Public safety - Senator Cindy Friedman

Senator Friedman has sponsored the following bills relative to public safety in the 2019-2020 legislative session:

Summary: This bill would require that an autopsy report for a child under the age of two be reviewed and approved by the state’s Chief Medical Examiner to determine the cause of death. Changes to the autopsy report would also have to be reviewed and approved by the Chief Medical Examiner.

Summary: This bill would authorize county sheriffs to establish regional lockup facilities to house persons arrested with or without a warrant, or any person arrested under any civil process. Currently, many sheriffs find it difficult to house such individuals in the existing jails and houses of corrections. Participating municipalities would enter into agreements with country sheriffs to create such lockup facilities, with the required approval of county commissioners if applicable.

Summary: This bill would establish a set of natural gas worker and public safety reforms, including new requirements related to inspection, gas leak repair and oversight.

Senator Friedman has co-sponsored the following bills relative to public safety in the 2019-2020 legislative session:

Summary: This bill would prevent the sale of residential furniture and children’s products containing certain fire retardant chemicals – which are of increasing concern due to their toxicity and pervasiveness in the environment. A similar bill was enacted on Jan 1, 2019. The Senate has twice engrossed this legislation, most recently in June, 2018 by a 37-0 vote.

Summary: The bill would require gun owners to purchase liability insurance to cover any injuries caused by their guns. This will create a financial incentive for gun owners to take more care and precaution with their firearms, which could potentially reduce accidents and fatalities.

Summary: Police in Massachusetts are using face recognition technology without legislative approval or judicial oversight, threatening core civil rights and civil liberties. The spread of face surveillance technology is occurring in the dark, absent public debate or democratic oversight. Government agencies are adopting these technologies despite the absence of privacy regulation, the technology’s inaccuracy, and the threats face surveillance technology in the hands of government poses to free societies and free peoples. This bill responds to these dangers by instituting a moratorium on government use of these forms of biometric surveillance until the legislature passes regulation of the technology to protect civil rights and civil liberties.

Summary: This bill would expand the information required to be collected on “crime guns” by requiring the collection of data on transactions involving crime guns that were part of a multiple firearms purchase, and an analysis of whether the license number used for the purchase or transfer of a firearm used in a crime was associated with a purchase or transfer of any other firearms within a 12-month period. Additionally, it would require The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) to issue a biennial report analyzing crime gun data.