum – including the ability for parents to exempt their children from that portion dealing with human sexuality – and to make accessible program materials for inspection and review.
Establishing a Physical Education Requirement in Public Schools – Co-sponsor
This bill adds physical education to the list of core subjects of mathematics, science and technology, history and social science, English, foreign languages, and the arts, for which academic standards must be developed.
Enhance the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System – Co-sponsor
This legislation would reform the MCAS test to make it a component of a more comprehensive, multiple assessment system for graduation and awarding of degrees from Massachusetts public high schools.
Provide Health Education in Schools – Co-sponsor
This bill would insert health education, as defined by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Health Curriculum Frameworks and as required by the Supreme Judicial Court, into the core curriculum for public schools. School districts would be required to teach age-appropriate health education in grades K-12.
Relative to Health Education – Co-sponsor
This bill would bar any state agency or political subdivisions of Massachusetts from applying for any federal grant for abstinence-only education.
Tax Deductions and Credits for Costs of Higher Education – Co-sponsor
This bill provides for a qualified tuition deduction and Hope and Lifetime Learning credits for individuals filing Massachusetts state income tax returns.
Tax Deductions for Contributions to College Savings Plans – Co-sponsor
This legislation allows for a state income tax deduction for contributions made to college savings plans (either the UFund or UPlan). The deduction would be $500 for single filers and $1000 for joint filers.
Expanding the Membership of the Board of Education – Co-sponsor
This bill would add four additional gubernatorial appointees to the Board of Education.
Changing the Maximum Required Age for School Attendance – Co-sponsor
This piece of legislation would set the maximum age for children required to attend school in the Commonwealth to the age of 18. The current law states that children are required to attend school to the age of 16.
Establish Full-Day Kindergarten – Co-sponsor
This bill adds new language to the statutes to require the minimum required age for school attendance be promulgated by the Board of Education in such a way that each child of the Commonwealth is required to enter school at kindergarten age.
Special Needs Students and the MCAS – Co-sponsor
This legislation would provide a mechanism for certain students with special needs who do not pass the MCAS to receive a high school diploma.
Increasing Educational Opportunities for Foster Children – Co-sponsor
The Foster Child Tuition Waiver Program provides tuition to foster children at any one of the Massachusetts' 29 state and community colleges and universities. Approved by the Board of Higher Education in June of 2000, current foster children between the ages of 17 and 24 who have not been returned home and have been in foster care for at least one year as a result of a care and protection petition are eligible for tuition. This legislation would place the program in statute and provide tuition and fees to youth in DSS.
Ensure Higher Education Materials for Visually Impaired Students – Co-sponsor
This bill would require public institutions of higher education to provide course materials in either Braille or other electronic means for visually impaired students upon request in a timely manner.
Relative to School Nutrition – Co-sponsor
This legislation provides a state infrastructure for the implementation of the new Federal nutrition standards. It engages both the Massachusetts Department of Education and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in the establishment of standards and approval of local communities’ wellness policies. School districts would create School Wellness Advisory Committees made up of parents, teachers, students, administrators, school committee members, school nurses, food services managers, physicians, nutritionists and any other interested community members. Together, the members of this committee would create a wellness policy based on both federal and state requirements.
Supporting Access and Excellence in Public Higher Education – Co-sponsor
This bill is intended to ensure that public higher education remains affordable and of the highest quality possible. It supports the coordination of all levels of public education in the Commonwealth, seeks to strengthen public college Board appointments, and enhances workforce development efforts.
Improve Quality Physical Education – Co-sponsor
This bill would enforce physical education curriculum requirements in schools and set minimum standards and guidelines.
Out-of-District Special Education Transportation Costs – Co-sponsor
This bill would give cities and towns the opportunity to recoup up to 50% of the cost of special education out-of-district transportation.
Special Education Circuit Breaker Incentives for In-District Education – Co-sponsor
This bill would lower the threshold for qualifications for reimbursement from the current formula of 4x per pupil average to 3x per pupil average.
Provide Greater Financial Cost Share of Special Education to Sending Districts – Co-sponsor
This bill would increase the percentage of reimbursement of the special education circuit breaker from the current 75% to 80%.
Creative Education Challenge Index – Co-sponsor
This bill would establish a commission that would develop an index for schools across the Commonwealth that would rate how they are challenging students on creativity. The index would give points for the offering of programs such as music, debate, art and other similar subjects.
Elder Issues
Protection of Elderly in Long Term Care Facilities – Sponsor
This bill amends the Commonwealth's statutes concerning the Sex Offender Registry to require that any registered sex offender who moves into a long term care facility - specifically a nursing home - notify the local police department of the town where the facility is located within 24 hours of their arrival. For level two offenders, the police department is then required to provide that information to the director of the care facility.
Payment for CORI Checks for Long-Term Care Employees – Co-sponsor
This bill would clarify the payment mechanism for long term care facilities who request criminal offender record information checks. The law requires nursing homes and other facilities to obtain a CORI check on any prospective employee who will be providing direct personal care or treatment to residents. It directs the Division of Medical Assistance to reimburse long term care facilities for its portion of the costs associated with obtaining CORI checks, subject to appropriation.
Prescription Drug Safety Net – Co-sponsor
This legislation would make permanent the 30-day prescription drug safety net for Massachusetts seniors and others with prescribed medications who may experience a gap or loss in coverage due to Medicare or Medicaid changes.
Protect Interests of Consumer in Senior Lifestyle Communities – Co-sponsor
This bill establishes a Special Commission on Protection of Consumer Interests in Continuing Care Senior Lifestyle Retirement Communities. The Commission shall make an investigation and study of the need for legislation, regulatory oversight, or other means to ensure that the financial interests of consumer who join senior lifestyle communities are protected against fraud and abuse in marketing of said communities and for protection of the investment or payment for membership in such communities.
Increase the Personal Care Allowance for Residents of Long Term Care Facilities – Co-sponsor
This legislation seeks to increase the Personal Care Allowance or Personal Needs Allowance (PNA) for MassHealth recipients residing in long term care facilities from $60.00 to $72.80. This bill also establishes an annual cost of living increase based on the same percentage rate used for increases to state supplementary payments for individuals living in their own homes. The PNA is the amount of personal income a MassHealth recipient who is living in a nursing facility, licensed chronic hospital, licensed rest home, or approved public medical institution, retains each month in order to pay for personal effects, including clothing and other services for daily life not covered by the facility. If the MassHealth member has no income, DMA pays the PNA to the individual. In 1991, the Legislature reduced the PNA from $72.50 per month to $60.00. This legislation would restore it to its original level.
Energy & the Environment
An Act Regarding Electric Generating Stations – Sponsor
This legislation calls for Massachusetts to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, but would permit the state’s six coal and oil plants to continue to operate under CMR 7.29, the Commonwealth’s existing statutes that cap and curb carbon dioxide emissions. This balanced legislation provides environmental benefits to the Commonwealth, but also allows Salem Harbor Station to continue to operate, ensuring grid reliability.
Reporting to the Legislature Prior to Entering into Regional Compacts – Sponsor
This bill would require the Division of Energy Resources to file a report with the legislature detailing the cost and impact to residential, commercial, and industrial consumers prior to the Commonwealth joining any interstate compact relative to energy.
Authority of the Commissioner of the Division of Energy Resources Sponsor
This bill would vest the Commissioner of the Division of Energy Resources with the authority to enter into interstate compacts that might impact the diversity or reliability of the Commonwealth’s energy supply.
Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals – Co-sponsor
The Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals bill provides a comprehensive process for helping businesses transition to safer alternatives for chemicals that currently endanger our health and endanger our business's competitiveness in a global marketplace increasingly moving toward more strict limits on toxic chemicals. The ten chemicals initially addressed by the bill are found in a variety of uses in Massachusetts, including cosmetics, dry cleaning, electronics, furniture, bedding, food packaging, and sporting gear. The bill would also substitute dangerous chemicals currently used in many manufacturing processes, protecting the health of workers. This bill is good for consumers, good for workers, and good for our businesses.
Oceans Management Act – Co-sponsor
This bill would give the oversight, coordination, and planning authority of the ocean resources of Massachusetts with the Secretary of Environmental Affairs. This authority would be exercised through an ocean management plan, as advised by a broad-based, 16 member ocean management commission, including state agency representatives, state legislators, municipal officials, and environmental, fishing, and marine industry stakeholders. In the designing the ocean resources management plan, the Secretary would be required to incorporate the best available scientific understanding of marine and ocean resources, as provided through research, mapping, monitoring, and other data collection activity. A nine member ocean science advisory council, including marine scientists from academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies, would assist the Secretary in gathering and analyzing the best available scientific understanding of ocean resources. All agencies, departments, divisions, units, commissions, boards, and authorities of the Commonwealth would be required to administer programs, issue permits, and conduct all other activities in conformity with the applicable provisions of the ocean management plan.
Promote Economic Development via Renewable Energy Production – Co-sponsor
This bill will encourage growth of Massachusetts' renewable energy economy by supplementing existing income tax credits for renewable energy installations by an additional 15% or $1,000 (whichever is less) above the current incentives, provided that the renewable energy components were manufactured in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Land Conservation Incentives – Co-sponsor
This bill encouraged private landowners to set aside or donate ecologically valuable land to the Commonwealth or certain conservation organizations by offering tax incentives for such gifts.
Maintaining and Improving State Parks – Co-sponsor
This legislation would allow Massachusetts residents to donate to state parks by checking off a box on their income tax form directing a donation to the parks system.
Municipal Grants for Bio-Diesel or Hybrid Vehicles – Co-sponsor
This bill would establish a grant program for municipalities that use bio-diesel or hybrid school busses.
Reduce harmful Diesel Emissions – Co-sponsor
This bill reduces harmful particulate matter pollution from state-owned diesel powered vehicles to maximize public health benefits. It sets up a Diesel Emissions Reduction Fund, which will provide grants and low-cost revolving loans to achieve significant reductions of diesel particulate emissions and reduced exposure to diesel particulate matter.
An Act Relative to Energy Efficient Vehicles – Co-sponsor
This legislation would require that any new state vehicles being purchased or replaced meet or exceed fuel efficiency standards established by the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. Currently, there are no standards it is not uncommon to see state-owned sports utility vehicles on the road.
Require Recycling in Public Buildings – Co-sponsor
This bill requires state agencies, offices, universities, courts, and the legislature to recycle certain materials that is banned from disposal by the Department of Environmental Protection. The mandatory recycling applies to paper, glass containers, plastics, white goods, cathode ray tubes, fluorescent lamps, lead batteries, metal containers, yard waste, construction, and demolition material, and tires.
Voluntary Green Dot Recycled Content Labeling Program – Co-sponsor
This bill establishes a voluntary “green dot” labeling program, requiring the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs to design and trademark a “green dot” emblem to be applied, on a voluntary basis, to retail packaging made with a certain percentage of recycled content, pursuant to standards to be developed by EOEA.
Tax Credits for Certain Energy Efficient Items – Co-sponsor
This bill would grant a one-time tax credit to residential property owners for all eligible energy efficient items purchased on or after November 1, 2005, but no later than March 31, 2008 for installation in that property.
Establish a Commission to Study Energy Consumption at Public Colleges – Co-sponsor
This bill will create a commission to study the feasibility of having the state’s colleges and universities convert over to renewable energy to fuel their campuses energy needs.
Economic Investment in Hydrogen, Fuel Cell, and Related Technologies – Co-sponsor
This measure aims to accelerate the success of Massachusetts’ companies and organizations developing hydrogen, fuel cell, and other related technologies, as well as to expand the level of industrial activity associated with hydrogen and fuel cells in the Commonwealth through funding, research and development, demonstration programs, education, partnerships, and incentives.
Adopting the International Energy Conservation Code – Co-sponsor
The International Energy Conservation Code updates the Commonwealth’s buildings codes to establish measures to provide for water savings and renewable energy for new and rehabilitation projects in order to encourage “green energy.” The legislation includes grants to municipalities and school districts for the construction and rehabilitation of green buildings and expanded historic tax credits to include incentives to convert historic buildings into green buildings. The bill also issues tax credits from the Renewable Energy Trust Fund to promote commercial use of green energy materials and credits for homeowners who purchase new green homes or renovate current homes to meet green energy standards. Research shows that the costs to “go green” are recouped through decreased utility bills within five to ten years. For government, the long-term benefit of the bill will be borne out over the life of the buildings. For homeowners, it will result in reduced utility bills. For workers, it will create healthier work environments and it will make Massachusetts a leading producer of green energy technologies.
Massachusetts Green Buildings InitiativeCo-sponsor
This proposal would call for the construction of environmentally-friendly state buildings and provide incentives for businesses and communities to follow suit. It establishes minimum energy-efficient building standards for new construction and major renovation of state-owned facilities. The bill also provides assistance and financial incentives to municipalities that meet state standards for green building and gives tax breaks to businesses that construct green buildings and establish environmentally-friendly practices, such as installing “Energy Star” light bulbs.
Government Reform
Protecting Government Units in Retirement Systems - Sponsor
This legislation makes technical corrections to state laws in order to empower municipal and regional retirement authorities to recover certain costs and incurred liabilities.
Municipal Group Insurance Commission Option – Co-sponsor
This bill would create a local option for municipalities to join the state’s Group Insurance Commission. Many communities would save money immediately and in the long term by joining the GIC, while also providing the high quality health care options that state employees, including legislators, receive through the GIC. The local option to join the GIC can only be triggered through a mutual decision between town officials and union and retiree representatives, so all stakeholders have a voice in the decision. Decisions about contribution rates would remain at the local level.
Relative to 03 Service as Creditable Service – Co-sponsor
Last session, a law was passed that allows contracted employees who become state employees to count four of their years as a contracted employee towards creditable service. This bill would increase the number of years allowed as creditable service from four years to 10 years.
Relative to Minimum Pensions – Co-sponsor
This bill would raise the minimum pension to $12,000 for state and teacher retirees and allows for the adoption by local and regional retirement systems.
Reclassify Certain City Employees for Retirement – Co-sponsor
This bill would reclassify municipal health inspectors and directors from Group 1 in the state retirement system to Group 2.
An Act to Require Secure Voting Equipment – Co-sponsor
This bill would prohibit the use of electronic voting machines that internally count and tabulate votes and require that all votes be cast on official paper ballots that can be audited. It also includes special provisions for disabled voters who need the assistance of a machine in order to fully exercise their right to vote.
Relative to Establishing Early Voting – Co-sponsor
This bill would allow any qualified voter who submits an early voter application to cast a ballot beginning two weeks prior to the election.
Reform of Archaic Laws – Co-sponsor
This bill would repeal from the General Laws certain outdated laws and statutes that have been declared unconstitutional by the courts.
Remove the Word “Retardation” from the General Laws – Co-sponsor
This bill would remove the word “retardation” from the General Laws and replace it with a phrase more respectful of people with disabilities.
Change the Name of the Department of Mental Retardation – Co-sponsor
This bill would change the name of the Commonwealth’s Department of Mental Retardation to a more respectful title.
Increasing the Term of Senators and Representatives – Co-sponsor
This amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution would increase the term of office for State Senators and Representatives from two years to four years.
Relative to Initiative Petitions – Co-sponsor
This amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution would amend the section of the constitution that deals with matters that are excluded from initiative petitions. In addition to all current excluded matter, this amendment would exclude any initiative petition that attempts to limit or abridge any civil right.
Vacancy in the Office of Lieutenant Governor – Co-sponsor
This amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution outlines a process for filling the position of Lieutenant Governor, should the office be vacated. It borrows directly from the provisions of the U.S. Constitution for filling a vacancy in the office of Vice President. Should a vacancy occur, a new Lieutenant Governor would be selected through nomination by the Governor and a majority vote of confirmation by both the State Senate and House of Representatives.
Identify Innovative Ways to Enhance Community Preservation – Co-sponsor
This bill would establish a special commission to conduct a review of the Community Preservation Act and submit a report of its findings to the House and Senate by December 1, 2007.
An Act Exempting Towns from Certain Fees – Co-sponsor
This legislation addresses the requirement of towns to pay Annual Compliance Assurance Fees to the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). These fees surrounding the clean up of oil and hazardous material are assessed to companies, individuals, and towns but exempts state agencies. Since towns, like the state agencies that are exempt but unlike many private individuals or companies, are stable entities not likely to renege on their duties, they should not be required to pay these fees. Furthermore, cash-strapped towns are also state entities and should be treated equally by exempting them as other state agencies are already. The statute already exempts other state agencies and the bill simply adds towns to the exemption. This can be considered a means of saving cities and towns money they can use for other purposes.
Repeal of the 1913 Marriage Law – Co-sponsor
The 1913 marriage law was passed to prevent interracial marriages in Massachusetts, and has now been invoked for the first time in over two decades in an attempt to prevent legal same-sex marriages. This bill will repeal this discriminatory law.
Protecting Private Property from Eminent Domain Takings – Co-sponsor
This bill would help prevent the government from seizing private property where there is not a clear public interest at stake.
Proper Expenditure of and Accounting for State Funds – Co-sponsor
This bill ensures proper expenditure of and accounting for state monies appropriated, spent, reimbursed, or granted by the Commonwealth for the purchase of foods and services, the performance of public works, or the provision of services on behalf of the Commonwealth.
Health & Human Services
Expand Lead Paint Abatement Loan Program – Sponsor
This bill would raise the income thresholds so more homeowners could access the program and acquire the financing to de-lead their homes. While this bill would allow more homeowners to get funding for lead abatement, it is revenue neutral as every year several million dollars in the “Get the Lead Out” program go unused on lead abatement in the Commonwealth. This bill would reform the program so that the income thresholds would be raised so more families will qualify and be able to de-lead their homes.
An Act Strengthening Health Reform – Co-sponsor
This bill enhances access to coverage and clarifies last year’s health reform law’s definition of affordability. It ensures access to services by extending dental coverage to all Commonwealth Care enrollees, making smoking cessation services permanent for all MassHealth and Commonwealth Care enrollees, guaranteeing all Commonwealth Care enrollees are covered for medically necessary ambulance services, enabling eligible individuals to qualify for the uncompensated care pool while awaiting MassHealth or Commonwealth Care enrollment, requiring MassHealth to pay the fee for obtaining out-of state birth certificates, mandated by federal requirements, and raising the minimum employer coverage so that the state standard of “Fair and Reasonable” requires 50% employer contribution and 50% employee participation. It ensures affordability by reducing the cost of children’s health coverage in MassHealth and CMSP when parents are enrolled in Commonwealth Care, reducing Commonwealth Care premium levels and cost sharing requirements to amounts that low-income families can afford, and d efining affordability for those between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level as 0%-5% of income. An Act Strengthening Health Reform is supported by a broad coalition of consumers, patients, community organizations, businesses, labor unions, doctors, hospitals, health plans, and community health centers.
Baby Safe Haven – Co-sponsor
This bill will expand and extend the Baby Safe Haven law indefinitely, eliminating the June 30, 2008 expiration of the statute currently on the books. It also amends the current law by adding 911 emergency respondents to the list of designated persons or facilities for the voluntary surrender of newborn infants. Presently, designated facilities include only hospitals, police department sand manned fire stations. So far, three newborns have been safely surrendered under our two-year-old law; 2005 was the first year in the last two decades where not a single newborn was abandoned. In the four years it took to pass our Massachusetts Baby Safe Haven legislation, from 2000 to 2004, thirteen newborns were abandoned and six of them died.
Right to Know Act – Co-sponsor
This bill would provide human service consumers and families with essential information about providers who make available services to the disabled in Massachusetts. Such information includes staff turnover, abuse and neglect records, medical error history, restraint usage policy, and staffing ratios.
Restore the Trust – Co-sponsor
In 1992, Massachusetts voters passed an initiative to tax tobacco in order to protect children, by creating the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program. In 1998, the Commonwealth filed suit against tobacco companies in order to reimburse the state for the cost of treating sick smokers, thus creating the Tobacco Settlement Fund. Since then, both funds have been repealed and funding for the MTCP has been drastically reduced. The $700 million in revenue coming in annually from the current tobacco tax and tobacco settlement has all been going into the General Fund. This bill would re-establish both the Health Protection Fund and the Tobacco Settlement Fund and re-allocate the monies to help smokers quit and reduce the health care costs associated with smoking.
Accountability and Wage Parity for Community Direct Care Workers – Co-sponsor
This legislation seeks to eliminate the disparity in wages between direct support staff in privately operated community programs funded through the Department of Mental Retardation and their counterparts in state-operated programs. The health and well-being of 33,000 people with intellectual disabilities depend on direct care workers. Direct care workers in the field of mental retardation are the largest, lowest paid group of human service workers. Low salaries have resulted in a recruitment and retention crisis that threatens the safety and quality of support. This bill addresses the problem by implementing a specific and economically feasible plan to pay community workers equivalent salaries to their state counterparts.
Access to Epinephrine in Schools – Co-sponsor
Severe allergies and asthma among our children are on the rise. Some allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis shock, can be life-threatening to these allergy sufferers. It is no exaggeration that readily accessible epinephrine dispensers (“Epipens”) and asthma inhalers can be the difference between life and death for children who suffer from allergies and asthma. This bill requires that students be allowed to carry Epipens at school, and that Epipens be stored in secure, yet unlocked, storage places in close proximity to the places where allergic students are most at risk, such as the classroom and lunchroom.
An Act Relative to Public Safety – Co-sponsor
This bill would establish a fixed 35-foot safety zone surrounding the entrances and driveways of all reproductive healthcare facilities in the Commonwealth. The current statutes set the buffer zone at eighteen feet, but are extremely vague and filled with loopholes.
An Act Relative to Nursing Mothers – Co-sponsor
This bill would guarantee a woman’s right to nurse in public without reprisal from any business or organization. It would also eliminate the possibility of nursing mothers being arrested or charged under indecent exposure statutes.
An Act Providing for the Registration of Naturopathic Doctors – Co-sponsor
This bill would create a Board of Registration in Naturopathy, under the Division of Professional Licensure. The board would consist of five naturopathic doctors, a physician, and a clinical pharmacist appointed by the Governor. Currently, naturopathic doctors are not licensed in Massachusetts, but they are not prevented from practicing. Licensed naturopathic physicians (N.D.) attend and graduate from a four-year graduate level naturopathic medical school where they are educated in all of the same basic sciences as an M.D., but also study holistic and nontoxic approaches to therapy, with a strong emphasis on disease prevention and optimizing wellness. They also must pass a board exam to become licensed.
Teen Mental Health Drop-In Centers – Co-sponsor
This bill will establish five pilot Teen Mental Health Drop-In Centers for youths age 10 to 20. The centers will provide free, confidential access to licensed mental health professionals at existing youth and community centers pursuant to a proposal to the Department of Mental Health.
School Nursing Bill – Co-sponsor
This bill will mandate that one school physician, nurse practitioner, or registered nurse with DOE licensure is placed full time in every school with 500 or more students in every district, as well as provide them with the proper facilities for the performance of their duties.
Registered Nurse License Plate – Co-sponsor
This legislation will enable the Registry of Motor Vehicles to distribute a distinctive Registered Nurse license plate. It also establishes a fund, called the “For the Future of Nursing” fund, to hold the revenues from the sale of the distinctive RN license plates. These revenues will be available for expenditure by the Massachusetts Nurses Foundation for the purpose of recruiting and retaining a core of registered nurses through scholarships and grants to students in registered nursing programs and to registered nurses seeking academic advancement.
Relative to Person-Centered Planning – Co-sponsor
This bill would enable families or advocates for a person with disabilities to have more flexibility when planning the services for said person by providing different options tailored specifically to the person with disabilities’ interests, abilities, and needs.
Relative to Public Health – Co-sponsor
This bill would assert that, under the Massachusetts Constitution’s Declaration of Rights, any restriction or ban on reproductive health care is a threat to public health and unenforceable. It would also update certain provisions of the General Laws to allow women to access reproductive health care, regardless of their marital status.
Responsible Welfare Reform – Co-sponsor
This bill revises the state’s welfare law to avoid federal fiscal penalties and preserve subsistence benefits for vulnerable families with children. The bill also takes steps to address the Department of Transitional Assistance’s failure to provide necessary services and work supports to TAFDC recipients with disabilities and other substantial barriers to employment. Family well-being and fiscal responsibility as the goals of this bill.
Indigent Funeral Benefits – Co-sponsor
This bill would eliminate the requirement that funeral homes provide specific services and materials to the families of indigent deceased. This would allow funeral directors to utilize the $1,100 state benefit in the most effective manner, without compromising the dignity of the deceased. It also scraps the overall price cap, allowing the friends or family of the deceased to pay more than the $400 limit they are currently held to.
An Act Relative to Massachusetts Artists – Co-sponsor
This bill would improve access to affordable health care for self-employed artists.
Ensuring the Safety and Protection of Hospital Patients – Co-sponsor
This bill adds to the current law by allowing other health care facilities to receive criminal offender record information for current employees and applicants.
An Act Relative to Adoption – Co-sponsorship
This bill would reverse current statute that permits for-profit adoption agencies to operate in Massachusetts.
Regulating the Disposal of Prescription Medications – Co-sponsor
This bill would require all Massachusetts Collection Centers for Hazardous Household Products to accept old and unused prescription medications. In addition, it would require that those centers that normally only accept hazardous waste from town residents make an exception for any Massachusetts resident who is attempting to dispose of prescription medications. Not providing any way of disposing of prescription medications has resulted in prescription medication abuse and can pose an environmental and public health threat.
Relative to Child Immunizations – Co-sponsor
This legislation would prohibit the preservative Thimerasol from being used in vaccinations. Thimerasol extends the shelf-life of the drug; however some studies have shown that Thimerasol is linked to autism.
Medical and Dental Care for Foster Children – Co-sponsor
This bill will make available to foster children coordination and access to medical and dental services.
Relative to the Healthcare Workforce – Co-sponsor
This legislation establishes a Healthcare Workforce Council to create and measure strategies and policies to help grow and strengthen the health care workforce in Massachusetts.
Requiring National Background Checks – Co-sponsor
This legislation would require that the Department of Mental Retardation conduct a national background check for any hired staff who work with individuals served by DMR.
Housing
Protect Low and Moderate Income Tenants in Public Housing – Co-sponsor
This bill is designed to provide eviction and rent increase protections to low income elderly and disabled individuals who live in government involved housing whose mortgages are subject to prepayment of the mortgage financing.
Elevate Department of Housing and Community Development – Co-sponsor
This bill would elevate the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development to an executive office in the Governor’s cabinet.
Financing the production and preservation of housing for low and moderate income residents – Co-sponsor
This bill would authorize the Governor to set forth a five-year capital plan for the expenditure of more than $1 billion in affordable housing funds.
Expand Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program – Co-sponsor
This bill would eliminate the sunset provision of this successful tax credit and increase the credit from $4 million annually to $10 million annually.
Tax Incentives for Rental Properties Used as Affordable Housing – Co-sponsor
This bill gives a tax credit to property owners who rent units to low-income families below market rates. The goal is to provide an alternative to Section 8 and MRVP vouchers, which require long waiting lists. Per-unit, this option will be less expensive for the state than vouchers.
Revitalizing Communities Through Homeownership – Co-sponsor
Existing state housing programs do not adequately address the public policy goal of revitalizing areas with weak housing markets and extreme rates of rental units. Most of these programs presently "incentivize" the construction/renovation of more rental housing rather than home ownership units. Higher levels of home ownership will improve the stability of these areas, resulting in higher levels of civic activities, tax revenues and lower crime rates. Owning a home also serves as the primary wealth-building asset which is critical to helping people lift themselves out of poverty in these urban areas. This legislation will allow DHCD to waive housing production program requirements found to be inconsistent with promoting homeownership in weak housing markets.
An Act Preserving Publicly Assisted Affordable Housing – Co-sponsor
The bill will provide for the preservation of up to 80,000 affordable rental housing units, so called "expiring use" units across the state. It requires that if an owner decides to terminate a contract, they must offer for sale the building to the municipality in which the building is located; the municipality may designate a for-profit or non-profit developer to purchase the building so that the affordability of the units is preserved. It also allows owners to keep their building if they make a good faith effort to either obtain or retain governmental subsidies that would keep units affordable. The bill also provides protections for tenants, such as: a one year notice to tenants and governmental officials if an owner is going to terminate a government contract that makes the units affordable; and temporary rent and relocation assistance, for tenants who have to pay more rent or are displaced as a result of a sale or conversion to the affordable units to market rate units.
An Act Relative to Homesteads – Co-sponsor
This bill will make the homestead automatic for home purchases, rather than having to file for it separately under current statute.
Labor Issues
Provide for the Funding of Certain Collective Bargaining Agreements Co-sponsor
This legislation provides that collectively bargained agreements by the Higher Education Coordinating Council, the Board of Trustees of the University of Massachusetts, and county sheriffs shall be required to submit a request for appropriation to the General Court instead of the Governor.
Relative to Workers’ Compensation – Co-sponsor
This bill allows for a group of ten people to file a civil suit to take a private right of action against an employer who has failed to comply with Chapter 152 of the General Laws relating to workers’ compensation.
Temporary Workers’ Right to Know – Co-sponsor
This bill requires that a temporary agency give a worker basic information about the job for which he or she is being hired, in the language that the agency usually communicates with the worker. It also forbids temporary employers from charging workers for protective equipment for jobs that a worker does temporarily.
Task Force to Study the Impact of the Underground Economy – Co-sponsor
This bill establishes a study and enforcement task force on the underground economy. There is a need to develop a strategy for agencies to cooperatively prosecute violators of the current law including, but not limited to, misclassification of employees as independent contractors, so-called “under the table” employment, and other means of employment that result in the underpayment or nonpayment of taxes and required insurance premiums within the Commonwealth.
Majority Authorization for Union Organization – Co-sponsor
This bill establishes the recognition of a union under state law if a majority of employees sign cards, petitions, or other written evidence in support of unionization.
Worker Privacy Protection Act – Co-sponsor
Employers can force workers to attend meetings to listen to their personal beliefs on politics, religion, and unions, and may fire those employees who refuse to attend. This legislation will prohibit mandatory attendance at these meetings and bar disciplinary action for not attending.
Public Safety & Homeland Security
Fire Equipment Grant Program – Co-sponsor
This bill appropriates $10 million to Massachusetts’ cities and towns, based on population, for grants to pay for fire-fighting and public safety equipment.
Extending the Shannon Community Safety Initiative – Co-sponsor
Last year, the Legislature created the Senator Charles Shannon Community Safety Initiative, funded at $11 million, which now supports regional and multi-disciplinary human service and law enforcement programs in 25 communities across the Commonwealth. These funds help support law enforcement initiatives to lessen gang violence and community-based prevention programs such as outreach programs,
summer jobs programs, reentry programs, after-school programs. This year the Southern Essex Coalition of Peabody, Saugus, Swampscott, Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead received a $200,000 grant for law enforcement and prevention activities directed toward teens under the Shannon Grant program. The legislation seeks $30 million to extend and expand the Shannon Grant.
Police Power on Fresh and Continued Pursuit – Co-sponsor
This legislation would allow an officer outside his or her jurisdiction to detain the person suspected of committing such offense for arrest by an officer empowered to make arrests in said or other city or town.
An Act Relative to Dangerous Dogs – Co-sponsor
This legislation would require notice be sent to a locality from the previous locality of residence when a “dangerous dog” has been moved into the new locality.
Establish a Reporting System for Drug Overdoses – Co-sponsor
This bill requires hospitals to provide information on the number of drug overdoses at their institution to local police departments and district attorney’s office. This does not violate the HIPAA confidentiality guidelines, as only numbers – not names – will be reported.
Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities – Co-sponsor
This bill establishes vertical and horizontal safety requirements for all LNG tankers attempting to pass under bridges of the Commonwealth. It also establishes a $1 million penalty for any violation of these requirements and gives Superior Court the jurisdiction to enjoin attempted violations.
Tax & Fiscal Policy
Tax Deduction for Municipal and School Fees – Co-sponsor
This bill would allow a taxpayer to deduct on state income tax returns any fee paid to a municipality or public school district for the purposes of transportation for a student to or from a public school, participation by a student in an athletic, academic, enrichment, or student activity program at a public school, or fee paid for the purpose of trash pickup or disposal.
Broaden Eligibility for Relief from Disproportionate Property Tax Burden – Co-sponsor
This bill would expand the existing circuit breaker tax program to all people who qualify according to the current law’s income standards. It would remove the qualification that, in order to qualify, the person must be a senior.
Make Senior Citizen Property Tax Relief More Equitable – Co-sponsor
This bill would raise the maximum value of assessed property for the purposes of eligibility in senior citizen property tax relief programs to $750,000. This figure represents a compromise level that came out of the Revenue Committee deliberations last session.
Raising Maximum Property Value for Senior Property Tax Relief – Co-sponsor
This bill would cap the maximum property value for the purposes of eligibility in senior citizen property tax relief programs at the median property value of the city or town in which the property is located. This bill, and the one listed above it, are necessary because of the extraordinarily high value of assessed property in many parts of the state that may bear no relation to the economic situations of seniors.
Exempt Small Charities from Tax upon Raffle Proceeds – Co-sponsor
This bill would exempt small charities from taxes upon raffle proceeds of up to $10,000. Under present law, every charity – including PTOs and local sports teams – are technically required to pay 5 percent tax on the gross proceeds from every raffle.
Child Support Quarterly Statements – Co-sponsor
This legislation would mandate the Department of Revenue to provide quarterly statements to the obligor and the custodial parent, which must contain a full accounting for the preceding quarter to alleviate confusion and to enhance accountability.
Tax Credit for Hiring Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders – Co-sponsor
This bill would establish a tax credit for employers who hire individuals on the autism spectrum. The tax credit would be 50% of the employee’s gross wages earned in the first year and would decrease in years following.
Tourism & Cultural Development
Local Tourism Trust Funds – Sponsor
This bill authorizes cities and towns to create special trust funds specifically dedicated to promoting and marketing local and regional travel and tourism efforts.
Annual Declaration of Arbella Day – Sponsor
This bill would declare Arbella Day across the Commonwealth on June 12th of every year. On June 12, 1630 – and continuing through July of that year – John Winthrop and a fleet of eleven vessels and nearly one thousand pilgrims, led by the flag ship “Arbella,” arrived on the shores of Salem, Massachusetts with a royal charter incorporating the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The image of Winthrop landing on the shores of Massachusetts hangs high above the House of Representatives as part of a series of murals by Albert Herter completed in 1942 entitled “Milestones on the Road to Freedom.”
Stimulate Investment in Local Tourism – Sponsor
This bill would allow communities in Massachusetts, by local option, to increase their local hotel/motel room occupancy tax rate up to 6% - the current rate is capped at 4.5%. Any increase above the current 4.5% cap would be required to be deposited in a local tourism trust fund, dedicated exclusive towards marketing and boosting travel and tourism investment in that community.
Enhancing the Cultural Facilities Fund – Sponsor
This bill would exempt qualifying municipal facilities from the 50,000 square foot minimum requirement if the building meets the state’s definition of historic.
Recognizing the Essex National Heritage Commission – Co-sponsor
This bill would provide the Essex National Heritage Commission with the necessary state recognition and designation for it to be able to receive direct appropriations from the Commonwealth.
Relative to the Room Occupancy Excise – Co-sponsor
This legislation closes minor loopholes in the existing laws regarding the room occupancy excise tax. The changes would ensure that all properties that rent rooms for occupancy are subject to the excise provisions.
Relative to Room Rental Rates – Co-sponsor
To bolster workforce development, retailers, restaurateurs, and lodging establishments offer employees and their families some services at reduced rates. This bill would allow hotels, motels, inns, and bed & breakfasts, to collect room taxes based on the actual amount paid by the employee and not on the retail rate the lodging establishment charges.
Establish a “1000 Great Places in Massachusetts” Commission – Co-sponsor
This bill would create a Commission with appointed members from the legislature, Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism, regional tourism councils, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, to identify, catalogue, evaluate, and designate our state’s many great places and locations. Like being named a UNESCO World Heritage site, this designation would give our state’s many “great places” a special cachet with visitors and residents alike.
Establishing the Massachusetts Cultural Assessment Project and Annual Report – Co-sponsor
This bill would create accurate assessment and measurement tools to determine the status, viability, strengths, and weaknesses of the arts, sciences, and humanities in the Commonwealth. Included in the evaluations are their economic impact, educational value (including, but not limited to, school children, underserved populations, low-incomes residents, and the elderly), and community benefits that can be identified and measured. The Massachusetts Cultural Council would provide an annual report to the legislature describing the health and vitality of the arts, sciences, and humanities in the Commonwealth.
Honoring Distinguished Women in Massachusetts – Co-sponsor
This bill would ensure that some of the most distinguished women in Massachusetts history are honored in the memorial to the contribution of women to the government of the Commonwealth.
Funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council Co-sponsor
This bill would prevent certain arts, cultural, or humanities agencies, individuals, or organizations from applying for grants, loans, or other funding in a fiscal year from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, if those agencies, individuals, or organizations have already received direct funding through an earmark in that fiscal year’s state budget. This prevents the possibility that some arts organizations will receive multiple sources of state funding while others receive none.
Transportation
Preserve North/South Rail Link – Co-sponsor
This bill preserves the right of way for the North South Rail Link in order to assure that the Commonwealth's transportation system may be enhanced or expanded in our state/region in the future. It calls for a study to identify and map the necessary right of way and to develop and implement a plan to preserve such right of way.
Bicyclists’ Bill of Rights and Responsibilities – Co-sponsor
This legislation outlines the rights and responsibilities of bicyclists and motor vehicle operators who must share the road with bicycle riders.
An Act Relative to Motorist Safety – Co-sponsor
This bill requires that all motor vehicle owners and operators remove snow and ice from the roofs of their cars prior to getting on the roads.
An Act Relative to Motorist Safety from Commercial Vehicles – Co-sponsor
This bill requires that all commercial motor vehicle owners and operators remove snow and ice from the roofs of their cars prior to getting on the roads .
Provide for an Air Bag On/Off Switch to Ensure Safety – Co-sponsor
Air bags detonate with more than 1,200 pounds of force at speeds that can exceed 230 mph. Currently, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration has given car manufacturers until 2012 to provide “Advanced Airbags,” but no manufacturer has yet claimed to have developed an airbag system that meets the new criteria. Until “safe” airbags are developed and installed, consumers need to protect themselves. This bill would require all licensed car dealers and repair shops to disclose the federal regulations to consumers, which state that if they are in an “at-risk” category they have the right to have an on/off switch installed in their car.
Mandatory Boating Safety Education – Co-sponsor
This bill creates a mandatory boating safety education requirement for all motorboat operators in Massachusetts by requiring all motorboat operators to obtain a boating certificate. Any person over the age of 12 would be eligible for a boating certificate after successfully completing a boating safety course or equivalence examination. To allow boat rental companies to continue to operate as they do now, any non-residents in compliance with their states’ requirements or anyone accompanies by a person over 18 who has a boating certificate is exempt.
Relative to Abandoned Vessels – Co-sponsor
This bill would make the abandonment of a vessel illegal and would establish a method to seek its removal from one’s land or in a waterway immediately adjacent to one’s land.
Veterans
Massachusetts GI Bill for Veterans – Co-sponsor
Because the laws providing education benefits for veterans have not kept pace with the escalating costs of higher education, the current tuition waiver for veterans has become generally insignificant when a veteran decides whether seeking a higher education is financially feasible. Massachusetts residents also faced advanced education costs that are well above the national average. Last session’s “Welcome Home Bill” waived both tuitions and fees at state and community colleges for current members of the Massachusetts National Guard. This legislation would waive tuitions and fees at the same institutions for all Massachusetts veterans.
Military Service Scholarship Program – Co-sponsor
This bill establishes the Military Service Scholarship Program, which would provide full scholarships to the children, siblings, or widowed spouses of Massachusetts servicemen and servicewomen who are killed or severely disabled from injuries sustained while performing their duties, including authorized training duty.
Relative to Veterans’ Burial Benefits – Co-sponsor
The current veterans’ burial benefit for $2,000 has not kept up with the rising costs of a burial. While funeral homes are still performing burials for veterans in need, $2,000 no longer provides for a dignified funeral. This bill would increase the veterans’ burial benefit to $3,000.
Treating Veterans Equally Under the Pension Laws – Co-sponsor
This bill ensures that any member of the state retirement system who served honorably in the armed forces will receive retirement credit for active service while serving in the armed forces. This benefit is subject to payment into the system and terms and conditions promulgated by the Retirement Board.
Gold Star License Places – Co-sponsor
This legislation will allow family members of soldiers who have died as a result of a service connected injury to obtain a Gold Star vehicle plate. Currently, the law states that family members are entitled to a Gold Star vehicle plate when soldiers have died in the line of duty or have died while in action.
Commemorating Bronze Star Recipients – Co-sponsor
This bill would require that Bronze Star veterans’ license plates denote the phrase “for valor” if the distinction is for a heroic act resulting in the Combat “V” device.
The text of the bill summaries and descriptions above were provided by the bill’s sponsors, who are solely responsible for their content. For copies of any legislation filed for this session, you may contact Rep. Keenan’s State House office at 617-722-2575 or the office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives at 617-722-2356.
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