Environment, economy issues front and center for Worcester lawmakers 2023-24

It's not a time for the state Legislature to rest on its laurels — there's still work to be done both on the state and local levels.

True, legislators accomplished some significant goals in the 192nd session: they passed a major climate bill promoting clean energy. They also passed an economic development bill that invests in public health, labor force development and transportation.

Massachusetts was a leader in codifying the ROE Act and passing a bill protecting reproductive rights and gender affirming medical care. They also united to improve access to mental health care.

More:'A storied career': Harriette Chandler says goodbye to Beacon Hill after 28 years

True, it accomplished some significant goals in its 192nd session: lawmakers passed a major climate bill promoting clean energy. They also passed an economic development bill that invests in public health, labor force development and transportation, a bill protecting reproductive rights and gender affirming medical care and even easing access to mental health care.

And while there is cause for celebration, state legislators must still tackle the day-to-day issues residents face on a regular basis: housing security, food security, access to and improvements in the state’s public transportation systems, climate change.

The new year brings a new governor and new legislators. Attorney General Maura Healey, the Gov.-elect, moves into the corner office, and both houses welcome newly elected members and returning legislators. Leadership could change as the Senate president and House speaker positions will come up for a vote. Committee assignments could also change.

T&G asked Worcester delegation about next session

The Telegram & Gazette reached out to Worcester's Statehouse delegation and the leadership of both houses, asking about their 2023-24 plans: those who responded are included in this story.

In Worcester, the Statehouse delegation welcomes Sen. Robyn Kennedy, elected to fill the vacancy left by retiring Sen. Harriette L. Chandler. True, she is new, but she’s already looking ahead and planning for the coming session.

“I want to follow in the footsteps of Senator Chandler,” Kennedy said, acknowledging that the retiring senator has had been a major role model in her life.

But the pandemic and its lasting affects have her worried.

Creative pathways to pandemic recovery

“I want to look for creative pathways to address the challenges in the care workforce economy posed by COVID-19,” Kennedy said.

She noted that the early education, child and health care fields are in crisis. While the Legislature has addressed the issue during this past session, Kennedy is convinced that more is needed — better pay, standardized training for early childhood and day care workers, and a way to recruit, train and retain care workers.

Kennedy is also seeking to continue to carry the statewide Regional Transit Authority (RTA) mantle donned by her predecessor, as well as advocate for the construction of the rail service linking Boston with the western reaches of the state.

“We need to move forward, keep it fare-free and expand service and access to the RTA,” Kennedy said.

And then there’s housing. The pandemic pushed many residents into insecure living situations and even into homelessness.

“We need to increase housing production across the state, fix our shelter system and find ways to address that housing instability,” she said.

State Rep. David LeBoeuf, D-Worcester, is also looking at housing as a statewide issue. His focus is on his Healthy Home legislation, a measure that would open affordable housing to low-income residents once lead paint is removed from units.

“The initiative is designed to rehabilitate existing units by making them lead-free,” LeBoeuf said.

Another way to tackle the housing crisis is to develop vacant lots around Gateway Cities like his and others in Massachusetts, build mixed-use and affordable housing units on those slivers of land.

“Gov. Charlie Baker focused on new construction,” said LeBoeuf, who added that he sees value in rehabilitating existing units, offering supports to owners to encourage them to rent in building units where space is available.

The measures he is proposing could create good jobs, support local residents and ensure housing security for those low-wage earner families that are at risk.

Educational supports, electronic backpack, for children in state system

LeBoeuf said he expects to address education and service issues for children involved with the state Division of Children and Families. His aim: to have DCF and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education clarify and make consistent educational supports for the youngsters.

His proposal includes an “electronic backpack,” education information that follows a child as they pass through the system, helping them as they transition to new communities and new schools. And free college tuition.

“We don’t want to lose these children,” LeBoeuf said.

Other concerns: health care for all state employees that starts on their first day of employment, utility reform including reform around water issues and water districts and a training and credentialing program, possibly through the state’s public vocational education system, for those seeking jobs in early childhood education and day care centers.

Enacting universal early education, pre-kindergarten, has long been LeBoeuf’s ambition. A concern that is shared by state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton.

LeBoeuf is also advocating to strengthen the review process for health care facilities seeking to shutter essential services (mental health care, maternity care) to open moneymaking ventures (cardiac care).

“There’s no accountability, even if a health facility is told to reopen a maternity ward or beds for mentally ill patients,” said LeBeouf, who maintains that without adding teeth to the review process, mandates are easily ignored.

Eldridge has said that the coming session will be unique. Big ideas, he said, are necessary to tackle the existing income and racial inequality in Massachusetts, climate issues and climate change, tax reform, immigration.

“The pandemic revealed the huge gap in financial and racial inequality,” Eldridge said, adding it also  exacerbated the housing crisis and the crisis in health care. “The racial inequities are quite stark.”

Shoring up the state’s workforce while protecting the rights of workers is a priority for Eldridge, who noted that there is a gap as the workforce has been decimated by retirements, resignations, long-term disease (long COVID-19) and death.

High on his agenda is to seek out gaps in the state’s gun laws, some of the toughest in the nation, to address issues that arose when the Supreme Court found a New York state law concerning concealed carry permits to be unconstitutional.

Close any loopholes in state laws after SCOTUS ruling

“There will be a big push to close any loopholes in Massachusetts gun laws,” Eldridge said, mentioning laws pertaining to the inspection of gun dealers. Who inspects dealers to ensure they follow state laws in sales and purchases is the issue. He expects the state to determine whether it’s the responsibility of local police or a statewide agency, like the state police, to conduct the inspections.

Republican state Rep. Michael Soter of Bellingham, who serves on the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, will be requesting to stay on the committee when the new assignments are decided for the coming session.

“I have a big interest in economic development,” Soter said.

That includes bringing the state’s workforce back full-force to a 40-hour work week post-pandemic. There must be a way, Soter theorizes, to incentivize employers to offer higher salaries, better benefits and cost-of-living adjustments to entice workers to return to pre-pandemic work schedules.

“It’s easy to turn the economy off, but it’s not easy to turn it back on,” Soter said.

Another focus is reforming the state’s utilities.

“I have had a number of calls from constituents about the increase, on average as much as 40%, of their utility bills,” he said.

Soter would like to see the state find ways to pressure the regulators and the utilities to spread out rate increases so consumers are not hit with massive increases at the same time as increases in the cost of living: food, housing, gasoline.

“Salaries are not keeping pace,” Soter said.

When it comes to climate change, Soter said he's concerned that the electrification push — cars, home heating, public transportation systems — can’t be supported by the state’s existing electrical grid.

Shore up state's electrical grid

“It hasn’t been expanded to support the push for renewables,” Soter noted.

As he reviews the midterm elections Soter said the electorate nationwide did not grant either party a mandate; the electorate, he said, voiced a desire that politicians work together to hammer out solutions to issues that affect them directly: the economy, health care, inflation, immigration.

As he reviews possible committee assignments for the coming legislative session, state Sen. Michael Moore, D-Millbury, is also looking over his initiatives from the past session.

He has been child-centric in his concerns: from championing vision screening and care for youngsters to calling for making safety a priority in the decisions affecting youngsters in the state’s foster care system; Moore is concerned with the state’s most vulnerable residents.

Vision screening and vision care for youngsters

“Children entering school are required to have an eye examination, but there’s no follow-up to ensure that, if they are prescribed glasses, they get glasses,” Moore said. A state report released in April by the Childhood Vision and Eye Health Commission found that Massachusetts is not doing enough early childhood vision screening.

“Children need to be able to see to succeed in school,” said Moore, who added that he's confident that a bill ensuring that vision care is extended to children is passed in the coming session.

Another child-related focus is the state Office of the Child Advocate. Moore wants state oversight of the decisions made by the office to ensure that child safety, not family reunification, is its priority.

Legislation supported in the last session included “An Act to Build a More Accessible Massachusetts,” a measure to ensure the state complies with all Americans with Disabilities Act requirements for public places, extending accessibility for employees throughout the workplaces, including accessible break rooms, bathrooms and lunchrooms. And a cybersecurity bill that would create an oversight committee to protect the state from hackers.

Tracking employees in adult day program settings

A database enacted several years ago to track abusive care givers in nursing homes and other venues, Nicky’s Law, needs to be reinforced and expanded to protect clients in day settings, Moore said. The database gives venues a portal to check on prospective employees to ensure they weren’t fired by a previous employer for abusing clients.

“Employers can do a criminal history check, but if criminal charges were not lodged, there’s no way to tell if they were dismissed for victimizing clients,” Moore said.

He also envisions further changes to the state Cannabis Control Commission to enhance communication within the agency and ensure that prospective marijuana entrepreneurs are not targeted for punitive investigations and actions. A situation involving a prospective marijuana concern in his district has shed light on discrepancies in the system, discrepancies he hopes will be rectified in the coming session.

For her part, state Rep. Natalie Higgins, D-Leominster, finds she has an affinity for championing women and women’s issues, from increasing access to higher education to enacting protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

“I want to ensure there is no new generation burdened with student debt,” Higgins said.

Also on her plate is the backlog of processing rape kits; 6,300 rape kits have not been processed by the state forensics labs, she said.

“Why? We’re still trying to figure that out,” Higgins said.

Five years ago, the state allocated $5 million to get the task accomplished.

“We went back to the Legislature three times asking that the kits be processed. We’re serious. We did not anticipate as much resistance,” she said.

Mental health issues need lawmaker attention

Mental health is also on her radar, particularly among Massachusetts youth. Higgins has proposed a mental health curriculum to be taught alongside physical health issues in the state’s public school in an effort to eradicate the stigma around mental health issues.

“We need a statewide commitment to end homelessness,” Higgins said.

Human composting? "Absolutely," Higgins said, along with a more environmentally friendly form of cremation.

State Rep. John Mahoney, D-Worcester, is concerned with the West Station Project, the development of a transportation hub in Allston/Brighton that would link downtown Boston directly to Worcester through a nonstop, express rail service. Workers in the biotech and life sciences industries could easily commute from homes in Cambridge/Somerville area to Worcester.

“It’s a massive transportation project,” Mahoney said.

Under his belt, Mahoney points to a $50 million bond issue to launch the electrification of the Worcester Rail service. And funding for the new Doherty Memorial High School on Highland Street, which is slated to open in September 2024.

Another pet project: the creation of a dedicated training and certification program for early childhood educators at the Guild of St. Agnes (there is no religious affiliation). It’s an opportunity to standardize and professionalize the child care field, and ensure day care workers and providers are on par with elementary school teachers.

Mahoney points proudly to the Worcester free breakfast and lunch program in the city schools.

“There were so many children on free and reduced-cost lunch that the district found it cost more to administer the program than to feed all the children for free,” he said.

State Sen. John Cronin, D-Lunenburg, said that in the coming session, Healey and the Legislature will have some exciting opportunities to continue to grow vibrant communities across the state, but especially in Gateway Cities like Fitchburg and Leominster.

Alternative ways to pursue education, training, well-paying jobs out of high school

“I am fully committed to continue expanding three programs in particular that have created exciting new pathways for high school students to prepare for the 21st-century workforce: Early College and Dual Enrollment, Innovation Pathways programs, and Career Technical Institutes. Early College allows high school juniors and seniors to earn college credits at no expense to them or their families,” Cronin said.

He added that the programs are proven to increases the likelihood that first-generation college students attain degrees and decrease the burden of higher education debt on poor and working-class families.

Innovation Pathways and Career Technical Institutes provide work-based learning opportunities and vocational training for high demand sectors of the Central Mass. economy, according to Cronin. Advanced manufacturing is in desperate need of more skilled workers to fill high-paying jobs.

“All three of these programs need continued investment from the Legislature to scale across the state and meet their full potential to transform young people's lives and build a stronger middle class here in Worcester County,” he said.

Priorities for state Sen. Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, for the coming legislative session includes some shared interests with other legislators, like the proliferation of PFAS in Massachusetts’ drinking water. She is also concerned with pyrrhotite used in the foundations of structures.

The substance, used between 1983 and 2015, can cause foundation walls to crumble, forcing owners to remediate the problem. Gobi is determined to establish a way to reimburse owners for the outlay, for owners who will have to replace their foundations in the future and to begin testing of quarries for pyrrhotite.

Gobi is concerned with the disbursement of ARPA funds and wants to ensure there is regional equity in how it’s allocated.

“I am working with the State Police Association to make changes to the Move Over Law and with the Forensic Oversight Board and the Bish family to allow the use of familial DNA,” Gobi said.

Gobi is also looking at providing supports for the services provided by the region’s community hospitals and rest homes, increasing access to behavioral health services available to students in K-12 and higher education and develop a school-to-work pipeline that could strengthen small businesses and provide employment opportunities, especially for veterans and people of different abilities.

Recreation is high on her list of priorities; Gobi plans to work to ensure that state parks and watershed areas are kept open for recreation, including hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, hiking, biking, bird-watching, horseback riding, swimming and boating.

“I am looking forward to the new makeup of my district and how the cities, Gardner and Worcester, can be helpful to my more rural areas and vice versa, including enhancing public transportation to extend to unserved and underserved areas and people and possibility of shared services,” Gobi said.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester legislators discuss 2023: focus on statewide & local issues