“A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence or a good piece of music – everybody can recognize it. They say ‘Huh. It works. It makes sense.'” — President Barack Obama
Bills Filed by Sen. Kennedy for the 2021-2022 Session –
Click on the bill name to read the full text.
ENVIRONMENT
S.569 – An Act establishing a mattress stewardship plan: This legislation would establish an extended producer responsibility (EPR) law for mattresses in Massachusetts. EPR laws would require mattress manufacturers to set up and operate recycling programs that make it easy for consumers to recycle old mattresses, and relieve municipalities from the burden of managing this bulky waste. Under this proposal, consumers would pay a nominal fee at the time of purchasing a mattress, which would be put into a fund to pay for mattress recycling. This bill builds upon existing mattress recycling in the Commonwealth by including strong protections for social enterprise organizations currently participating in mattress recycling by requiring nonprofit organizations that meet certain criteria be eligible for a mattress recycling contract.
S.570 – Resolve providing for an investigation and study by a special commission relative to mattress recycling: Creates a special commission to study the financial and environmental impacts of disposal and end-of-life management of mattresses and associated foundations on municipalities of the Commonwealth.
S.565 – An Act re-establishing the Clean Environment Fund: Re-establishes the Clean Environment Fund, previously discontinued during the recession, which will provide funding to cities and towns for projects that enhance recycling and waste management programs, promote urban forestry, maintain parkland, protect water resources, and improve air quality.
S.566- Resolve providing for an investigation and study of enhancing statewide recycling programs: Requires the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to conduct an investigation and study of the feasibility of enhancing statewide recycling programs and municipal waste management.
HEALTH CARE
S.1300 – Resolve to ensure delivery of mental health services to adults with acute mental illness: This bill would create a commission to study staffing levels and delivery of services for case managers at the Department of Mental Health who serve adults with acute mental illness. The commission will also examine the feasibility of reestablishing outpatient clinics to reduce waitlists at community clinics and private practices; look at language accessibility in the realm of mental health work; and study recruitment strategies and develop incentives for people to pursue careers as mental health case workers.
S.784 – An act to assist community hospitals: Directs the Health Policy Commission, in consultation with the Center for Health Information Analysis, to consider specific measures aimed at addressing price variation among hospitals and to provide relief to community hospitals.
EDUCATION
S.1891 – An act encouraging employer student loan repayment: Incentivizes employer-based student loan repayment by allowing employers to claim a tax credit equal to the loan payments it made on behalf of its employees up to $2,000.
S.1892 – An act establishing the Massachusetts student relief and retention tax credit: Allows graduates of Massachusetts institutions of higher education that remain in the Commonwealth to receive a state income tax credit.
S.841 – An act investing in public higher education: Creates a mechanism for increasing the number of tenure-track faculty, provides adjunct faculty with access to benefits, and requires pay parity.
S.840 – An act protecting students and increasing accountability at Massachusetts colleges and universities: Prevents the use of state scholarship funds for enrollment at institutions with graduation rates under 30 percent or three-year cohort default rates of more than 20 percent.
S.346 – An Act relative to financial literacy education: This legislation requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop financial literacy standards and objectives for implementation by the start of the 2022-2023 academic year. The components of personal financial literacy covered in the standards and objectives shall include: understanding loans; borrowing money; interest; credit card debt; online commerce; rights and responsibilities of renting or buying a home; saving, investing, and planning for retirement; banking and financial services; balancing a checkbook; state and federal taxes; and charitable giving.
ADDICTION TREATMENT & RECOVERY
S.1219 – An Act to inform prescribers of non-opioid alternative care: This legislation would add information about how chiropractic treatments can be used to relieve pain as an alternative to opioids to the training programs provided to practitioners who prescribe controlled substances.
S.1298 – An act raising employment and combating opioids through vocational education and rehabilitation (RECOVER): Increases vocational opportunities by creating a competitive grant program to support partnerships between treatment providers and vocational service providers, creating a program for people in recovery at risk for homelessness to provide housing stabilization and job training, and makes people in recovery eligible for the Vocational Rehab Services program.
S.1299 – An Act to enhance patient education and informal consent before issuance of opioids: This legislation would mandate that when practitioners prescribe opioids for long-term pain management their written pain management treatment agreement must not only address the benefits and risks of the drugs, but also provide information on alternative therapies including chiropractic care.
FOOD & AGRICULTURE
S.118 – An Act concerning food insecurity and supporting the restaurant industry: Adjusts the way SNAP is implemented in Massachusetts to allow benefits to be used at participating restaurants for seniors. Under the Restaurant Meals Program, households containing elderly or disabled members and their spouses, as well as homeless individuals, shall have the option to redeem their SNAP benefits at establishments that contract with the Department of Transitional Assistance to offer meals at concessional prices.
S.1893 – An act to promote urban agriculture and horticulture: Allows gateway cities with populations over 50,000 to adopt an optional property tax credit of up to 100 percent for small parcels (less than two acres) intended for agricultural use.
S.567 – An act decreasing food waste by standardizing the date labeling of food: Standardizes labeling of food products to mitigate consumer confusion and reduce waste. Establishes the “quality date” and “safety date” to advise consumers of when quality of food may begin to deteriorate vs. when it becomes hazardous to eat; Allows for donation of items after quality date has passed.
S.1063 – An act encouraging the donation of food to persons in need: Promotes food donation by expanding liability protections for food donations and creating a tax deduction for farmers who donate crops.
S.571 – Resolve to diversify farmland opportunities to combat climate change: This bill would create a commission to examine opportunities for Massachusetts farms and agricultural lands to play a larger role in the Commonwealth’s response to climate change and to propose laws and policy changes to incentivize these actions.
S.1896 – An Act providing a local option to allow more solar energy generation on farmlands: This legislation provides a local option for municipalities to allow any individual agricultural property used to generate additional solar energy in excess of 125 percent to be granted a tax deferral.
S.2245 – An Act defining Agritourism: This bill would add a definition for agritourism to the Massachusetts General Laws.
HOUSING
S.893 – An act relative to creating statutory housing restriction and provide remedies related to statutory housing: Prevents the loss of affordable housing within a community by providing mechanisms to the holder of an affordable housing restriction to protect the public subsidy that makes the home affordable and by establishing obligations of the owners’ homes with affordable housing restrictions.
S.1065 – An act establishing a foreclosure review division: Establishes a foreclosure review division with jurisdiction in all issues concerning foreclosures on mortgages on residential properties.
S.1895– An act providing property tax relief for older adults: Allows communities offering deferral of property taxes to reduce post-death interest rates on deferred taxes below 16 percent, allows a one-year grace period of heirs of properties with deferred taxes, and allows local assessors discretion to issue hardship waivers to adults with disabilities younger than 65-years-old.
S.1894 – Resolve providing for an investigation and study by a special commission relative to a senior state property tax deferral program: Establishes a pilot program to evaluate the feasibility of creating a state property tax deferral program for qualifying seniors. Creates a commission to review the pilot and make recommendations to the Legislature of its wider implementation.
FIREARM SAFETY
S.1064 – An act prohibiting gunfire directed at dwelling houses: Makes directing gunfire at dwelling house a criminal offense.
S.1602 – An act relative to the discharge of firearms, large capacity weapons, rifles, shotguns, saw-off shotguns, or machine guns without regard for the risk of harm; penalty: Makes the reckless discharge of a firearm in instances creating risk of harm a criminal offense and establishes penalties.
ADDITIONAL PRIORITIES
S.2246 – An Act to rebuild the Commonwealth’s cultural future: Establishes the Massachusetts Cultural Economy COVID-19 Recovery Fund, to be administered by the Massachusetts Cultural Council for the purposes of assisting cultural organizations recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. A percentage, but no less than $200,000,000 of eligible funds received by the Commonwealth as part of State and Local aid from Federal COVID-19 recovery funds received after January 1, 2021 shall be paid over to and become part of the fund. It its important to note that this fund is wholly contingent on federal funds and does not draw from the rainy day fund or state taxes. The purpose of the fund shall be financial assistance in the form of grants to nonprofit and for-profit cultural organizations that promote excellence, access and diversity in the arts, humanities, and interpretive sciences, creative workers, and artists within the Commonwealth that have experienced significant economic hardship and financial loss due to the pandemic.
S.1601 – An Act establishing a public safety building authority and assistance program
S.1343 – An Act establishing a municipal building assistance program and building authority
These two bills approach the issue of rising costs for municipal facilities and uses the model established by the Massachusetts School Building Authority to create a similar program. SD151 would apply specifically to public safety buildings, while SD2012 would apply to all municipal buildings.
S.1453 – An act prohibiting the use of lead paint on outdoor structures: Prohibits the application of lead paint on commercial properties.
S.1066 – An act incentivizing the use of public transportation by jurors: Provides free access to all services offered by the MBTA and regional transit authorities to jurors in order to make juror service less burdensome and to ease traffic congestion around courthouses.
S.213 – An Act Relative to the cancellation of gym memberships: This bill would require gyms to allow members the option of canceling their membership online.
S.2406 – Resolution condemning political oppression and encouraging free and fair elections in Cambodia: A resolution against the dissolution of opposition political parties in Cambodia.