Legislative Lookback:
2019 in Review
2019 in Review
From Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill, 2019 was filled with hard fought victories that dedicated advocates from the Legislative Advocacy Network (LAN) contributed to. See below for a run-down of a few of the victories.
Tobacco Prevention
Tobacco use is a well-known cause of many types of cancer. In 2018, the Massachusetts raised the age to purchase tobacco products from age 18 to 21 and late in 2019, the President signed the same proposal into federal law.
In 2019, state and federal elected officials acted quickly to address the vaping public health crisis. In Massachusetts a bill was signed into law restricting the sale of flavored tobacco products including mint and menthol flavored products. On the federal level the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took first steps to ban all e-cigarette flavors that come in cartridge form, with an exception for sales at vape shops.
Federal Research Funding
In December, the President signed a fiscal year 2020 spending package which included an increase of $2.6 billion in funding for National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a total of $41.1 billion, and an increase of $296.5 million in funding for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), for a total of 6.44 billion. In addition, $50 million was appropriated for the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative.
Improving Access to Care for Childhood Cancer Patients
In 2019, the federal Survivorship, Treatment, Access and Research (STAR) Act received $30 million to improve childhood cancer surveillance, improve quality of life for childhood cancer survivors and ensure pediatric expertise at NIH. In addition, $12.6 million was allocated for the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First) which is using large-scale data sources to help researchers uncover new insights into the biology of childhood cancer.
On the state level, there was a new focus put on children with medical complexity (CMC), such as children and young adults with cancer. To that end, the State Legislature passed a bill this year to conduct a comprehensive statewide study of CMCs to collect data on how the Commonwealth can improve access to resources, treatment and support for long term survivorship and improved quality of life.
Resolve to be an Advocate in 2020
Dana-Farber is such a special place and I am honored to be here to support the lifesaving mission and the amazing advocacy work of Dana-Farber, patients, families, caregivers and providers who are a part of the Legislative Action Network (LAN).
This calendar year ahead will be a busy one as we wrap up work on the current legislative priorities during the final year of the state and federal legislative work periods and start to look towards developing new priorities for the 2021-2022 session. This year will be an exciting time for members of the Dana- Farber community to advocate on existing bills and budget items while also looking towards the future and shaping the priorities in the years ahead. Also happening this year is the 2020 Census which has important implications for everything from cancer care to research. Future LAN newsletters, much like this one, will provide LAN members with updates from Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill, calls to action and opportunities to attend educational and advocacy events as well as stories from our LAN members about why they choose to be an advocate.
My hope is that you will resolve to be an advocate this year and partner with the LAN to advance priorities that will prevent cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families. To kick off this resolution, we are challenging current LAN members to share this newsletter with two people in your network and ask them to join us as well so that we can increase our LAN membership by 20 percent in 2020.
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