Now that the New Year is well off to an eventful start, I wanted to provide a quick update about what has been happening on Beacon Hill and beyond.
The Senate was able to pass legislation that updates our outdated public records law for the first time since 1973. The bill would reduce costs for requesters and increase the timeliness in which the public can access records they request. The House passed the bill during the summer, and now the two branches are working out the differences in conference committee.
The Senate also took up a bill that levels the field for gender equality and calls for equal pay for equal work that creates salary transparency and fairness in hiring practices. The Senate also tackled a climate-change bill early this year that puts in place a comprehensive statewide plan on climate change.
The Harm Reduction and Drug Law Reform Caucus, chaired by Rep. Tom Sannicandro and myself, made a push for the caucus priorities during its first meeting of the year. The caucus brings together people around the shared goal of comprehensive, meaningful criminal justice reform. Last year, the Legislature passed two big initiatives the caucus was backing, the passage of a bill repealing the RMV sanctions law and the Women’s Civil Commitment bill, which will prevent women from being civilly committed to Framingham state prison for substance abuse problems. The caucus also recently launched a new website that you can visit at http://harmreductionma.org/.
Through the organizing efforts of MassSolar, I hosted a briefing at the State House in January to bring attention to how community-shared, low-income, and municipal solar benefits communities across the commonwealth. This session, I will continue to meet with stakeholders and advocate for the advancement of solar in every corner of the commonwealth, as I continue to push for solar net-metering legislation that will keep Massachusetts a leader in the nation on solar energy production.
Jamie Eldridge, state senator
Middlesex and Worcester districts
