Friday, April 25th Legislative & Public Health Updates
- hannanur3
- Apr 28
- 12 min read
Dear friends,
I am writing to you today with legislative, Cambridge, and public health updates.
Table of Contents
Legislative Updates
Cambridge Updates
Public Health Updates
A Glimpse at the Past Week
Services and Resources
Legislative Updates
I am excited to share with you all the amendments I filed to the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget last week. Next week, the House will begin debating the FY26 budget and the 1,650 amendments filed, and I look forward to updating you on the outcome.
Thank you to everyone who reached out asking that I co-sponsor amendments. My staff and I are currently reviewing these requests and signing on as we go through them.
Amendment #1149: Affirming Health Care Trust Fund and Assessment Fee (Co-filed with Vice Chair Sam Montaño)
Summary: This amendment proposes a national model for supporting gender affirming health care. It aims to build upon the Commonwealth’s commitment to providing critical affirming health care services to minors by establishing the Affirming Health Care Trust Fund. This fund will ensure that the state maintains dedicated funding exclusively for gender-affirming health services. To maximize the impact of these funds, this amendment allocates $1 million into the Trust Fund and directs the Department of Public Health to impose a payor surcharge fee on commercial health insurers that would be deposited into the Trust Fund, ensuring its solvency.
Amendment #1151: Cambridge Community Center
Summary: The Cambridge Community Center (CCC) is a local nonprofit that provides services and programming to children, families, and seniors. This $150,000 earmark would provide funding to support the Community Center’s community-based behavioral health program and for capital improvements.
Amendment #1152: Food For Free School Markets Program
Summary: This amendment would earmark $110,000 for the School Markets Program, operated by Food For Free, which is designed to address food insecurity in students and families. Food For Free operates once-monthly pop-up markets during school pickup time with a variety of fresh produce and pantry staples. With 6 schools enrolled (4 in Cambridge), the School Markets Program currently serves 3,125 individuals and hosted 91 markets last year.
Amendment #1154: Loop Lab
Summary: The Loop Lab is a non-profit social enterprise specializing in impactful digital storytelling and workforce development, empowering content creators of color to have careers in media arts through job training and paid internships. This $50,000 earmark would provide funding to support the Loop Lab and its important programs.
Amendment #1155: Cradles to Crayons
Summary: Cradles to Crayons fills often-overlooked needs for children and families living in poverty across Massachusetts as the only organization that mitigates clothing insecurity on a large scale. This amendment would create a $200,000 line item to support Cradles to Crayons’ clothing insecurity relief and essentials distribution service.
Amendment #1156: Alliance of YWCAs
Summary: For the past several years, I have led the charge to bring the Alliance of YWCAs to parity in state funding with similar organizations, like the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club. I am grateful for Chair Aaron Michlewitz’s and the House’s support in securing these increases, and this amendment would provide $1.5 million earmarked for the Alliance of YWCAs.
Amendment #1191: Protecting Labor Unions from Federal Attacks
Summary: This amendment mirrors language from a bill I filed this session, An Act protecting labor and abolishing organizing rights (H.2086). It would establish a “trigger law” to protect existing private sector organizing rights in the event certain federal labor standards are undermined or repealed. Union members face immense threats from the federal government as institutions such as the National Labor Relations Board are weakened and fail to take action on labor violations and organizing decisions.
Amendment #1192: Occupational Health Surveillance Program
Summary: This amendment would codify the Occupational Health Surveillance Program (OHSP), a state agency housed in the Department of Public Health that promotes the health, safety, and well-being of all working people in Massachusetts by using occupational health data for action. Funding cuts to the federal National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) threaten funding for the OHSP, so this amendment ensures that DMH funds and maintains the agency.
Amendment #1223: MassHealth Telehealth Reimbursement Parity Continuation
Summary: This amendment would ensure that MassHealth reimburses eligible healthcare providers for telehealth services at parity with in-person visits. Additionally, it would also disallow MassHealth from imposing any financial penalties on hospitals for inpatient readmissions.
Amendment #1224: Digital Health Navigators
Summary: This amendment would establish a special commission to study and make recommendations on improving health equity and digital access in Massachusetts through the use of digital health navigators. The commission will explore how digital navigation services can support public health, particularly in underserved communities, and promote digital equity.
Amendment #1225: Commercial Coverage for Behavioral Health Evaluations in Emergency Departments
Summary: This amendment ensures the viability of services required by Chapter 177 of the Acts of 2022 to expand access to mental health services by aligning coverage requirements of behavioral health crisis services with how these services are delivered under the reforms made by the Roadmap for Behavioral Health Reform and ensures commercial coverage of these services. As the Roadmap had not been implemented at the time of Chapter 177’s passage, and ED-based behavioral health crisis evaluations were largely being provided by Emergency Services Programs (ESPs), this language ensures those services are still covered when provided by hospitals. Additionally, youth community crisis stabilization services (YCCS), a key piece of Community Behavioral Health Centers, had not been developed. This language would extend Chapter 177’s required coverage of adult community crisis stabilization (ACCS) to also include coverage of YCCS.
Amendment #1250: Residential Treatment for Children and Adolescents
Summary: As I have shared in previous newsletters, I was concerned by the proposed cuts to two intensive residential treatment programs (IRTPs) and one clinically intensive residential treatment (CIRT) program in the Governor’s budget. I am grateful that the House Ways and Means Committee restored $9.8 million out of the $15.3 million in funding that was cut, recognizing the importance of these programs. The IRTPs are the only programs that offer expertise working with transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual (TQIA) youth and their families, and the CIRT program is the only program in the state for children ages 6 to 12. This amendment seeks to restore the additional $5.5 million that was cut from the DMH Hospital Services line item and specifically directs the earmarked languages to the NFI and Cutchins programs.
Amendment #1275: School-Based Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Center
Summary: The School-Based Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Center (SBBH TA Center) provides technical assistance to districts and community providers to build and sustain district capacity to meet the social, emotional, and behavioral health needs of students. In 2024, the TA Center served 106 districts with shared resources, materials, consultation, and training. This amendment would provide $500,000 in funding to ensure that the TA Center can continue to grow its capacity and expand its resources.
Amendment #1276: Improvements to the RAFT Homelessness Prevention Program
Summary: This amendment would make various improvements to the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program, including: increasing the cap on RAFT benefits to $10,000/household/year from $7,000/household/year, moving access to RAFT more upstream by prohibiting the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) from requiring a notice to quit from families and individuals seeking help with back rent or requiring a utility shut-off notice from families and individuals seeking help with back utility bills, and requiring EOHLC to offer direct-to-tenant payments in cases where the property owner is unresponsive or refuses payment.
Amendment #1288: Whole Child Grant Program
Summary: This amendment would create a formula grant to provide per-pupil funding to public school districts to hire more school counselors, education support professionals and other educators, and allow for other critical investments that support the wellbeing of students and educators.
Amendment #1298: Universal Adult Vaccine Program
Summary: This amendment builds on the successes of the state trust fund for childhood vaccination by establishing an Adult Vaccine Trust Fund. The Trust Fund would ensure that there are funds to cover the costs of 1) purchasing vaccines needed for routine adult immunizations, 2) supporting a vaccine clinic management platform and programs to promote equitable access to vaccines, and 3) storing and maintaining vaccines for providers.
Amendment #1329: Universal Postpartum Home Visiting Services Report
Summary: This amendment directs the Department of Public Health to conduct a review and issue a report on the costs associated with implementing the universal postpartum home visiting services program, including the number of people utilizing the program in the Commonwealth and the cost of covering the program’s services under state-regulated insurance plans.
Amendment #1402: Alternative Housing Voucher Program (Co-filed with Vice Chair Rob Consalvo)
Summary: This amendment modernizes AHVP to make it easier to use and administer.
Amendment #1445: Lift Kids Out of Deep Poverty
Summary: As I have written about in this newsletter, I was disappointed that the Governor did not annualize the 10% increase to the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children program and the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children program we secured in the FY25 budget in her FY26 budget proposal. The House annualized that 10% increase, and this amendment proposes a further 10% increase in cash assistance grants for participants in the two programs.
Amendment #1446: Victims Services Trust Fund
Summary: After securing $60 million over the past three years to bridge the funding for the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) that the federal government failed to appropriate, this amendment creates a trust fund for the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance (MOVA) and appropriates $20 million to fund victim assistance programs and organizations across the Commonwealth.
Amendment #1460: Science Club for Girls
Summary: The Science Club for Girls (SCFG) is a local non-profit that provides free and experiential programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for girls and gender-expansive youth from underrepresented communities. This amendment earmarks $200,000 for STEM education programming.
Summary: These two amendments, together, make technical updates to outdated language in the vital statistics statute, including more broadly addressing gender neutrality. They would also authorize changes to a parent’s name related to gender confirmation on a child’s birth record so that it matches other documents that the parent may present and reflects the correct information. This would provide a clear statutory path so that a child’s information as presented on their birth certificate matches the information that a parent may present to prove identity or parental rights.
Amendments #1550: Supporting DMH Caseworkers
Summary: I have been in close contact with SEIU 509 and mental health advocates since the Governor proposed halving DMH case managers in her FY26 budget proposal (from 340 case managers to 170). This language would ensure that DMH maintains FY25 staffing levels, preventing such drastic layoffs.
Cambridge Updates
On Saturday, May 3, the Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee (CEOC) will host its 60th Anniversary Stronger Together Block Party at 11 Inman Street from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. This family-friendly event will include activities, live performances, food, refreshments, music, and community awards. I hope that you will be able to join me in celebrating the incredible anti-poverty work that CEOC has and continues to do for our community, significantly impacting the lives of many families in our city.
Public Health Updates
Federal Funding Cuts Threaten Massachusetts Public Health Laboratory
The Massachusetts Public Health Laboratory in Jamaica Plain is the central hub for the state’s public health efforts. It offers comprehensive laboratory services for diagnosis, surveillance, investigation, and prevention. The lab processes over 300,000 samples annually to detect and study illnesses such as HIV, tuberculosis, avian flu, and COVID-19. It serves as a critical resource for hospitals and health professionals, providing essential information about environmental contaminants and foodborne illnesses. State public health officials have expressed growing concern over looming federal funding cuts, warning that they could severely disrupt efforts to track and contain public health threats. Earlier this month, Massachusetts officials were informed that all employees of the federal lab had been laid off as part of a streamlining initiative aimed at strengthening the Centers for Disease Control.
Study Shows Medication Effective at Helping Young People Quit Vaping
A recent study from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital has found that the medication varenicline, a smoking cessation pill, is highly effective at helping young people quit vaping when combined with behavioral counseling. Published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, this study is the first clinical trial specifically targeting youth. Among participants aged 16 to 25, 50% of those who took varenicline for 12 weeks were vape-free during the final month of the study, compared to just 14% in the placebo group. Even six months later, 28% of the participants taking varenicline had not started vaping again, while only 7% of those in the placebo group managed the same outcome. Researchers noted that varenicline, when paired with counseling, is a safe and effective method to help young people discontinue nicotine vaping.
HHS Announces Funding Cuts for Landmark Women’s Health Study, Then Reverses Decision
This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced plans to withdraw much of the federal funding previously allocated through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). This decision followed the Trump Administration's directive to all federal health agencies to reduce contract spending by a minimum of 35%. The WHI is a landmark federal study representing one of the largest research studies focused on women's health. The original study began in the 1990s and concluded in 2005. In the decades since, the WHI has conducted extension studies that have followed tens of thousands of women. The ongoing research from the WHI has led to numerous groundbreaking advancements in women’s health, significantly influencing modern-day treatments for menopause, nutrition, and osteoporosis. WHI investigators were notified this Monday that HHS was terminating research contracts at all four of the study's regional centers at the end of the current fiscal year, effectively stopping new data collection from over 40,000 study participants.
FDA Plans to Phase Out Synthetic Food Dyes in 2027
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the agency will begin taking steps to phase out the use of synthetic food dyes by the end of 2026. There is no mandate for the food industry to comply with this phase-out, however, the FDA plans to work with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., largely by relying on voluntary efforts from the food industry. The FDA is in the process of establishing a timeline to remove dyes on the market and encourage a switch to natural alternatives. This initiative specifically targets petroleum-based artificial colors, which advocates are concerned about due to potential negative effects on children's health and neurobehavioral development. The FDA currently permits 36 food color additives, including eight synthetic dyes, because "the totality of scientific evidence" indicates that most children do not experience adverse effects from their consumption.
Whooping Cough Cases on the Rise in the U.S.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the United States has seen 8,485 cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, in 2025. The number of cases has doubled since last year, and experts say this may be due to changing attitudes toward vaccines. Whooping cough cases soared last year, which was not unexpected as most people stopped using COVID-19 precautions like masks and social distancing. Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory illness caused by Bordetella pertussis, a type of bacteria. Whooping cough is most commonly spread from person to person when an infected individual coughs or sneezes, dispersing bacteria particles into the air. Symptoms of whooping cough vary with age and vaccination status, but initial symptoms are similar to those of a cold that worsen over time, coupled with a persistent and uncontrollable cough.
A Glimpse at the Past Week
I joined Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Chrissy Lynch at the Harvard Center for Labor and a Just Economy, where she was speaking about An Act protecting labor and abolishing barriers to organizing rights (H.2086), a bill I filed this session. This bill would establish state-level private sector organizing rights, using our best-in-the-nation employee classification test rather than the federal standard, codify the ban on captive audience meetings, cement healthcare workers’ right to unionize and strike, and allow for both electronic card signing and electronic elections under the Department of Labor Relations. It also has “trigger” language ensuring these protections continue under state law should federal law no longer apply, be ruled unconstitutional, or gutted, or if the National Labor Relations Board declines to take jurisdiction over a group of employees.
It was also great to see Nikki Decter, a leading labor attorney and a counsel to the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, at the convening.
Cambridge Public Health Helpline Supports Residents with COVID-19
To speak with someone, call the confidential COVID-19 Hotline at 617-933-0797. Learn more here.
Intimate Partner Abuse Prevention Helpline
This initiative is designed to prevent intimate partner violence by fostering accountability and change in people who harm or may harm their partner. You can find more information at 10to10helpline.org or by calling 877-898-3411.
SafeSpot Overdose Prevention Helpline
SafeSpot is a virtual spotting/overdose detection service for people who use drugs. Learn more at safe-spot.me or access it by calling 800-972-0590.
Alzheimer's Association Helpline
The Alzheimer’s Association is a nonprofit that provides support, research, and care for Alzheimer’s and dementia with a 24/7 for caregivers and patients. More information is available at alz.org, or by calling 800-272-3900.
De Novo Center for Justice and Healing
De Novo is a Cambridge-based nonprofit that provides free civil legal assistance and affordable psychological counseling to people with low incomes. You can learn more about their services at denovo.org.
MassLegalHelp.org is a resource to help Massachusetts residents learn about their legal rights. The website does not offer legal advice or answer individual questions but has a page about options for finding a lawyer. It does provide resources for those facing legal issues, such as a landlord refusing to make repairs, appealing the denial of SNAP benefits, and questions about getting a CORI sealed.
As always, please contact me with questions or concerns at Marjorie.Decker@mahouse.gov.
Sincerely,
Marjorie
