Congressional redistricting goes to gov
Beacon Hill Roll Call records local senators’ and representatives’ votes on roll calls from the week of Nov. 15-19.
CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING
The House, 151-8, and the Senate, 26-3, approved and sent to Gov. Charlie Baker a bill that redistricts the state’s nine congressional districts. The plan is based on the 2020 U.S. Census and will be in effect until the next redistricting cycle after the census in 2030.
Supporters said the process has been the most open, inclusive and transparent redistricting process in the history of the state.
“The Joint Committee on Redistricting conducted a broad, transparent examination of the congressional districts,” said Senate Redistricting Committee chair Sen. Will Brownsberger. “Hundreds of people participated. At the end we felt we had a plan that met all legal standards and it was uncontested in most respects.”
“This proposal simply does not meet the mark for millions of Bay Staters, slashing Metrowest into five different bits and bifurcating Fall River and New Bedford,” said Sen. Becca Rausch, D-needham. “This map will have an impact on our democracy for at least the next decade to come. It is imperative that we do this right and that means advancing equity and compactness, not diluting representational power.”
(A “Yes” vote is for the new districts. A “No” vote is against them.)
YES: Rep. James Arciero; Rep. Kimberly Ferguson; Rep. Colleen Garry; Rep. Thomas Golden; Rep. Kenneth Gordon; Rep. Sheila Harrington; Rep. Natalie Higgins; Rep. Vanna Howard; Rep. Meghan Kilcoyne; Rep. Michael Kushmerek; Rep. Marc Lombardo; Rep. Rady Mom; Rep. Tram Nguyen; Rep. David Robertson; Rep. Dan Sena; Rep. Jonathan Zlotnik; Sen. Michael Barrett; Sen. John Cronin; Sen. Barry Finegold; Sen. Cindy Friedman; Sen. Anne Gobi; Sen. Edward Kennedy. NO: Sen. James Eldridge; Sen. Bruce Tarr.
REQUIRE SCHOOLS TO TEACH ABOUT GENOCIDE
The House, 157-2, approved a bill requiring public schools to educate middle and high school students on the history of genocide. The measure also establishes a Genocide Education Trust Fund to help fund the teaching. The funds would come from the Legislature, private and public gifts, and grants and revenue from fines imposed for hate crimes.
Supporters cited a 2020 survey, commissioned by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which gauged Holocaust knowledge and found that 63% of millennials and Generation Zers did not know six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. The survey also found that nearly half were unfamiliar with Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz.
“It is shocking how many young people today have never heard of the Auschwitz concentration camp, the Holocaust or other heinous genocides perpetrated in the past,” said Sen. Jason Lewis, Dwinchester, Senate Chair of the Committee on Education. “This important legislation will ensure that more students understand the history of genocide so that it never happens again.”
“It is very important that the history of genocide is taught in our schools,” said Rep. Kelly Pease, R-westfield, one of the two representatives who voted against the proposal. “However all the genocides that were discussed for the bill are already covered by Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) curriculum. If there are shortcomings in how it is taught then that should be addressed, but not by setting up a separate fund that includes money from public and private sources such as gifts, grants and donations. DESE has already established the curriculum, why is more public and private money needed?”
Rep. Peter Durant, Rspencer, the only other representative to vote against the bill, did not respond to repeated requests by Beacon Hill Roll Call to comment on his opposition to the bill.
REGULATE EXPANSION OF HOSPITALS
The House, 158-1, approved and sent to the Senate a bill that supporters say will promote a more balanced health care market by strengthening the regulatory processes for health care expansions. The measure requires a rigorous review to ensure that when large hospital systems expand, they are not infringing on community hospital markets and raising health care costs for patients.
“Other states are beginning to roll back determination of need laws, because they negatively impact health care,” said Rep. Nick Boldyga, Rsouthwick, the lone vote against the bill. “But here we are doing just the opposite. Protectionist policies like this one restrict competition, stifle innovation and lower the quality of health care a patient receives all while ensuring costs remain high. We need more competition when it comes to health care, not
less.”
INCREASE MENTAL HEALTH ACCESS
The Senate,, 39-0, approved and sent to the House legislation, known as the Mental Health Addressing Barriers to Care (ABC) Act that will make mental health care more accessible in the Bay State.
988 MENTAL HEALTH HOTLINE
The Senate, 38-0, approved an amendment that would require the state to designate at least one 988 crisis hotline center to provide crisis intervention services and crisis care coordination 24 hours per day, seven days a week for individuals accessing the federally designated 988 suicide prevention and behavioral health crisis hotline.
ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL
BAKER ADMINISTRATION WITHDRAWS FROM TRANSPORTATION CLIMATE INITIATIVE: Until recently, Baker was a strong supporter of TCI — a regional collaboration that originally captured the interest of 12 states and the District of Columbia and was envisioned to reduce carbon emissions and improve transportation.
“The Baker-polito Administration always maintained the commonwealth would only move forward with TCI if multiple states committed and as that does not exist, the transportation climate initiative is no longer the best solution for the commonwealth’s transportation and environmental needs,” said Baker press secretary Terry Maccormack.
“At the same time, the new federal infrastructure funding package, American Rescue Plan investments, as well as tax revenue surpluses generated by Massachusetts’ strong economic recovery, make the commonwealth better positioned to upgrade its roads, bridges and public transportation systems,
also making investments to reduce transportation emissions, deliver equitable transportation solutions and benefits and meet the state’s ambitious climate goals.”
“Massfiscal took a lot of punches for usually being the loudest voice against TCI,” said Paul Diego Craney, the alliance’s spokesman. “At times, we were the only voice. We worked diligently to ensure people knew exactly what it was that policy makers were getting our state into and by the end we formed a solid and robust coalition of opponents. Massfiscal is stronger for the effort. Ultimately, it’s the everyday citizens of Massachusetts that benefited the most for our persistent advocacy to see the program ended and never settling for anything less than its defeat.”
Josh Ostroff, interim director of Transportation for Massachusetts, was disappointed in the decision.
“While Gov. Baker has made a decision to withdraw … the goals of TCI remain as important as ever,” he said. “For the sake of the entire commonwealth — but particularly our environmental justice populations that have been most adversely impacted by transportation pollution and by the COVID-19 pandemic — reducing carbon emissions and tailpipe pollution must remain a high priority, and the commonwealth’s laudable climate goals must be backed up by decisive action.”
FOOD ALLERGIES AND RESTAURANTS: The Public Health Committee held a virtual hearing on legislation that would require restaurants to designate a server or other individual who is knowledgeable about the relevant issues relating to food allergies, as they relate to food preparation, to coordinate food service and preparation for customers with identified food allergies.
Sponsor Rep. Carmine Gentile, D-revere, said she filed this bill in consultation with a constituent who nearly lost her son at a restaurant after he was served a pastry that staff had explicitly said did not contain peanut butter. “This legislation builds on the existing rules to help protect people like Tripp, who can follow all the current rules, but still get hurt or die because their server did not have someone with expertise in allergies to help coordinate service,”
Gentile said.
“Those with serious allergies can sometimes feel as if they live in a parallel world from the rest of society,” Gentile said. “This is a world in which restaurant visits are anxiety inducing rather than a joy, where individuals call restaurants ahead of time, comb the menu for the dishes that seem safest and often must labor to ensure their server takes their allergy seriously. This exhausting level of work means that people with serious allergies often only dine at one or two restaurants where they have built up trust. I believe that (the bill) would not only prevent potentially fatal accidents, but in the process, help individuals with allergies trust their experience eating out will be enjoyable and safe.”
BAN SALE OF FUR PRODUCTS: The Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee held a virtual hearing on a proposal that would make it illegal to sell a new manufactured fur product in Massachusetts and impose a fine between $500 and $5,000 per fur product for anyone convicted of the sale.
The measure exempts used fur products, fur products used for traditional tribal, cultural or spiritual purposes by a member of a federally recognized or state-recognized Native American tribe; and leather cowhide and shearling. The bill would not restrict licensed trappers and hunters from selling raw fur pelts and hides generated in the course of their lawful activities.
REDUCE STROKES: The Public Health Committee’s virtual hearing included a bill that would establish a multitiered system of stroke facilities, including Comprehensive Stroke Centers, Primary Stroke Centers and Acute Stroke Ready Centers. The measure also requires Emergency Medical Services (EMS) councils to create and annually review pre-hospital protocols related to the assessment, treatment, transport and rerouting of stroke patients to the most clinically appropriate facilities. Another provision requires the Public Health Department to make available a list of all designated stroke centers to EMS providers in order to give patients the greatest possible chance of survival and recovery.
BAN
CHILD
Marwhile
RIAGE: The Public Health Committee held a virtual hearing on a bill that would ban the marriage of anyone under the age of 18. Current law allows minors to get married if they have parental consent.
“The pending bill to end child marriage in Massachusetts is the rare legislation that harms no one, costs nothing and ends a human rights abuse,” said Fraidy Reiss, founder and executive director of Unchained At Last, the group behind the ban. “It has strong bipartisan support and the backing of advocates and survivors across the commonwealth.”
REQUIRE BLEEDING CONTROL TRAUMA KITS IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS: The Public Health Committee held a virtual hearing on legislation that would require public buildings in Massachusetts, including government buildings, schools, entertainment venues and transportation facilities, to have at least one centrally located bleeding control kit and someone trained to use it on the premises. These kits contain basic tools such as a tourniquet, gauze and gloves to allow anyone to help stem serious bleeding before the arrival of first responders.
HOW LONG WAS LAST WEEK’S SESSION? Beacon Hill Roll Call tracks the length of time that the House and Senate were in session each week. Many legislators say that legislative sessions are only one aspect of the Legislature’s job and that a lot of important work is done outside of the House and Senate chambers. They note that their jobs also involve committee work, research, constituent work and other matters that are important to their districts. Critics say that the Legislature does not meet regularly or long enough to debate and vote in public view on the thousands of pieces of legislation that have been filed. They note that the infrequency and brief length of sessions are misguided and lead to irresponsible late-night sessions and a mad rush to act on dozens of bills in the days immediately preceding the end of an annual session.
During the week of Nov. 15-19, the House met for a total of 14 hours and 47 minutes while the Senate met for a total of eight hours.
Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beacon hillrollcall.com.
‘This map will have an impact on our democracy for at least the next decade to come. It is imperative that we do this right and that means advancing equity and compactness, not diluting representational power.’
– Sen. Becca Rausch