NOTE: These bills are moot. The 2015-16 formal legislative session ended in July 2016. The next 18-month session starts in January 2017, and we will update this page with bills we support for justice and corrections reform.
2015 Massachusetts Proposed Legislation
Here is an action letter of 6 bills EMIT endorses. Offer it to voters to sign and send to their state representatives. It’s short, simple and to the point. Feel free to photo copy and distribute widely.
Find fact sheets for each bill here.
Felony Larceny fact sheets, to increase the threshold from $250 set in the 1980s to $1500 to keep pace with inflation and designate minor crimes as misdemeanors.
LARCENY FACT SHEET – SENATE 2176 (revised 3.21.16)
Felony Fifty State Comparison(1)
JNJ Budget Proposal To provide job training and job development, assist in re-entry, and prevent recidivism for formerly incarcerated people. The Justice Reinvestment Act, S.64 and H 1429 designate funding for the bill. Legislators can increase the $1 M proposed in Governor’s House 2 Budget, 7003-1050, Demonstration Workforce Development Program to $10 M and add language, further below to further insure effective uses of the funding.
SD1417 Medical Placement of Terminal and Incapacitated Inmates
Lead sponsors: Senator Pat Jehlen and Representative Tim Toomey
Lead advocate: Prisoners’ Legal Services
SD1065/HD2592 Solitary Confinement Reform
Lead sponsors: Senator Jamie Eldridge and Representative Liz Malia
Lead advocate: Prisoners’ Legal Services
HD2073 Collect Data on Use of Solitary Confinement
Lead sponsor: Representative Russell Holmes
Lead advocate: Prisoners’ Legal Services
Lead sponsors: Senator Pat Jehlen and Representative Russell Holmes
Lead advocate: Families for Justice as Healing
Section I: Reducing Certain Low Level Felonies to Misdemeanors
Section III: Ending the Drug War at the RMV
SD968/HD2809 Youth Record Expungement
Lead sponsors: Senator Karen Spilka and Representative Kay Khan
Lead advocate: Teens Leading the Way
SD1620/HD3268 Juvenile justice Omnibus
Lead sponsors: Senator Karen Spilka and Representative Kay Khan
HD3436 An Act to Legalize and Regulate Marijuana
Lead sponsors: Senator Pat Jehlen and Representative Dave Rogers
HD3227 Presumptive Parole
Lead sponsor: Representative Dave Rogers
Lead advocate: Prisoners’ Legal Services
HD1059 Parole Board Changes
Lead sponsor: Representative Ruth Balser
Lead advocate: Prisoners’ Legal Services
HD1679 Ensuring Mental Health Services in State Prisons
Lead sponsor: Representative Ruth Balser
Lead advocate: Prisoners’ Legal Services
HD792 Access to Substance Abuse Services in Prisons and Jails
Lead sponsor: Representative Ruth Balser
Lead advocate: Prisoners’ Legal Services
Lead sponsors: Senator Kenneth Donnelly and Representative Tom Sannicandro
Lead advocate: The Massachusetts Bail Fund & Pretrial Working Group
SD1770/HD1921 Eliminate Mandatory Minimums Related to Drug Offenses
Lead sponsors: Senator Cynthia Stone Creem and Representative Benjamin Swan
Lead advocate: Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Massachusetts
SD1874/HD3425 Justice Reinvestment Act
Lead sponsors: Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz and Representative Mary Keefe
Lead advocate: Jobs Not Jails
