The Massachusetts House and Senate have passed different versions of bills changing the management structure for the two state-run veterans' homes. On Wednesday, the effort formally began to come up with compromise legislation, as lawmakers met to negotiate.
Some of the big differences between the bills surround how superintendents for the homes in Holyoke and Chelsea are hired, and whether to elevate the state's secretary of veterans services to a cabinet-level position.
Supporters of the elevation say it will make for a clearer chain-of-command. That was something investigations into the COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home found was lacking. Early in the pandemic, at least 76 veterans died testing positive for coronavirus, and the facility's leadership was fired.
"Whatever the final product, end product, will be, and I trust we will get to one, that it will be a far better system of governance than that which currently exists," said state Representative Joseph Wagner of Chicopee, co-chair of the conference committee trying to negotiate a reworked bill.
State Senator John Velis of Westfield is also a member of the committee. He asked his fellow legislators to keep something in mind as they go about their discussions.
"I think a real good guidepost, if you will, would be kind of the motto of the care at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home, which is 'to provide veterans with honor and dignity in our care,'" Velis said. "If we keep that at the forefront of everything we do, I think we'll end up in a really great place."
The meeting was quickly closed to the public, which is the norm for legislative negotiations between the House and Senate.
The differing versions of the bills found broad support in their respective chambers. The House version passed with one vote against and one representative voting present. The Senate passed its bill unanimously.
