From Senator Pat Jehlen ...all the work remaining in the last weeks of session. We're making progress.

 https://mailchi.mp/electpatjehlen/everything-at-once-1-tuesday?e=b54498e434

Dear Neighbor, Two weeks ago, I wrote to you about all the work remaining in the last weeks of session.  We're making progress.   Yesterday, we passed the bill, after a conference committee of the House and Senate resolved differences in the versions from each house.  We also passed a bill authorizing bonds for general government, as well as my bill on pooled special needs trusts for older people (described below) and other bills.  As usual, I'll assume you read the news, and I'll focus on my own efforts on each bill. Lots more work and more reports later this week! Reproductive Rights  The picture on the left summarizes the question at the heart of the debate on abortion.  It's from a video by a Texas group, Mothers Against Greg Abbott.  The dramatization helps explain why someone might need and choose an abortion later in pregnancy. In the past few weeks, in response to the Dobbs decision, the Massachusetts House and Senate passed very similar bills to expand protections for reproductive and gender-affirming care.  The bills differed mostly on when abortions could be performed later in pregnancy.  The final bill would prevent cooperation with ‘bounty-style’ anti-abortion and anti-gender-affirming care laws in other states, mandate health insurance coverage for abortion and abortion-related care with no cost-sharing, ensure access to emergency contraception, and provide confidentiality to providers of reproductive and gender-affirming care. My amendment, which I worked on with Senators Friedman, Comerford and Rausch, clarified when abortions would be allowed later in pregnancy.  It reiterated the criteria for such abortions and prohibits any medical review process  from overriding any decision patient and the treating physician.  We heard of cases where patients had to leave the state, including this Globe article by Katie Dineen.   We hope our language, which is included in the final bill, will convince the governor to sign the bill.  It's important not only for Massachusetts women but for women who will be coming here because of new restrictions in other states. This provision was especially important to me because of a constituent who told me her story, which I shared in my floor speech.  (You can watch at the link, at 1:34:14.) When she was 35 weeks pregnant, and looking forward to the birth, my constituent learned that her fetus had brain anomalies. She was not expected to walk, talk, support the weight of her head, or swallow.  Here's what she told me on the phone: "I asked my doctor will she just be able to sleep all the time?  Will she just be sleeping all the time? And he said, babies like your baby are not comfortable enough to sleep. What would have happened to her baby had it been born? ... My daughter would have died...quickly considering that she couldn't coordinate swallowing and that they did not know if she would be able to coordinate a heartbeat or breathing out of the womb."  At the time, her hospital sent her to Colorado for an abortion. If she went today, the wait list in Colorado is five weeks. No one should face that situation.   I hope the governor will sign this bill.  If he waits to amend or veto, we will not have time to override it, as we did with the ROE Act.  In that case, we will have to wait till next year to pass this important legislation. Protecting Special Needs Trusts for Seniors My bill to protect special needs trusts for older people passed the Senate yesterday; it already passed the House.  I hope the governor will sign this bill too. The bill would ensure that current state policy continues, allowing disabled senior citizens to use special needs pooled trusts to pay for important services not covered by MassHealth.  These trusts allow people with disabilities to establish special needs trusts to preserve some assets, while still qualifying for MassHealth.  The trusts can’t be used for trips to Florida or buying a second home.  They can only be used for items allowed by Medicaid rules, such as home care, transportation, clothing, personal needs and household items.  These relatively small expenditures can help people live independently in the community and avoid the risk of nursing home placement.  If they are in a nursing home, the trust can provide simple necessities like shoes or small gifts for grandchildren. Pooled trusts are an efficient way for people with disabilities to establish these small trusts, with a nonprofit administrator to manage them.  When the beneficiary dies, any remaining assets are returned to the state.  Each year, millions of dollars are returned from these trusts. The administration has proposed regulations to disallow these trusts for people with disabilities who are over 65.  The bill would protect the ability to form such trusts. Here is an example of someone who could benefit from a pooled trust:  A 77-year-old widow lives alone.  She suffers a moderately severe stroke that leaves her partially paralyzed, unable to walk.  She has a good chance of recovery, but it will take up to a year of rehab.  She applies for MassHealth, but is denied because she has more than $2,000 in assets.  She needs her $80,000 in savings to pay taxes, insurance and utilities for her home while she's in rehab, so she'll have that home to return to.  Without a pooled trust, the cost of rehab will consume almost all her savings and income before she can qualify for MassHealth.  She will lose the home and join the long list of older people needing subsidized housing, a rest home, or nursing home at taxpayer expense. General Government Bond Bill Yesterday we also passed the conference committee bill authorizing $5 billion in borrowing to fund construction projects related to health care, higher education, information technology, workforce development, the environment, affordable housing, and more.  The bill also includes a moratorium on the construction of new prisons in Massachusetts, although it permits repairs and renovations that don't increase capacity.  Many constituents have written in support of the moratorium. The bill includes $4 million in authorization for design to raise the Amelia Earhart Dam.  The dam currently provides significant protection from coastal flooding to seven upstream communities. Without this and other investments, in the coming 10 to 20 years, major coastal storms are expected to flank and overtop the dam, with billions in real estate and tens of thousands of residents in harm’s way.  This investment will help unlock tens of millions of dollars in federal aid to protect our communities.  For more on these efforts, see the Resilient Mystic Collaborative.  Thanks to fellow members of the Mystic River Caucus, Senators DiDomenico, Edwards, and Friedman, for support on this and other projects to protect the Lower Mystic area. Other Important bills passed yesterday Constituents have also advocated for other important bills passed yesterday.  They include bills - the Step Therapy bill would provide patient protections for when fail first protocols can be used  - the "Beagle Bill" would give dogs and cats used in research labs a chance to be adopted as a pet once their time in a research laboratory has come to an end We're back in session tomorrow, and hope to be able to act on other priority bills! Stay cool and stay in touch, Pat Jehlen

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