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Date: 5/17/2022
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY – Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester District state Sen. Jo Comerford hosted her fifth report-back in her second term called “The People’s Town Hall with Sen. Jo Comerford” on Zoom on May 11.
Comerford discussed her team’s work, grants she’s secured, the budget, hosted a question and answer session and more for over an hour. Comerford wasn’t sure how many people tuned in, but said that 387 had signed up to attend.
The meeting featured live interpretation in both English and Spanish as well as options for subtitles. It was broadcast on cable access stations and multiple YouTube channels and is now on her website and social media.
“We’ll continue to be sharing it because we think of this event as an act of transparency and accountability,” Comerford said. “If there’s one thing we get from this terrible time, it’s that we should use technology to crack open democracy. That’s it.”
Comerford showed a list of highlights from what she helped secure in the fiscal year 2022 (FY22) budget. In addition to $3 million for grants to local boards of health, they also allocated $110,000 for children’s advocacy centers in Hampshire, Franklin and North Quabbin counties. A sum of $150,000 went toward pediatric sexual assault nurse examiner services, $90k for the town of Amherst’s Crisis Response Efforts, and $422,000 to establish a Safe Havens shelter program in Hampshire and Franklin Counties.
The first installment of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds included $7.5 million for regional storm damage disaster relief, $1.5 million for the Water and Energy Testing Center at UMass Amherst, $370,000 for Rural Development Inc. to develop more affordable housing, $128,000 for supporting housing individuals with complex needs in Northampton, and $25k to Craig’s Doors in Amherst to prevent homelessness.
“The Water and Energy Testing Center is one of the best places on UMass’ campus,” Comerford said. “They are the only place in the Eastern Seaboard looking and studying and mitigating and teaching people about PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances). PFAS is a class of 9,000 people-made chemicals. They are in our water all around us and we need UMass Amherst to be strong.”
Comerford addressed the multitude of committees she is appointed to every session, as well as the councils, task forces, and caucuses that she works for and with. Comerford is currently the chair of the Public Health and the COVID-19 and Emergency Management and Preparedness committees. She serves as vice-chair on the Joint Committee on Higher Education and is a member on three other committees.
“My job in the senate is to make sure we learn the lessons of this brutal (coronavirus) pandemic and emerge from the pandemic stronger, smarter, more equitable,” Comerford said. “That’s along everything you can think of from first responders to how we can best serve our public health in our cities and towns.”
Comerford’s district experienced a shift which she addressed early in the meeting.
“In the next session we will lose three communities; Colrain, Whately and South Hadley. We’re going to pick up Petersham, Athol, Winchendon and Ashburnham. I’m proud that the senators in the Western Mass. region fought to keep our senate seat so we didn’t lose a seat through redistricting. It just meant in order to get the population which is going to go up to about 170,000 people per senator, we had to push north and east.”
Legislation Comerford highlighted included various funding from ARPA, the Votes Act, the Mental Health Bill, the PACT Act, an additional COVID-19 supplemental budget, regulating veterans’ homes, the CROWN Act, two climate bills and approval of sports betting.
“The Votes Act is expanding access to the ballot, and it’s something I care deeply about,” Comerford said. “Things like same-day voter registration, vote by mail, early voting, and we worked with our town clerks who are the most intrepid humans to try to figure out how to right-size that work.
“The first climate bill at the beginning of the session was a bill that I call the ‘Amherst bill,’ it was a bill to ensure that we had a net-zero building code inserted into stretch codes,” she continued. “If you’re a green community and you use a stretch code, hopefully soon, you will be building using net-zero and there are people in Amherst and Northampton who have made me so smart about this and I’m deeply humbled because it is quite complicated to get this right and I’m going to stay in it on behalf of the district.”
To close the meeting, Comerford answered questions rapid-fire that were submitted throughout the meeting. The full session is available on the Jo Comerford, Amherst Media, or Northampton Open Media YouTube channels.
One resident asked, “What’s your stance on safe-consumption sites?”
Comerford replied, “I am public in support of safe-consumption sites. I believe in them like I believe in needle exchanges, like I believe in fentanyl testing strips. They meet people where they are, they’re harm-reduction methodologies, and they work – research proves they work.”
Another attendee asked, “I’m wondering how likely it is for your bill H.1246, an act protecting the homes of seniors and disabled people on MassHealth, if it will finally pass and how long it might take?”
“This bill came out of a constituent case. If you are over 55 and receiving services because of MassHealth, in Mass. our laws up until recently, were more draconian than many other states. We reclaimed or recovered the estates of the people who are deceased after they’ve received MassHealth services. That is horrific to me. We do way more than the federal government says we have to do. Last year, we met with MassHealth and said, ‘What’s up? How can we do this? We’re recovering more of the estate. That doesn’t allow for any kind of general wealth and passing it on, it’s really destabilizing for people who’ve just lost a loved one. Why aren’t we doing the minimum? Just what the federal government tells us we have to do. We send the money to the federal government anyway, why take it from our people?’ They made some changes, but they didn’t go far enough so the bill is back. We’re going to keep pushing on this,” Comerford said.
Another speaker asked, “Could you please share what is being done to systemically address racial gaps in schools, income and homeownership? What can towns do better advocating for systemic changes for social and racial equity?”
Comerford said, “There’s a number of state investments from ARPA and from the budget that are in schools currently. We passed something called the Student Opportunity Act in 2019, before that a kid’s zip code would determine the quality of that kid’s education, right? A civil and human rights travesty, so we continue to invest more and more and more. It’s not enough yet. We’re investing more money in special education and in transportation. We’re investing more money to cover the impact of charter school mitigation funds, now that’s not enough. Thanks to great advocacy from this district, we’ll begin to make some meaningful investments in early childcare. We also have to increase the diversity and capacity of teacher workforces, which is also a bill proposition I support.”
Another participant asked, “Is there anything in the pipeline to assist homeowners to transition from heating oil furnaces to green heating and cooling?”
Comerford responded, “We have set the climate bill that was signed into law at the beginning of this session sets a net-zero commonwealth by 2050. The building sector and the transportation sector are the two biggest emitters. We have to get real in terms of the costs its going to take to bring homes and businesses and schools and hospitals and university campuses like UMass wants to do to bring them to net zero. There is a tiny bit of money relative to the enormity of need in the senate.”