News Archives - State Representative Mike Day

Adapting to a Changing Landscape in Healthcare

July 31, 2020/in News /by Dan Hudson

Focusing on safety and the continued support of the Commonwealth’s healthcare system, the House recently passed H4888, a broad bill centered around adapting to a post-COVID-19 landscape in the administration of healthcare. The bill’s main focus was the integration of telehealth services, which has become the go-to for most patients and doctors alike. The bill requires both public and private insurers to treat telehealth services the same as in-person doctor visits, with co-payments and deductibles not exceeding the in-person rates.

Several amendments were adopted on the House floor, including a proposal requiring providers to offer coverage for all emergency and inpatient services relative to COVID-19 to now include all medically necessary outpatient testing, including testing of asymptomatic patients. Additionally, an amendment was passed giving physicians and nurse practitioners more autonomy in administering prescriptions and refills of medication without requiring in-person visits.

Through co-sponsoring a measure taken by Rep. Ruth Balser of Newton, I was able to help advocate for the creation of a Personal Protective Equipment Exchange. The Exchange would serve as an intermediary between PPE manufacturers and healthcare providers, specifically eldercare providers. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Commonwealth’s nursing homes especially hard, the importance of adequate PPE has taken center stage in anticipation of a possible spike in cases. Through the Exchange, manufacturers and providers have access to a direct channel of communication, further ensuring the safety of patients and healthcare providers.

Economic Development Bill Includes Funding Authorization for Stoneham and Winchester Economic Priorities

July 31, 2020/in News, Uncategorized /by Dan Hudson

On July 28th, we in the House passed H4879, an Act Enabling Partnerships for Growth. With the support of my colleagues, I secured the authorization for future appropriation of funds from the Governor that will help both Stoneham and Winchester bounce back from the economic hardships that have accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic and will boost economic drivers in our communities

For Stoneham, I successfully amended the legislation to add language authorizing the expenditure of $1 million for the planning, development and operations of a regional transit system that will provide “last mile” service for Stoneham residents and will bring mass transit options throughout Stoneham and neighboring communities such as Winchester, Woburn, Melrose and Wakefield. This authorization builds on previous authorizations I secured in the amounts of $2 million (H4547) and $1 million (H4732) for this important initiative. I also included authorization of $75,000 for the Stoneham Historical Society for technological upgrades to improve remote accessibility to its collection.

For Winchester, I secured an authorization of $1,000,000 specifically for the further planning and redevelopment of the downtown commuter rail corridor. If the Governor agrees to appropriate these authorized funds to the town, we will use them to capitalize on the much-awaited rebuild of the Winchester Center Commuter Rail station scheduled to start in the coming months. I also successfully amended the legislation to authorize $75,000 in funding for the Winchester Historical Society for its own technological upgrades that will improve remote accessibility to its collection and meetings.

Finally, I was pleased to work with my colleagues to secure the authorization of $12,500,000 for future appropriation for Zoo New England, the non-profit corporation that operates the Stone Zoo. When I first took office, I worked closely with Senator Jason Lewis, community leaders and the directors and staff of Zoo New England to preserve the accreditation status of the Stone Zoo. We prevailed on the Baker Administration to appropriate more than $3 million in MassWorks funding to the Stone Zoo, which allowed Zoo New England to unlock millions of dollars in private contributions. I am confident that this authorization signals even brighter days ahead for the Stone Zoo, which is a treasure in our community.

Economic Development Bill Includes Relief For Restaurants

July 31, 2020/in News, Uncategorized /by Dan Hudson

Back in May, I drafted and filed HD5054, An Act Relative to Restaurant Delivery Commissions in an effort to address some of the most pressing challenges our restaurant industry faced as a result of the COVID-19 State of Emergency. My bill capped the fees third-party food delivery services could charge to restaurants during the COVID-19 state of emergency.

As we all know too well, the restaurant industry (overwhelmingly family-operated and run by small business owners) has taken a devastating hit due to safety restrictions necessitated by this virus. Most of the restaurants in our towns are dine-in establishments and have struggled in their transition to take-out service. As a result, many have turned to contracting with online third-party food delivery services in an attempt to stay afloat. Unfortunately, on top of the drastic drop in revenues, the restaurants also had to deal with fees upwards of 30% from the third-party delivery vendors, essentially wiping out the small margins the restaurants made on take-out. My legislation addressed this by imposing a temporary cap on these fees to allow restaurants the time needed to make the transition to take-out service.

The House passed my bill as part of a larger restaurant relief measure in early June. Unfortunately, the Senate did not take this part of the legislation up when it passed a scaled-down restaurant relief bill in July.

However, with the overwhelming support of my colleagues, I successfully amended H4879 to once again include my portion of the restaurant relief bill. The bill is now in conference committee, where negotiators from the House and the Senate are attempting to iron out differences in the two economic development bills they each passed. I am hopeful that the Senate will agree to include this important restaurant relief measure in the final conference committee recommendations.

The bill also includes important provisions for the redevelopment of vacant and underutilized spaces for housing and economic development, increased availability of grants for municipalities to support women, minority, and veteran owned businesses, and a change to the statewide authorization of local zoning laws that will enable a city or town to adopt local zoning changes by majority vote instead of the current system requiring a ¾ vote. You can find the House bill HERE.

Passing The House Police Reform Bill

July 31, 2020/in Events, News /by Dan Hudson

On July 24th, by a vote of 93-66 the House passed H4860, the long-awaited police reform bill focused around use of force standards, the limiting of qualified immunity and the establishment of a P.O.S.T board, that will be used to mandate training for law enforcement officers in addition to the certification and de-certification of departments and officers.

I was present on the House floor for most of the nearly week-long debate, and helped deliver some of the final remarks in support of the bill. Video of my full address to the House is available below, as well as an amended version of my remarks.

“Throughout this debate, we engaged. We listened. We learned. We listened again. We acted.

To our professionals in law enforcement, thank you for all that you do. You are the ones we ask to put yourselves in harm’s way, to run into danger and not away from it. You are the ones who we entrust with the greatest responsibility in our Commonwealth. You are the ones given the authority and the power of the state to apprehend, to detain, to arrest, to protect and to ensure the peace. Because of that power, you are the ones who must and do hold yourself to higher standards than any other resident or professional in Massachusetts.

We owe it to you and all of the residents of the Commonwealth to ensure that your standards of conduct are clear, uniform and reflect reality. That is why I rise for the final time on this bill, to urge my colleagues in this Great and General Court to join me in voting for this legislation before us tonight.

We have debated many aspects of this bill, which modernizes and creates statewide standards for the training and oversight of our law enforcement professionals. It strengthens accountability for bad actors and actions; it provides clear and bright lines of what is and what is not acceptable behavior and it implements uniform and modern standards of conduct. I have heard much said about this bill being punitive towards our law enforcement professionals simply because of an act that occurred 1,600 miles away that resulted in the casual and horrific murder of George Floyd.

That is false. This bill is not punitive. This bill isn’t about looking for reasons to de-certify our law enforcement professionals. This isn’t about weakening collective bargaining rights or stripping anyone of due process, and it certainly is not about punishing those who protect us every day. This bill holds harmless the overwhelming majority of our brave law enforcement professionals who hold themselves to the highest level of conduct and service.

It takes steps that our law enforcement professionals cannot take for themselves by making training and standards – created by law enforcement professionals themselves – uniform, transparent and fair.

These are steps that are necessary to restore a trust that is broken with a segment of our population that has cried out clearly with pleas for change.

We have been through much debate, much examination, much amending of this comprehensive bill. I believe that because of that open process, the end result of the House legislation is a step forward for our law enforcement professionals and our Commonwealth.

The House welcomed public input and discourse when we considered the drafting of this bill. All were welcome and invited to have input into these provisions. Many spoke, and all were heard.

One retired police captain wrote to share his thoughts about why a modernized and uniform standard of conduct is problematic. He wrote that the problem is not in the existing standards, the problem is – quote: “that a small percentage of officers apply force unreasonably.”

I agree 100% with that sentiment. That is the problem.

A small percentage of our law enforcement profession apply force unreasonably. This unreasonable application of force, done while claiming the authority of the state, by its very definition and nature results in the unwarranted deprivation of life and liberty and certainly the pursuit of happiness guaranteed by our constitution and it must be addressed.

Our job as legislators is to correct the course when our government institutions become sclerotic. We must act when the systems and rules these government institutions created – or that we as a people have created for them – do not guarantee the accountability we must expect. We must act when there is a disconnect between policies, perceptions and actions.

With this legislation, we are not attacking our law enforcement professionals. We are taking steps today to standardize and modernize police training, standards of conduct and oversight. These steps will ensure that our law enforcement professionals can truly root out those in their ranks who do not hold themselves to the highest standards of conduct to which the vast majority of officers adhere.The vast majority of our officers do indeed hold themselves to the highest standard of conduct and behavior. However, that small percentage of officers that retired captain spoke of – those who apply force unreasonably – have been stubbornly difficult to remove from service.

As the Chair pointed out in her opening remarks, 99.9% of model conduct just isn’t good enough. I am 100% positive our law enforcement professionals agree. Every single one of them I have spoken to does.

So why are we here? It’s not just because of the murder of George Floyd, although that barbaric and unlawful act was certainly a flash point that lit a nationwide tinderbox that has been filling for generations. We are here, in essence, because every one of us in this chamber and listening elsewhere have heard about “the talk.”

We have heard about the talk that black parents have with their children about how to prepare for encounters with law enforcement and how to make sure those encounters do not turn deadly.

This is not a talk I have ever had with my sons. Without a doubt, my wife and I have talked to our sons about the importance of respecting those that serve us, but we have never talked with them about thinking how to protect their lives when they interact with the police. That is not a fear we have. Yet I have listened, perhaps more intently in the past few months than I ever have before – and I know that “the talk” is commonplace in our communities of color. Think about that for a moment.

That talk – the result of fearing that your child’s encounter with law enforcement could result in harm to your child – is commonplace in our communities of color. Whether you agree that the fear is grounded in reality or think it is misplaced is irrelevant. That talk happens all the time. And because of that fact alone, we know a sacred trust is broken.

And so we as legislators must now act to begin the long, long overdue work of repairing that trust. The work of setting a bright line of standardized conduct, and the good work of partnering with our law enforcement professionals to help them do what they want to do: hold accountable those who violate their sworn duties to protect and serve.This bill is not perfect. I would be hard pressed to say anything we pass is perfect, but it is the right bill. It is progress, and it is time.

The great author Toni Morrison once said, “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again.”
Well the time for explaining is past.

We have listened. We have learned, and we have debated and we have voted on changes.

Now we must act.

I urge you to join me in voting in favor of this bill.

Throughout this debate, we engaged. We listened. We learned. We listened again. We acted.