2009-2010 Legislation
Representative Sciortino has filed the following bills for the 2009-2010 session. For more information about any of these issues, please contact the State House office at (617) 722-2018.
Education
An Act to promote excellent and accountability for the education of mobile student populations: With increasing levels of mobility in many communities, school districts face challenges educating students. The tasks of orienting a new student to the school and gauging the student's academic strengths and weaknesses take valuable resources from the school system. This bill creates standards by which to calculate a school district's mobile student population and adjusts the foundation budget to accommodate the needs of the school district. The bill also directs the Department of Education to create reporting standards for the mobile student population and create a pilot program to provide financial assistance to high-mobility districts.
An Act to improve assessment and accountability to ensure students acquire 21st century skills: For students to thrive after they have finished school, they need to be educated with a skill set that prepares them for the many varied challenges in the new economy. This bill replaces the 10th grade MCAS exams with a set of state-developed end-of-course exams in math, English, science, and history. Students must pass each of these classes to be determined competent to graduate from high school. Additionally, to ensure that our schools are meeting their obligations to properly educate students, each school must be accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and must renew its accreditation every 10 years. The bill further sets a series of steps that may be taken to improve underperforming schools. This new balanced system will maintain high standards and comply with NCLB.
An Act relative to student privacy: This bill requires that schools inform families of high school students that the student's information may be distributed to military recruiters unless the family requests otherwise. It requires families be given the opportunity to request that the student's information be held private.
An Act Establishing An Education Loan Repayment Program For Social Workers And Credentialed Direct Care Human Service Workers (w/ Rep. Pignatelli & Sen. Walsh): This bill would create a student loan repayment program administered by the board of higher education for licensed social workers who have completed a baccalaureate or masters degree in social work at a public or private college or university.
Environment
An Act relative to energy efficient construction: New technologies in building design and construction have provided us with tools that will help the Commonwealth reduce its demand for energy and fight increasing energy prices. This bill requires that state buildings and very large homes shall be built to LEED energy efficient standards and provides additional reimbursements for schools built to energy efficient standards.
An Act to promote economic development via renewable energy production: This bill will encourage growth of Massachusetts' renewable energy economy by supplementing existing income tax credits for renewable energy installations by an additional 15% or $1,000 (whichever is less) above the current incentives, provided that the renewable energy components were manufactured in Massachusetts.
An Act providing consumer choice and environmental protection by authorizing pay by the mile auto insurance: This bill will direct the insurance commissioner to implement a pay-by-the-mile standard by which consumers may get auto insurance with rates set by the standard of usage. This will both provide consumers with better choices and encourage reduced driving, benefiting traffic conditions and the environment.
Equality
An Act relative to gender based discrimination and hate crimes (w/ Rep. Rushing & Sen. Downing): A person whose gender identity or expression does not conform to stereotypes of gender is likely to face high levels of discrimination and violence, particularly if the person is transgender. People who are transgender face widespread prejudice and are currently unprotected with no explicit protections in the Massachusetts General Laws. This bill will add Massachusetts to 13 other states, Washington D.C., and 81 counties and cities including Boston, Cambridge, and Northampton that protect transgender people. This bill will make the protection of transgender people explicit, uniform, and visible to the general public. It will include gender identity and expression in the state's non-discrimination statute and will amend existing hate crime laws to explicitly protect people targeted for violence and harassment.
An Act relative to veterans' benefits equity: While Massachusetts protects individuals from discrimination based upon sexual orientation, the federal government still discriminates against non-heterosexual individuals who wish to serve in the armed forces, and fails to recognize legal same-sex marriages. This bill will ensure that military veterans discharged based solely because of their sexual orientation are entitled to their full benefits under Massachusetts state law. The bill also ensures that same-sex spouses of veterans are also able to collect the same state benefits as opposite-gender spouses.
Health Care
An Act relative to fertility treatment coverage: Under current law, health insurance companies are only required to cover fertility treatments for those who are medically unable to conceive. There are also, however, a select number of families who can conceive but are medically unable to carry a naturally-conceived pregnancy to term. In vitro fertilization, surrogacy, and sperm donation are some methods by which these couples could both conceive and maintain a healthy pregnancy. This bill mandates that insurance companies must provide the same coverage to these couples as they do for those who are unable to conceive.
Transportation
An Act improving the finances of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (w/ Rep. Wolf): This bill increases the tax on gasoline by 12 cents and directs the funds to the MBTA to pay off debt from Big Dig-related projects, maintain equipment in a state of good repair, and maintain and improve services. Freeing up the T's obligation to the Big Dig debt will allow the system to retain stable financial footing. Additionally, the bill limits future fare increases to be in line with inflation and prevailing wages.
An Act incorporating carsharing in smart growth planning: Carsharing reduces traffic, saves people money, and protects the environment, but this transportation option is still foreign to many people. Companies such as Zipcar have started to break into this new market, but there is still ample room for growth. This bill incorporates carsharing into the Commonwealth's smart growth planning statutes.
An Act relative to license plates for carsharing vehicles: Under current law, carsharing vehicles must carry commercial license plates if they bear the name of the carsharing company on the vehicle. This creates a burden for carsharing users, as commercial plates mean higher tolls and additional parking restrictions in some communities. This bill allows vehicles in carsharing fleets to use residential license plates.
An Act relative to state liability for damage caused by road defects: Under current law, while cities and towns can be held liable for property damage caused by avoidable road defects, the Commonwealth is only liable for personal injury. This bill brings the state's liability in line with that of municipalities, providing those who use state roads with recourse should their vehicles be damaged due to negligence or faulty construction.
Local Revenue
An Act relative to telecommunications property taxes paid to cities and towns: Massachusetts has an outdated telecommunications property tax law that exempts above-ground poles and wires from property taxation. This law, passed in 1915, was designed to bring the telephone to all areas of Massachusetts. That goal has been achieved. Now, it is time for telecommunications companies to pay their fair share of the property tax. If passed, this legislation will create an estimated $52 million in new revenue paid directly to cities and towns.
Housing
An Act to prevent homelessness by removing barriers to subsidized housing (w/ Sen. Galluccio): This legislation will complement ongoing efforts by the Commonwealth to prevent homelessness and reduce reliance on emergency shelter by removing unwarranted barriers to those who are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness accessing permanently affordable, subsidized housing. It establishes guidelines by which electronic payment methods or third-party assistance may be established to ensure rent payment. It prevents the use of poor credit ratings to deny approval if an applicant has a history of on-time rent payments. It will also create a limited, statewide preference in various types of subsidized housing for certain households who are homeless or who are at imminent risk of homelessness or are facing serious medical emergencies. With these and other barriers removed, more people at risk of homelessness will be able to obtain subsidized housing.
Public Safety
An Act relative to incarceration and its impact on public safety: This bill establishes a five-year moratorium on the construction of new jails, houses of corrections, and prisons. It also creates a Special Commission to study issues and make recommendations related to overcrowding in jails, the effectiveness of incarceration when dealing with populations with mental illness and substance abuse treatment needs, and alternatives to sentencing for more humane and cost-effective means of ensuring public safety.
An Act to provide for the Public Inspection of Records Made or Received by Special State Police Officers at Educational Institutions (w/ Sen. Jehlen): This bill would require private colleges and universities that employ sworn Campus Police Officers with law enforcement authority to make the non-exempt portions of their crime reports accessible to any person requesting the information. This is already provided by other public institutions in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under the Public Records Law.
Consumer Protection
An Act relative to commercial rebate expiration: As it currently stands, there is no minimum time given to consumers to submit paperwork to claim a rebate. In fact, companies that offer rebates count on the fact that many consumers will miss their short window of opportunity. In order to protect the interests of the consumer, this bill will mandate a period of no less than one year from the date of purchase to submit all paperwork necessary to receive a rebate.
An Act relative to telephone directories: This bill gives consumers the ability to reduce waste by opting out of delivery of unwanted phone books. The bill directs phone book manufacturers and distributors to maintain "do not deliver" lists and provide consumers with a means to be added to the list.
Other
An Act relative to electric street poles: Utility companies traditionally stabilize a faltering electric pole by installing a second pole next to it. This solution is intended to be a temporary measure to give the company time to replace the unstable pole. However, these double poles are often left as a permanent solution, creating an eyesore and a potentially unsafe situation when left long-term. This bill will impose a fine of $100/day per pole upon utility companies that leave double poles standing after a 90-day grace period.
An Act implementing voting by the instant runoff method for special elections: Special elections draw large pools of candidates, and the winners of these heavily contested races may win with only 30-40% of the vote. By implementing instant runoff voting, voters may rank the candidates in order of preference, and the ballots will be tabulated so that the first candidate to obtain a majority of the vote will be declared the winner. This method of voting eliminates the possibility of the so-called "spoiler effect" from third-party candidates.
An Act to provide job training to greyhound racetrack employees: With the passage of ballot question 3 in 2008, greyhound racing will no longer be allowed in Massachusetts after a 2-year phase-out period. This bill redirects money in the greyhound promotional trust fund and the greyhound capital improvements trust fund to worker retraining programs for track employees.