State Advocacy

S.141 / H.265 (Sen. Kennedy; Rep. Mendes)

Expands the role and function of Family Resource Centers to support more children and families outside of the court process; changes the Juvenile Court Child Requiring Assistance (CRA) filing process to ensure the court is a true “last resort”; and raises the lower age of Juvenile Court jurisdiction for CRA filings from 6 to 12. (Leads include CMHC). OCA Fact Sheet.  

Why is this bill important?:

• Currently, the CRA process provides an opportunity to bring together professionals from multiple state agencies, service providers, and/or advocates to identify needed supports for a child.
  • While valuable, there is no reason it has to happen in a court room, after a petition has been filed. This bill would move this process to the FRCs and ensure that it occurs prior to court involvement. There are 33 FRCs across the state, and they have been found to be extremely effective at supporting families and children with their concerns and helping them to address challenges.
• Families are frequently referred to the CRA court process - before a family has had the opportunity to engage with an FRC or other community services - by educators, therapists, social workers, and doctors who are often unaware of the limited response options available to the Juvenile Court or even what the CRA process entails –including the fact that a family may lose custody of their child through this process.
  • This bill would require that a probation officer help the family connect to community services, including a local FRC, and determine that all community-based options have been exhausted by the petitioner prior to the filing of a CRA petition - ensuring that the court process is reserved as a true last resort.
  • Further, the bill requires school districts to refer a family to an FRC at least 45 days prior to filing a CRA petition and clarifies that schools shall not initiate a CRA petition to address responsibilities that fall within the schools’ legal responsibility under federal and state law.
• Raising the age of Juvenile Court jurisdiction from 6 to 12 is more developmentally appropriate, better aligned with our delinquency system, and not a heavy lift, as about 5-6% of CRA filings annually are for youth under the age of 12.

STATUS: Referred to Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities (hearing 7/8/2025)

SPONSORS
House: Mendes, Blais, Montaño, Higgins, DuBois, Sena, Holmes
Senate: Kennedy

S.118 / H.214 (Sen. DiDomenico; Rep. Decker)  

Raises the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC) benefit available to very low-income families by 20% a year until grants reach 50% of the federal poverty level. (Lead: Lift Our Kids Coalition, e.g., GBLS, MLRI and CLM)

FACT SHEET

STATUS: Referred to Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities (hearing: 9/16/2025); S.118 to SWM (10/20/25)

SPONSORS:
House:

Senate:

S.2399 / H.3750 (Sen. Kennedy; Rep. O’Day)

Creates a process for a person who is homeless or an unaccompanied homeless youth to apply for a state identification card and waive fees. (Leads include MA Coalition for the Homeless, e.g., Breaktime and MA Appleseed) 

STATUS: Referred to Joint Committee on Transportation

SPONSORS
Senate: Kennedy, Keenan, Lovely, O'Connor, Tarr, DiDomenico, Montigny, Comerford, Velis, Eldridge, Gomez, Moore
House:

New draft: S.2622 (SWM) / H.3384 (HWM)

S.2125 / H.3384 (Sen. DiDomenico; Rep. Madaro & Rep. González)

Summary
Requires key public-facing state agencies to:

• offer interpretation services
• translate critical documents and information, including websites, applications, and email communications, into some of the most widely spoken languages
• hire full-time language access coordinators to help offices develop and carry out language access plans
• creates an advisory board with members of limited English-speaking communities, the deaf or hard of hearing community, and advocates to aid the state in implementing the law.

Why we need it

By building state agencies' capacity to meet language access needs of an increasingly diverse population, the Commonwealth will help break down key barriers that make it far too difficult for limited English proficient speakers to access even the most basic services. Inadequate and inconsistent language access at state agencies routinely results in delays and denials of crucial services, such as emergency shelter or food stamps, simply due to communication barriers. From housing, to child welfare, to domestic violence – if we don’t address language discrimination at the agencies providing essential resources, we are leaving hundreds of thousands of families behind. 

FACT SHEET

Leads include Mass Speaks Coalition, MLRI & MA Appleseed

STATUS History: House Rules reported it favorably to HWM (10/20/25); after it was listed as having "Accompanied a study order, see H.4564"; Reported Favorably by Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight (hearing: 7/22/2025) to Committee on Joint Rules, then House Rules

- new draft S.2622; reported favorably from State Administration and Regulatory Oversight to SWM (10/6/2025)

SPONSORS:
House: Madaro, González, Montaño, Uyterhoeven, Chan, Nguyen, Owens, Garcia, Hong, Higgins, Holmes, Brady, Moakley, Ultrino, Domb, Sabadosa, Sousa, Badger, Whipps, Cabral, Connolly, LeBoeuf, Garballey, Sena, Arena-DeRosa, Davis, Gallagher, Decker, Reid, Galvin, Hendricks, Stanley, Edwards, Reyes, Gentile
Senate: DiDomenico, Lewis, Eldridge, Comerford, Keenan, Brady, Gómez, Miranda, Jehlen, Whipps, Lovely, Kennedy, Feeney, Edwards, Driscoll, Jr., Payano, Howard

S.855 / H.1403 (Sen. DiDomenico; Rep. Arena-DeRosa)

Extends MassHealth benefits to children/young adults despite immigration status. (Lead: Cover All Kids Campaign, e.g., Health Care For All MA and CLM)

FACT SHEET

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLKIT

Status - Referred to Joint Committee on Health Care Financing (hearing: 7/15/2025)

SPONSORS
House: Rogers, Connolly, Decker, DiDomenico, Farley-Bouvier, Hendricks, Howard, Luddy, Montano, Moran, Reid, Sousa
Senate: DiDomenico, Kennedy, Jehlen

New Draft: H.4515

S.1051 / H.1695 (Sen. Creem; Rep. Fluker-Reid)

Summary:

• Expands list of offenses eligible for diversion (still prohibits diversion for offenses which would subject adults to mandatory incarceration of five+ years. 

Why it's needed:

• Expanding judicial diversion allows for a neutral party to decide if a youth and public safety are better served through alternatives to the juvenile justice system.
• The collateral consequences of court processing are harsh and long term. Through diversion, courts can still hold young people accountable without the risk of detention or adjudication.

(Lead: CFJJ) 

FACT SHEET

STATUS: New Draft H.4515 as of 9/22/2025 - referred to Joint Committee on the Judiciary (hearing 6/10/2025)

SPONSORS
House: Fluker-Reid, Uyterhoeven, Holmes, Higgins, Garballey, Montaño, Worrell, Moran, Mendes
Senate: Creem, Miranda, Keenan, DiDomenico, Eldridge

S.1058 / H.1657 (Sen. Creem; Rep. Decker)  

Summary:

• Expands list of offenses eligible for expungement, e.g., non-convictions/non-adjudications; incentivizes not re-offending; prohibits giving juvenile arrest fingerprints to FBI to prevent public availability.

Why It's Needed:

• States where there are minimal administrative barriers to sealing and/or expungement of juvenile records have significantly reduced re-arrest/recidivism rates and increased college graduation and incomes as these young people transition to adulthood.
• Further, there is overwhelming evidence that racial disparities at every stage of the legal system, and expungement is an important tool to rectify the over-policing and disparate treatment of people of color.

 (Lead: CFJJ) 

FACT SHEET

STATUS: Senate Bill referred to Senate Ways and Means 7/24/2025 by the Judiciary where the House bill sits (hearing held 6/10/2025)

SPONSORS
House: Decker, Vargas, Reyes, Higgins, Montaño
Senate: Creem, Keenan, Eldridge, Jehlen

S.1104 / H.1835 (Sen. Fernandez; Rep. Lewis)

Removes criminal penalties for underage sex involving consenting parties who are not more than two years apart and are at least 13 years old. For example, if a 16-year-old and a15-year-old have an intimate relationship, the older youth would not be subject to arrest, incarceration or a lifetime on a sex offender registry – as is the case today.

The bill does not change the laws that criminalize non-consensual or forcible sexual assaults by youth or consensual activity with a significantly older individual.

STATUS: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Hearing held 6/5/2025

SPONSORS
House: Lewis, Higgins
Senate: Fernandes, Moore, Eldridge

S.1054 / H.2028 (Sen. Creem; Rep. Vargas)  

Summary:

• Authorizes the Office of the Child Advocate to gather/report key demographic data at major decision points to better evaluate juvenile justice system policies or practices. 

Why it's needed:

• For too long, we have waited for transparency on how our legal system responds to children and youth.
• Transparency in legal system responses requires the reporting of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity data.
• Through the collection and reporting on race, ethnicity, and other data, we can see where/when disparities occur and identify policies and practices to reduce these disparities.

FACT SHEET

(Lead: CFJJ) 

STATUS: Referred to Joint Committee on the Judiciary - Hearing 6/10

SPONSORS
House: Vargas, Garballey, Higgins, Worrell, Moran
Senate: Creem, Eldridge, Miranda

New Draft: S2590

S.218 /H.1423 (Sen. DiDomenico, Rep.Barber & Rep.Kushmerek)

Counts supervision toward CE requirements, eliminates licensing tests at Masters level (LCSW) and secures funding for paid internships for MSW students to retain/grow number of providers and remove barriers. (Lead: National Association of Social Workers)

Why we need this bill now? To:

• Increase the number of mental health providers in the state to combat the severe shortage of behavioral health professionals and meet more of the demand.
• Remove barriers to entry, especially for linguistically diverse, individuals of color who cannot afford unpaid work.
• Incentivize social workers already in the field, bolstering our workforce.

More on the three key components:

• Provide Master’s level social work students with stipends for field placements.
• Remove the current exam at the non-clinical LCSW level for Master’s level social workers applying for licensure (other states, such as Rhode Island, have successfully removed the exam at the non-clinical level and have seen a 160% increase in new master’s level social workers).
• Allow LICSWs to receive continuing education credits for providing supervision to LCSWs, MSW and BSW interns.

Senate bill: Referred to Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure; Discharged to Higher Ed (new draft S2590) - hearing date: 7/18/2025
House bill: Referred to Joint Committee on Higher Education (hearing: 7/18/2025)

SPONSORS
House: Barber, Kushmerek, Ssabadosa, Arciero, Arena-DeRosa, Armini, Cataldo, Consalvo, Decker, DuBois, Feeney, Garballey, Higgins, Holmes, Honan, Howard, Kearney, Keefe, LeBoeuf, Madaro, Montaño, Moran, Nguyen, Owens, Philips, Reid, Reyes,Scarsdale,Sena,Shand,Stanley,Tyler,Ultrino, Uyterhoeven
Senate: DiDomenico, Comerford, Cruz, Feeney, Jehlen, Keenan, Kennedy, Eldridge, Driscoll, Jr., O'Connor, Lovely, Fernandes, Mark, Rausch

S.119 / H.283 (Sen. DiDomenico; Rep. Roy & Rep. Garballey)

Creates an education loan repayment program for certain eligible human service workers. (Lead: Provider’s Council)

• Direct Care I workers’ salaries are benchmarked to $20.79 an hour. MIT Living Wage calculator puts that figure for a single person with no children in Massachusetts at nearly $28 an hour.
• The lack of affordable higher education for human services workers and the burden of student debt greatly contribute to the sector’s recruitment and retention difficulties.
• In 2024, Massachusetts residents had a median monthly student loan payment of $226, the second highest in the nation.
• The one-time ARPA-funded student loan repayment program, launched in 2024, received requests totaling more than three times its $16.5 million allocation.

FACT SHEET (Provider's Council)

STATUS: Senate bill referred to Senate Ways and Means & House bill referred to House Ways and Means (History: reported favorably from Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities 6/26/25 after hearing 5/13/25).

SPONSORS
House:

Senate:

S.130 / H.223 (Sen. Friedman; Rep. Domb)

Sets a schedule to eliminate the pay disparity between the salaries of human services workers employed by community-based human service providers and state employees performing similar work. Lead: Provider’s Council - Fact Sheet.

Why do we need this bill?

• The largest purchaser of human services from community-based human services nonprofits is the Commonwealth.
• Model budgets often created by the Commonwealth for human services programs contain salaries that are lower - often drastically lower - than what the state pays for similar positions.
• The salary disparity amplifies the workforce crisis, making it even more difficult for community-based organizations to recruit/retain qualified workers in the sector which has nearly 160,000 jobs.
• When more jobs go unfilled, more programs are at risk of closing, and closing programs equates to a loss of services for vulnerable Massachusetts residents.

STATUS: Referred to Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities (hearing: 9/22/2025)

SPONSORS

House:

Senate: