Looking back at news of the week, the Massachusetts House and Senate passed a long-awaited policing reform bill. The compromise legislation would, for the first time, create an independent, civilian-led commission to standardize the certification, training and decertification of police officers.
It would ban the use of chokeholds and limit the use of deadly force, among other provisions.
The bill also makes some small changes to the controversial topic of qualified immunity — which protects police officers in civil lawsuits — and promises more study on the matter.
Panelist Carrie Saldo said the vote tally to pass the legislation, 92 to 67, wasn't as far apart as some people thought.
"It wasn't an overwhelming majority in the House, anyway, who passed this bill," Saldo said. "And there are plenty of Republicans who don't love it."
State Representative Hanna Kane of Shrewsbury is among them, Saldo said.
"She really thinks the bill goes too far," she said. "She's worried that it's going to make an already very difficult job for law enforcement officers even more difficult."
Panelist Larry Parnass said powerful police union opposition could bring legal challenges to the legislation.
"They're aggressive in their opposition to this," Parnass said of police unions, "calling it 'micromanaging' of police, and a 'cruel swipe,' was one of the phrases they used."
But Parnass said the bill takes a "pretty moderate stance."
"I think it's fundamentally hard to oppose the creation of this new standards and training commission," he said, "because it's in use in so many other states. ...So I think in time, this is going to go forward."
Also this week, Holyoke, Massachusetts, Mayor Alex Morse announced he's not running for reelection next year. He will have held the job for a decade if he serves out the rest of his term — and he said he felt like 10 hyears was "a long enough period of time to make a difference, to leave a lasting impact."
Morse became Holyoke's youngest and first openly-gay mayor when he was first elected at 22.
Meanwhile, some state lawmakers said there isn't enough COVID-19 testing capacity, especially in western Massachusetts.
State Representative Mindy Domb of Amherst is asking Massachusetts Governor Baker for pop-up testing sites in every county of the state, run by the National Guard.
"I think my tipping point was hearing reports from constituents that they waited, like, two to three hours to get tested, or they had gone down to the site, and they were turned away, because the site was closed because of the capacity," Domb said.
When asked about Domb's proposal, Baker said he needs a better sense of post-Thanksgiving testing demand.
We wrap up our look back at the week with some of our panelists' recent reporting: A deadly COVID-19 outbreak at a Pittsfield, Massachusetts, nursing home; anda funding crunch impacting child care in Worcester.
Guests:
- Carrie Saldo, Worcester bureau reporter, WGBH News
- Larry Parnass, investigations editor, The Berkshire Eagle
