Senator Cindy Friedman

Prioritizes small business relief, support for workers, and housing development

BOSTON (1/15/2021) – On Wednesday, January 6, 2021, Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington), joined her colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature in passing $627 million in funding for a sweeping economic recovery and development bill which will provide much-needed support to businesses, investments in infrastructure, and creation of new jobs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill was signed into law on January 14, 2021.

An Act Enabling Partnerships for Growth ensures the residents of Massachusetts a COVID-19 relief and recovery package that will provide support to the restaurant and tourism sectors, small businesses, and those who have been affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, while also creating a Future of Work Commission, establishing protections for student loan borrowers, and ushering in zoning reforms that will encourage housing development in our communities.

“The economic downturn caused by the pandemic is presenting serious challenges for working families and small businesses, exacerbating our housing crisis, and impacting sectors of our economy that our communities depend on,” said Senator Friedman, Vice Chair of Senate Ways and Means. “This law provides immediate relief to the hardest hit sectors of our economy, putting our Commonwealth on a pathway toward a more equitable and sustainable economic future. I’d like to thank the Senate President as well as Conference Committee members Senators Lesser and Rodrigues for their steadfast leadership in moving this bill through the legislative process with a sense of urgency as our state continues to reopen and recover.” … Read more.

BOSTON (01/04/2021) – Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington), joined her colleagues in the Massachusetts Legislature to pass breakthrough climate legislation that overhauls the state’s climate laws, drives down greenhouse gas emissions, creates clean energy jobs, and protects environmental justice communities.

“I am pleased that the Massachusetts Legislature took this major step forward and solidified its commitment to protecting our environment,” said Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington). “I am particularly proud that this legislation includes language I fought for during the Senate amendment process that would achieve emissions reductions equitably and in a manner that protects low- and moderate-income persons and environmental justice populations when the state is developing regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our communities. I want to thank Senate President Spilka and my Lexington counterpart Senator Barrett for taking the lead on this issue and putting Massachusetts on a path toward a clean, green and sustainable future.”

The bill, An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy (S.2995), includes, among other items, the following provisions:

• Sets a statewide net zero limit on greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and mandates emissions limits every five years, as well as limits for specific sectors of the economy, including transportation and buildings;
• Codifies environmental justice provisions into Massachusetts law, defining environmental justice populations and providing new tools and protections for affected neighborhoods;
• Requires an additional 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind, building on previous legislation action and increases the total to 5,600 megawatts in the Commonwealth;
• Directs the Department of Public Utilities (DPU), regulator of the states electric and natural gas utilities, to balance priorities going forward: system safety, system security, reliability, affordability, equity, and, significantly, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions;
• Sets appliance energy efficiency standards for a variety of common appliance including plumbing, faucets, computers, and commercial appliances;
• Adopts several measures aimed at improved gas pipeline safety, including increased fines for safety violations and regulations related to training and certifying utility contractors;
• Increases the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) by 3 percent each year from 2025 – 2029, resulting in 40 percent renewable energy by 2030;
• Establishes an opt-in municipal net zero energy stretch code, including a definition of “net zero building;”
• Prioritizes equitable access to the state’s solar programs by low-income communities;
• Establishes $12 million in annual funding for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in order to create a pathway to the clean energy industry for environmental justice populations and minority-owned and women-owned businesses;
• Provides solar incentives for businesses by exempting them from the net metering cap to allow them to install solar systems on their premises to help offset their electricity use and save money;
• Requires utilities to include an explicit value for greenhouse gas reductions when they calculate the cost-effectiveness of an offering of MassSave;
• Creates a first-time greenhouse gas emissions standard for municipal lighting plants that requires them to purchase 50 percent non-emitting electricity by 2030 and “net zero” by 2050; and
• Sets benchmarks for the adoption of clean energy technologies including electric vehicles, charging stations, solar technology, energy storage, heat pumps and anaerobic digestors.

Mandates telehealth coverage, provides financial assistance to hospitals, and increases protections against surprise medical billing

BOSTON (12/23/2020) – On Wednesday, Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington), joined her colleagues in the Legislature in voting to pass An Act promoting a resilient health care system that puts patients first. This landmark legislation, which includes a number of notable health care reforms, expands patient access to care by lifting barriers to receiving telehealth services, broadens the scope of practice for certain health care professionals, requires advance notice of a provider’s network status in order to avoid surprise medical bills and improves coverage for COVID-19 testing and treatment amid the most serious public health crisis in modern history.

“This conference committee report embraces the best of both the Senate and House bills to create comprehensive and necessary healthcare reforms,” said Senator Friedman, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. “While there is still more to do to improve patient outcomes and access to care, this bill takes a meaningful step forward by ensuring that the Commonwealth’s healthcare system can continue to meet the needs of patients during this unprecedented time, and long after the COVID-19 pandemic has ended. I am grateful to the House for their collaboration and to Senate President Spilka and Chair Rodrigues for their leadership and for giving me the opportunity and responsibility to help the Senate negotiate a resolution to this significant bill.”

The bill’s components are highlighted below.

Telehealth
The bill makes telehealth permanently accessible to all in Massachusetts.… Read more.

Prioritizes relief to vulnerable populations through targeted investments in housing, economic development, and food security

BOSTON (12/04/2020) – Today, Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington), along with her colleagues in the Senate and House, passed the Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) budget, which invests in programs and services across the Commonwealth. Funded at $46.2 billion, the budget aims to address the sweeping effects of the global pandemic by making targeted investments in housing, food security, and substance use addiction services, as well as domestic violence, sexual assault treatment and prevention programs. The budget also invests in programs that provide COVID-related supports for students and increases funding for developmental services, early education and childcare, and public health.

“The current surge in positive COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts emphasizes that we must continue to do all we can to support our most vulnerable residents during these challenging times—and this budget helps to accomplish that by investing in much-needed behavioral health services, housing protections, reproductive health access, education and food assistance” said Friedman, Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and member of the FY21 Budget Conference Committee. “I am extremely proud that we were able to keep crucial investments in place—the $46 billion will go a long way towards ensuring an equitable economic recovery for the Commonwealth. I am incredibly thankful to Senate President Spilka, Ways and Means Chair Rodrigues, and the rest of my colleagues in the legislature for their tireless work on behalf of the Commonwealth.”

Senator Friedman was especially pleased to see several local and statewide initiatives she advocated for throughout the budget cycle included in the final compromise budget, including:

• $10 million for the creation of new inpatient mental health acute care beds, with priority given to beds for children and adolescents and beds located in underserved areas of the Commonwealth;
• $950,000 for the Mental Health Advocacy Project (MHAP) for Kids, which provides evidence-based community- and school-based interventions to improve the mental health of vulnerable youth and divert them from juvenile detention, inpatient, and emergency psychiatric hospitalizations;
• $350,000 to support the development of school-based Bridge programs, which integrate mental health, academic, family, and care coordination supports to address the needs of middle and high school students returning to school after physical health- or mental health-related absences;
• $250,000 for the Middlesex County Restoration Center Commission, which seeks to establish a pilot center for the purpose of diverting individuals that suffer from mental illness or substance use disorder and have frequent interactions with the criminal justice system away from incarceration and into appropriate treatment;
• $160,000 for the Arlington Youth Counseling Center (AYCC), ensuring that the Arlington Youth Counseling Center can continue to provide much-needed services to youth in the 4^th Middlesex district; and
• $90,000 to help English At Large in Woburn continue its work with English language tutoring and small group instruction for adult learners in 21 communities in Middlesex County.

BOSTON (12/1/2020) – Today, Senator Cindy F. Friedman (D-Arlington), along with her colleagues in the Senate and House, voted to pass An Act relative to justice, equity and accountability in law enforcement in the Commonwealth. The legislation represents the most comprehensive and intentional legislative response to incidents involving police practices in Massachusetts communities. It creates an independent, civilian-led commission to standardize the certification, training, and decertification of police officers, bans the use of chokeholds, limits the use of deadly force, creates a duty to intervene for police officers when witnessing another officer using force beyond what is necessary or reasonable under the circumstances, and takes steps to break the school-to-prison pipeline. It also creates a first-in-the-nation statewide moratorium on biometric surveillance systems, which include facial recognition technology.

“This legislation is a thoughtful and meaningful step in the right direction,” said Senator Friedman, Vice Chair of Senate Ways and Means. “We have a lot of work to do in Massachusetts and across the country to address systemic racism within our institutions and reforming how we police is part of that necessary work—but by no means should it represent the end of this important conversation. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to strengthen racial justice and equity across the Commonwealth.”

Friedman was especially proud to see provisions that she advocated for via the amendment process during the Senate bill debate were included in the final bill, including:

• Ensuring that age- and developmentally-appropriate de-escalation techniques are used when police officers interact with minor children, and that the use of force in those instances is only a last resort and appropriate to the circumstances; and
• Tasking the community policing and behavioral health advisory council with studying and making recommendations for creating a crisis response and continuity of care system that diverts individuals away from incarceration toward alternative emergency services and programs across the commonwealth.