State House Update: Recap of BBA Legislative Priorities as Formal Session Ends
As you know, each legislative session, we advocate on a range of issues, including family law, criminal justice reform, and civil rights. One of our big priorities this year was Criminal Justice Reform, and you can read a recap of where that ended up here. As usual, this year ended with some highs and lows. Keep reading to learn more about the good, and not-so-good, news, and a forecast for our advocacy in the years ahead!
Budget
As mentioned last week, we are very pleased with the action taken by the Legislature on our priorities in the final FY19 budget, which saw a significant increase in funding for civil legal aid through the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC), full-funding for complete statewide expansion of the Housing Court and the important Tenancy Preservation Program that court provides, strong appropriations for both the trial court and CPCS, and even inclusion of an outside section that offers a long-overdue step to provide access to justice for vulnerable immigrant youth.
For the full wrap up on the budget, visit our past Issue Spot blog. Since then, we’re happy to report that the legislature overrode the governor’s veto that would have reduced the residential re-entry services funding by half. Instead, the Legislature restored that appropriation to the full $5 million.
Civics Education:
As we reported last week, the Legislature passed a BBA-endorsed bill that would require the inclusion of civics education in all public schools. You can learn more about the language of the bill here. We are grateful the House and Senate both recognized how important it is that our next generation is armed with a thorough and equal understanding of civics, including the role of the oft-misunderstood judicial branch, and we hope the Governor will sign this bill soon
UCCJEA
Two of our top legislative priorities this year involved Massachusetts adoption of uniform laws, including our support for adoption of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). Although the Senate adopted a version of the UCCJEA, the House did not act on it before the clock ran out on formal legislative sessions late on the evening of July 31. However, we are hopeful that this legislation will be passed by the House during the informal sessions to be held the rest of this year, and then sent to the Governor for his approval—which would make Massachusetts the 50th (sic!) state to join this compact, which preserves each state’s jurisdiction over custody matters, even when the custodial parent and child move to a new state.
RUFADAA
The second uniform law we advocated for this Session is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA). Unfortunately, this was effectively sidelined for the year before the end of session, and we will spend the remainder of 2018 laying the groundwork for our continued advocacy on it when the Legislature reconvenes in January. Until legislation is adopted to clarify the rights of personal representatives to access electronic accounts of those who have died or become incapacitated, practitioners in this area will have to continue to grapple with existing uncertainty.
Financial Literacy:
Unfortunately, the financial literacy legislation which the BBA Council endorsed earlier this year also failed to make it through the Legislature, despite having broad support and passing the Senate in March. Of course, we will continue to operate in this space beyond the State House, as we enter our 14th year hosting the M. Ellen Carpenter Financial Literacy Program, and we will continue to push for these important provisions next Session, to expand student access to education on these invaluable skills that will help ensure their future financial outlook.
Conversion Therapy:
In a particularly disappointing last-minute series of events, the legislation that would ban the use of so-called conversion therapy on minors by licensed health care professionals failed to be adopted in the formal session. We first endorsed this legislation in 2015, and were hopeful, after it failed to pass in the prior session, that this year would finally be the year that Massachusetts joined the 14 other states and Washington, D.C., with these important protections. The Bill passed the House, and in the final hours of the Session, a version passed the Senate. The Senate version, however, was not identical to the House, and there was not time for the differences to be reconciled. We join advocates in expressing a deep disappointment that the Commonwealth has failed again to protect our LGBTQ+ youth from these harmful practices. You can be sure we will continue calling on the Legislature to adopt this important ban.
—Alexa Daniel
Legislative and Public Policy Manager
Boston Bar Association
