It's busy season on Beacon Hill as committees continue to report out bills and the Legislature takes action on them. Last week, the House advanced a bill that includes $200 million for the state's Chapter 90 program, providing municipalities with a funding source for transportation-related improvements, including road and bridge repairs. Under the bill, Franklin will receive $939,828 and Medway will get $395,457. Having passed the House of Representatives 155-0, the bill now goes to the Senate for their consideration.
We also passed two bills that update the Massachusetts General Laws by removing out-of-date and offensive terms related to persons with disabilities, and by renaming the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) as MassAbility. The language in the first bill removes all variations of outdated terms such as "handicapped," "disabled," and "retarded" and replaces them with current terminology such as "person with a disability" and "person with an intellectual disability."
As lawmakers, we know that words matter and this legislation is our latest effort to ensure that our state laws do not use antiquated words that carry negative connotations, or words that also serve as a reminder of past injustices. Removing archaic language in legislation plays an important role in reducing social stigma and ensuring that state agencies and courts view people with disabilities as entitled to full, equal, and integrated lives in the community.
A few weeks ago, the House and Senate also passed legislation that I filed to help prevent abuse and exploitation, while also enhancing protections for survivors. The legislation addresses teen sexting and image-based sexual assault, commonly referred to as "revenge porn." It represents a coordinated effort and a holistic approach to address an increasingly prevalent behavior and provides mechanisms to protect individuals victimized by those who threaten, intimidate, and harass the subjects of these images. It will help those who have become entangled in the web and transmittal of images that can cause traumatic and lifetime harm.
The Committee I chair (Telecommunications, Utilities & Energy) released a number of bills addressing clean energy generation, to promote transportation electrification infrastructure, supporting load aggregation programs in the Commonwealth, modernizing competitive energy supply, and to expedite permitting for electric decarbonization infrastructure projects. The bills have moved on to the Committee on Ways & Means and we look forward to taking further action on the bills as the session progresses.
I will keep you updated on these and other actions in future issues of the newsletter.
Jeff
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