A new state legislative session has begun on Beacon Hill and over 6,500 bills were filed as of the February 19 bill filing deadline. The Dana-Farber Legislative Action Network (LAN) is proud to announce the eight bills that represent our priorities for the 2021-2022 state legislative session. While there will be additional bills beyond these eight that we advocate for, these represent the top priorities, many of which were chosen by our grassroots LAN members.
The state legislative priorities include:
- HD2533/SD2099 - An Act Relative to Telehealth and Digital Equity
- HD1235/SD607 - An Act Relative to Breast Cancer Equity and Early Detection
- HD2044/SD2284 - An Act Regarding the Pediatric Palliative Care Program
- HD2945/SD1909 - An Act to Ensure Equitable Access to Health Coverage for Children with Disabilities
- HD2562/HD3518/ SD1241 - An Act Improving Medical Decision Making
- HD2277/SD1072 - An Act Relative to Preserving Fertility
- HD2441/SD1906 - An Act Promoting Housing Stability and Homelessness Prevention
- SD1015/HD1500 - An Act Improving Public Health through a Common Application for Core Food, Health and Safety-net Programs.
Our first ask of our advocates this session is to select a bill or two that you are most passionate about and contact your State Representative and State Senator and ask them to sign onto the bill as a legislative co-sponsor. To learn more about each of these bills, visit our website at www.dana-farber.org/advocacy. Once on the site, click on any one of the bills listed to get more detailed information about the bill. Each bill also has an action alert or guided step-by-step instructions on how to send an email or place a phone call to your Massachusetts State Representative and State Senator to ask them to become a co-sponsor of the bill. Finally, there is also an option on the website to share the action alert via social media once you have taken action.
In addition to announcing our new state legislative priorities, the LAN is proud to announce a new quarterly educational program called Advocacy Rounds. Advocacy Rounds is free and open to all LAN members and provides an opportunity for advocates to learn more about LAN legislative priorities and how we can take action to advance those priorities using our voices and personal stories. We invite you join us on Tuesday, March 2 from 2:00 - 3:00 pm for our inaugural Advocacy Rounds program. To register for the Advocacy Rounds Zoom webinar click here.