Dear Women's Caucus Members, Legislative Colleagues, and Partners,
Here at the State House, it has been a busy few months. From key legislative deadlines to our 2024 annual meeting and our annual Go Red for Women event, we have been hard at work advancing the priorities of the Women's Caucus. We encourage you to read below for updates on our legislative priorities and endorsed bills, following the Joint Rule 10 legislative committee reporting deadline. As always, we have included updates and relevant information from the gender equity field and our partners.
We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with you. We encourage you to reach out to our Executive Director Nora Bent to connect, share your ideas, and think about how we can continue to work together.
Sincerely,
Senator Joan Lovely & Representative Hannah Kane
MCWL Co-Chairs
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Strategic Priorities
- Elevating Women’s Economic Opportunity & Eliminating Barriers
- Addressing Racial and Gender Disparities in Health Care
- Empowering Women in Government
- PASSED THE HOUSE & SENATE: An Act relative to salary range transparency
- This bill passed the House of Representatives and the Senate in October. The bill is now before a Conference Committee.
- PASSED THE SENATE: An Act to increase access to disposable menstrual products
- This bill passed the Senate in October. Currently, it is before the House Committee on Ways & Means, and we look forward to continuing to advocate for its passage.
- A recent Axios Boston profile of this issue looked at the importance of this bill: "We expect toilet paper and soap in bathrooms, and we don't even ask the question, 'How much does toilet paper cost?' because it's a basic need...The same framework should be applied for menstrual products," said Sasha Goodfriend, who as the Executive Director of MassNOW leads the MA Menstrual Equity Coalition.
- EXTENDED: An Act relative to a livable wage for human service workers
- H.191, Rep. Khan & S.84, Sen. Friedman
- The reporting deadline for this bill was extended to May 2
- EXTENDED: An Act relative to postpartum depression screening
- H.2163, Rep. Fiola & S.1375, Sen. Friedman
- The reporting deadline for this bill was extended to December 31
- EXTENDED: An Act supporting parents running for public office
- H.669, Rep. Meschino and Rep. Connolly & S.422, Sen. Jehlen
- The reporting deadline for this bill was extended to May 28
Endorsed Legislation
- You can see the complete list of our endorsed legislation here.
- An Act prohibiting nonconsensual intimate examinations of anesthetized or unconscious patients, filed by Sen. Comerford, Rep. Domb, and Rep. Ferguson, was redrafted as H4293 by the Joint Committee on Public Health and reported favorably to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.
- More updates to come--stay tuned!
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We hosted our annual Go Red for Women Event on Valentine's Day at the State House. Partnering with the American Heart Association, we host this event and ask our colleagues to wear red to raise awareness about heart disease and stroke in women. Thank you to those who joined us at the State House and online to raise awareness and share important resources, and thank you to Senate President Spilka and Rep. Barber for speaking at the event.
Heart disease is the #1 killer of women. By knowing the warning signs and learning hands-only CPR, you could be the difference between life and death for someone experiencing a cardiac event. During American Heart Month, join the American Heart Association and the Women's Caucus in turning bystanders into lifesavers by learning about hands-only CPR. Hands-only CPR has been shown to be as effective in the first few minutes as conventional CPR for cardiac arrests that occur outside of a hospital. Hands-only CPR has two simple steps, performed in this order:
> Step 1: Call 911 immediately if you see a teen or adult suddenly collapse.
> Step 2: Push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of a song with 100 beats per minute (i.e., “Staying Alive”).
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Please let us know if you have articles or social media that you would like to share in the next newsletter or on social media.
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The Parents Running for Office Coalition recently held a press conference to call attention to new research that shows just how critical this common-sense policy is to ensure diverse elected bodies.
H. 669/S. 422, filed by Rep. Meschino, Rep. Connolly, and Senator Jehlen, would allow candidates to use their campaign funds to pay for childcare expenses that would not exist but for their campaign. A recent report from Vote Mama Foundation found that at the federal level, where candidates are permitted to use their campaign funds to pay for relevant childcare expenses, the majority of these funds were spent by women. 46% were spent by candidates of color. At the local level in the 30 states that allow this spending, 70% of funds were spent by candidates of color.
At the press conference, we heard from Sen. Jehlen, Rep. Meschino, Rep. Connolly, Rep. Lipper-Garabedian, and former Rep. Jamie Belsito, who are all leaders in this space. Along with the Women's Caucus, representatives from the MA Commission on the Status of Women, Vote Mama Foundation, MassNOW, and Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus spoke. We also heard from Nicole Coakley, a mother of five from Springfield who has run for office and spoke about the importance of this bill from her own experience.
Following the press conference, the Boston Globe Editorial Board again endorsed this bill, saying: "For a state that prides itself on social progressivism, Massachusetts is severely lagging on its support for working parents running for office. In 2018, the Federal Election Commission ruled that candidates for federal office could use campaign funds to pay for childcare expenses incurred as a direct result of campaign activity. Thirty states — with politics as diverse as Alabama and California — let candidates for state or local office use campaign funds for childcare. Massachusetts, shockingly, does not."
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- On Saturday, February 17th from 10 am to noon, the MA Commission on the Status of Women is hosting a meet-and-greet with Commissioner Aisha Miller and the Eastern Regional Commission on the Status of Women. See more information and register here for this event at the Adams Street Branch of the Boston Public Library.
- On Friday, March 8th from 9 am to noon, join organizations and individuals from across the greater Boston area for the 26th annual International Women's Day Breakfast. The Women's Caucus is a partner organization of this event--we hope to see you there. Register here.
- The National Conference for Women this year will be held virtually on March 14th--see more details and purchase tickets here.
Please let us know if you have upcoming events that you would like to be included in the next newsletter or on social media.
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