Hi ,
After a marathon 21-hour-long session, we voted into law: - A landmark housing bill that will invest nearly $5.2B in housing, more than we’ve ever invested in housing in our state’s history,
- The Parentage Act, which expands protections for LGBTQIA+ parents and their children, and
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The Hero Act which increases benefits and boosts services, including mental health for disabled veterans, active-duty service members, and their families.
However, like many of you, I am deeply disappointed that we left so much unfinished work on the table at the end of session on July 31st. We should have passed a climate bill and the economic development bill which included hundreds of millions in clean energy investments, because we need to be continuing to accelerate our work on stopping the climate crisis. We left unfinished a reproductive justice and LGBTQIA+ protection bill, the Location Shield Act (see summary by ACLU here), which is critical in the post-Dobbs world we live in. With respect to healthcare, it's unbelievable the wreckage Steward Healthcare has inflicted on our state, two hospitals are scheduled to close, putting hundreds of thousands of people in the surrounding communities at risk, prescription drug prices need to be brought under control, and the opioid crisis is destroying our communities. These are all the bills we voted for in the past few weeks, but did not become law.
What is frustrating about this end of session is that for most of these bills, we have established a consensus on what to move forward on because both chambers (the House and Senate) voted favorably on them. But they didn't become law because House and Senate leadership couldn't agree on the finer details and differences in their respective drafts of the legislation. Following this, you might be asking yourself, so what happens next and what did the legislature get done this session? |
What happens next?
Now that the legislature has recessed, there’s two pathways for these bills. One is for us to pass them unanimously (or more specifically, without dissent) in informal session or for us to fully return to formal session to vote on sending the bills to the Governor.
Yesterday, we did the former, and a very important bill on maternal health was sent to the Governor’s desk in informal session. Bills can proceed in informal session but there is not a vote by each member, rather, if a member objects, they can prevent the bill from moving forward. Fortunately no one objected to this bill.
The second pathway is to bring us back to formal session. This is needed for certain types of bills (especially pertaining to money, such as the economic development bill) in which we must return to vote. It is fairly unusual for a formal session to be called after July 31st but it has happened in the past (notably during the covid shutdown). Regardless of precedent, I'm urging leadership to bring us back in a special formal session so we get this work done. I'll keep pushing for that because we cannot bring legislation so close to the finish line and not deliver for our communities.
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What did the legislature get done? I’ll start by highlighting the recently passed maternal health bill. This bill: - Creates a state licensure pathway for midwives and lactation consultants,
- Helps create more freestanding birth centers,
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Mandates insurers to cover postpartum depression screenings and establishes a grant program to address maternal mental health and substance use disorder, and
- Expands the statewide postpartum home visiting program
As I described in a previous newsletter, despite being the home to some of the best hospitals in the world, health inequities in Massachusetts are deeply shameful and in particular, maternal health inequities are stark and have been worsening over time. I have immense gratitude to the Special Legislative Commission on Racial Inequities in Maternal Health for making vital recommendations and for their persistence to seeing this bill through the end.
Another significant improvement this past session is the outcome of the Fair Share Amendment, which I shared in my letter to you that directly impacts schools and transportation both state-wide and directly to Somerville.
Thanks to our work together, the Fair Share amendment is projected to increase the state budget by about $2.2 billion overall. This means that we were able to reallocate funding and increase other investments that weren't directly earmarked to schools and transportation too, most notably we made the largest investment in housing ever of $5.2B, which includes $2.3B in public housing and $1.2B in affordable housing construction (this was accomplished after I printed and sent you the letter you received).
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With education funding, I fought for and we secured: -
Over $54M to Somerville Public Schools, this is up from $47M prior to Fair Share and the Student Opportunity Act, which brought in an additional $1.5B for more equitable K-12 funding, plus funding for special ed and English Language Learners.
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In childcare and early ed, we made another historic investment statewide of $1.55B. This is unprecedented grant funding that we will have more data on once the funding is allocated but a very rough approximation based on the K-12 funding formula is that ~$11M will be going to Somerville families.
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$3M for special education. Somerville has a higher proportion of students with special needs than many other districts, which is something we should be proud of because it is thanks to the intentional investment of our community schools to support all students.
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Approximately $900,000K in universal free school meals, or $170M statewide, which was piloted last year and we've made it permanent this year.
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$117M in free community college across Massachusetts, this is a very important step towards debt-free public higher education
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With transportation, we invested in:
- $3.8M for road repair, a $2.6M of which is a new increase from our advocacy this year alone. Some of this new funding came directly from the Fair Share Amendment
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$383M increase in the MBTA which is within a $540M increase overall in public transportation (including regional transit authorities and water transit) per year. This the greatest increase in investment in public transportation in one year in our state's history.
I hope this was a helpful and informative update on where things stand this legislative session. And thank you for making it this far! I'm also happy to discuss further on the phone or in person if that would be helpful. Feel free to call or text my cell at 857-264-1096. |
Upcoming events
Canvass for my and Ayanna Pressley's re-election campaign!
Join me this weekend, August 18 at 10:00 to knock doors with the A-Team at Seven Hills Park! Sign up at here! |
Canvass with organized labor!
Join me on August 24 at 10:00 to knock doors with SEIU 509, Massachusetts Teachers Association and Somerville Educators Union at my house, 11 Wesley Park! Sign up at here! |
Canvass with the Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley!
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is coming to Somerville to Get Out the Vote! We are co-hosting two canvasses to knock doors in Somerville and make sure voters have a plan to vote in the upcoming Primary Election on September 3rd! No experience necessary - we'll train you at the start of the canvass. -
August 31, 10AM-12PM at 11 Wesley Park, Somerville. Sign up here
- September 1, 1-3PM at Seven Hills Park, Buena Vista Road, Somerville. Sign up here
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Office Hours! Join me next Monday, August 19 from 6-8PM at the Central Library Auditorium with School Committee Member Sarah Phillips. Please join us to ask any questions you may have about state and local government! Or just drop by to say hi and grab some drinks and snacks! |
Event updates on Beacon Hill and in Somerville NBC @Issue Interview
Last week I joined Rep. Marcus Vaugn on NBC10’s @Issue and talked about the migrant crisis and our need for more affordable housing. I spoke about how we are turning our backs on families seeking shelter after being evicted for nonpayment of rent from a market-rate unit, newly arrived immigrant families who are resettling in Massachusetts, and others. You can watch the entire interview here. |
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Ward 6 Office Hours
Councilor Lance Davis joined me for office hours at Seven Hills Park. It was great to discuss issues and answer questions on investing in affordable housing, reproductive rights, and funding for education. We hope it was an educational discussion on how state and local governments can work together to make Somerville affordable for everyone. |
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As always, it is a joy and honor to serve you in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas! |
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