Author: Cindy Friedman

BOSTON (02/17/2022) – Today, the Massachusetts Senate passed legislation that would designate July 8th as Massachusetts Emancipation Day, also known as Quock Walker Day. The bill, S.2704, was filed by Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington) and would direct the Governor to issue a proclamation commemorating Quock Walker and his legacy each year.

Quock Walker, born to enslaved Black parents in Massachusetts, was the driving force behind the 1783 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that slavery was incompatible with the constitution of the Commonwealth. At 28 years old, after being promised his freedom on multiple occasions, Walker self-emancipated. Shortly after, Walker was found working nearby, was beaten and locked in a barn by his former enslaver, Nathaniel Jennison. Walker sued Jennison for assault and battery and was found to be a free man by a jury of the Worcester County Court of Common Pleas. This ruling was appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court where the decision was upheld. This critical decision served as the precedent that ended slavery in the Commonwealth on constitutional grounds and led to Massachusetts becoming one of the first states in the nation to abolish slavery.

“In light of Quock Walker’s significant place in our state’s history, it is important that we celebrate his achievements by officially and annually marking this monumental step toward abolishing slavery,” said Senator Friedman. “Passing this bill is one of the many ways the Massachusetts Senate is celebrating Black History Month this year, as we work to acknowledge the injustices in our history as well as celebrate our state’s part in setting a nationwide precedent for human rights.… Read more.

BOSTON (02/16/2022) – Today, the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts (WBA) honored Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington) with the organization’s 2022 Public Official of the Year Award during the WBA’s annual Legislative Breakfast. This event, hosted by the WBA’s Legislative Policy Committee (LPC) and held virtually this year, serves as a platform for the WBA to outline its pressing legislative priorities.

WBA President-Elect Kristy Lavigne presented Senator Friedman with the award, citing the senator’s distinguished leadership on policy issues that impact women and children and her unwavering support for women attorneys and women-led organizations like the WBA. Senator Friedman spoke about her passion for advocating for policies that positively impact working families and women and she encouraged constituents and organizations like the WBA to continue to play a proactive advocacy role in the state policymaking process.

“I want to thank the WBA and to all its members for honoring me with this award,” said Senator Friedman, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. “The WBA is such a valuable partner in the policymaking process in our state – it’s critically important that women attorneys continue to weigh in on the policy issues that impact them and their clients, because their voices, personal experiences and knowledge can help strong policy become law and stop harmful bills from being passed.”

Senator Friedman also called attention to legislation that she has sponsored, including bills to end sexual harassment in venture capital relationships, bring greater awareness to the dangers of using toxic chemicals in children’s products, and enhance access to appropriate, immediate care for families struggling with mental illness.… Read more.

Bill builds on Senate’s work to reduce prescription drug costs, promote transparency, and increase patient access

BOSTON (02/10/2022) – Today, the Massachusetts Senate passed by a vote of 39-1 An Act relative to Pharmaceutical Access, Costs and Transparency (PACT Act 2022), comprehensive pharmaceutical legislation to address the rapidly increasing cost of prescription drugs and to ensure life-saving medications are affordable, fairly priced and accessible for all consumers. Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington) took a lead role in crafting the legislation for the Massachusetts Senate.

“This legislation moves the Commonwealth one step closer to a system that delivers affordable, high quality, and accessible care for our residents,” said Senator Friedman, Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. “The PACT Act 2022 ensures that more consumers can access prescription drugs at a fair price, by capping out-of-pocket insulin costs, providing relief for certain high-cost drugs, improving patient access to medications and pharmacies of their choice, and enhancing transparency and oversight within the pharmaceutical industry. I thank President Spilka, Chair Rodrigues, my colleagues, and the many stakeholders who helped craft this bill, and I am hopeful that this legislation will be signed into law soon.”

Too often, patients cannot access the medications they need due to high prescription drug prices. The PACT Act 2022 contains enhanced accountability tools to address this and other barriers to care. Currently, Massachusetts cannot effectively identify the drugs that have burdensome costs which prevent patients from being able to afford them. These cost barriers also contribute to unaddressed health issues and often worsen conditions.… Read more.

Bill builds on Senate’s work to reduce prescription drug costs,  promote transparency, and increase patient access  

BOSTON (02/03/2022) – Today, the Massachusetts Senate unveiled An Act relative to Pharmaceutical Access, Costs and Transparency (PACT Act 2022), comprehensive pharmaceutical cost control legislation aimed at addressing the rapidly increasing costs of prescription drugs. By connecting the need for greater drug price transparency with policies to improve oversight for the pharmaceutical industry, the legislation puts the Senate at the forefront of the state’s efforts to tackle rapidly increasing prescription drug costs. It will also reduce drug costs for patients and lower health care costs overall.  

“No one should ever have to choose between buying life-saving drugs like insulin and being able to pay rent,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). “Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, people are more aware than ever of the need for equitable access to quality health care and being able to afford necessary medication is a key component of this. This bill provides direct relief to consumers and tackles the systematic drivers of high drug prices to reduce health care costs for patients across the Commonwealth. I am proud of the long-standing efforts of the Senate to reform prescription drug costs, particularly those initiated by Senator Cindy Friedman, Chair of the Health Care Financing Committee, and I look forward to getting this bill signed into law.” 

“Our goal for health care is to create a system that delivers affordable, high quality and accessible care to all of our residents,” said Senator Cindy F.… Read more.

Bill includes several measures to enhance vaccine equity, extends popular COVID measures, including outdoor dining

Today, the Massachusetts State Senate passed a $76 million plan to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 and its variants by providing residents with greater access to tests, vaccines, and masks, prioritizing communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as frontline workers. In her role as vice chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington) helped craft the supplemental spending plan, which she also voted in favor of. The plan also provides increased flexibility for unemployment insurance recipients to address overpayments of pandemic unemployment benefits and funds an expanded multi-lingual campaign to notify unemployment claimants of their legal rights. Much of the funding of the bill is expected to be eligible for reimbursement by the federal government.

“I’m proud that this bill makes targeted investments in community organizations that are working hard to get more residents vaccinated and keep them protected from severe illness due to COVID-19,” said Senator Friedman, Senate Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management. “This bill also begins to address the growing needs of hospitals as they continue to respond to the challenges brought on by this pandemic and the latest surge of the Omicron variant. Thank you to my colleagues in the Senate for expediting this bill so that much-needed funding can go to those in need.”

 The legislation includes a $50 million investment to further increase the availability and encourage usage of both testing and vaccination throughout the state.… Read more.

Bills passed would provide free state IDs to individuals experiencing homelessness, allow adoption by close relatives of an adoptee

(BOSTON–1/13/2022) Today, Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington) joined her colleagues in the Massachusetts State Senate to unanimously pass legislation to make state identification more accessible to people experiencing homelessness, as well as legislation to allow adoption by close relatives, which is currently prohibited under state law.

“These bills both work to address some of the biggest hurdles to normalcy that struggling families in the Commonwealth face,” stated Senator Friedman, vice chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.  “Lack of access to housing should not preclude residents from receiving valid identification and families trying to stay united should not face undue burdens from archaic laws. I was proud to support both bills, and hope that they will be signed into law during this session.”

Currently, a person experiencing homelessness who wishes to obtain a Massachusetts identification (ID) card are faced with prohibitive fees and documentation requirements, including providing proof of a residence that they may not have. An Act to provide identification to youth and adults experiencing homelessness seeks to remedy these burdens by waiving fees for individuals experiencing homelessness. Furthermore, the bill would allow such an ID applicant to meet the proof of residency requirement by presenting documentation that is from an entity providing services in the Commonwealth, such as a homeless shelter, or that shows that the applicant is receiving services provided by the Commonwealth.

Identification cards are necessary for applying to jobs, enrolling in school, interacting with law enforcement, accessing government buildings, opening financial accounts, and many more basic services that many take for granted.… Read more.

Investments focus on communities hard hit by COVID-19 and supporting the ongoing economic recovery

(BOSTON) On December 3, 2021, Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington) joined her colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature to advance a $4 billion bill to the governor’s desk that directs federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) surplus funding to assist the Commonwealth’s ongoing economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. With a focus on making equitable investments and prioritizing communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, the legislation delivers targeted supports to workers and businesses, and the critical sectors of housing, health care, mental and behavioral health, climate preparedness, education, and workforce development.

“This bill will bring much needed economic relief to residents and communities across Massachusetts,” said Senator Friedman, Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “The $4 billion in investments made at the state and local levels for initiatives like housing and food security, health care services, and aid for businesses and workers, will have an enormously beneficial impact on the many, many people that the pandemic has affected. I am especially proud of the $400 million in funding for our behavioral health system and the $2.7 million in direct aid to the communities in our 4th Middlesex district – both of which I fought hard to secure.”

The bill includes $2.7 million in direct funding to the 4^th Middlesex district, including:

• $350,000 for Lexington public schools for electric school buses and charging infrastructure.
• $300,000 for the Burlington and Woburn public school systems to develop a pilot program, in partnership with local primary care practices, to deliver primary care health services to low-income children enrolled in public schools.

… Read more.

BOSTON (11/29/2021) – On Wednesday, November 10, 2021, Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington) and Representative Michelle Ciccolo (D-Lexington) testified before the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight in support of legislation they filed that would designate July 8th as Massachusetts Emancipation Day a.k.a. Quock Walker Day.

The bills, S.2059 and H.3117, An Act designating July 8 as Massachusetts Emancipation Day a.k.a. Quock Walker Day, would direct the Governor to issue a proclamation commemorating the day each year.

It is little known that on July 8, 1783, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the Constitution of the Commonwealth’s Declaration of Rights rendered slavery unconstitutional. Quock Walker, born to enslaved Black parents in Massachusetts, was the driving force behind this ruling. At 28 years old, after being promised his freedom on multiple occasions, Walker self-emancipated. Shortly after, Walker was found working nearby, was beaten and locked in a barn by his former enslaver.  Walker sued his former enslaver for assault and battery and was found to be a free man by a jury of the Worcester County Court of Common Pleas.  This ruling was appealed and the decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court again found that Walker was a free man and this critical decision served as the precedent that ended slavery in the Commonwealth on constitutional grounds and led to Massachusetts becoming the first state in the nation to abolish slavery.

“Bringing awareness to Quock Walker and his story is so incredibly important” said Senator Friedman, Chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.… Read more.

Bill establishes the Genocide Education Trust Fund to educate students on the history of genocide

BOSTON – Today, Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington) joined her colleagues in both chambers of the Massachusetts Legislature in passing An Act concerning genocide education to provide education to middle and high school students on the history of genocide and to promote the teaching of human rights issues.

“As a member of the Jewish community, it is incredibly important to me that our children learn about the atrocities committed across the globe throughout our history,” said Senator Friedman, Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “Using our educational system to teach the next generation of leaders about genocides like the Holocaust is crucially important and will help to prevent such tragedies from occurring again.”

The bill requires middle schools and high schools in the Commonwealth to include instruction on the history of genocide. This most recent iteration of the legislation comes as incidences of hate and anti-Semitism are on the rise across the country, with several incidents reported in Massachusetts over the past year.

In 2020, a widely reported survey commissioned by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which gauged Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Generation Z populations, found that 63 percent of survey respondents in the United States did not know six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. The survey also found that nearly half were unfamiliar with Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz. Massachusetts does not currently require Holocaust education or other genocides as part of classroom curriculum.… Read more.