The MA House recently passed several bills, including:
– LEGISLATION establishing guidance around BOOK BANS IN MA — S2726, An Act regarding free expression EXPLICITLY SUPPORTS OUR STATE’S PUBLIC LIBRARIES as they deal with an increasing number of BOOK CHALLENGES:
“Rep. Garballey said, I rise in support of S 2726. This bill looks to explicitly support our state’s libraries as they deal with an increasing number of book challenges. A book challenge is a formal process that is opened when issue is taken with the appropriateness of a book in a library’s collection. These challenges can lead to the banning of certain books, authors and in the darkest parts of our history, censorship over entire subject matters. I am sure many of you have seen some of the news over the past few years relating to book banning. When I first heard about these book challenges a few years ago, I assumed, like many, that these were efforts being fought in other states. We wouldn’t be banning books unnecessarily in the commonwealth. Not in the home of the first public library, not in the place with the strongest universities in the world. Unfortunately, this hope wasn’t true.”
– TWO BILLS dealing with the REGULATION of so-called HOT WORK like welding, cutting, brazing or other flame-producing operations. The House passed S1646, An Act relative to violation of regulation regarding hot work processes, as well as legislation to ADOPT THE RECOMMENDATIONS of the Kennedy-Walsh Commission report. Michael Kennedy and Ed Walsh were two firefighters who died in a 2014 fire at Beacon St that started from a welder who disregarded fire safety code:
“Rep. Ryan of Boston said,This bill would codify recommendations from the Walsh-Kennedy report. It would help align Massachusetts fire safety code with the national fire safety organization. This bill is a public safety bill. It protects all of us. It’s also a workplace safety bill for everyone in the building trades. This ensures that when people walk onto a job they’re surrounded by well-trained tradespeople.”
– A SUPPLEMENTAL (H.5493) to address time-sensitive deficiencies, including REIMBURSING cities and TOWNS FOR SNOW AND ICE REMOVAL.
“Rep. Michlewitz of Boston said, This is smaller than some recent spending bills, under $220 million, but a lot of these costs are to reimburse cities and towns from the terrible winter we just had. $159 million in snow and ice costs. It’s hard to believe that terrible February storm was just four months ago.”
