Diversity, equity and inclusion policies have been a hot topic under the Trump administration. Springfield State Rep. Bud Williams is the founder of the Stone Soul Parade. It's an event in Springfield that brings residents of all cultures together yearly. He's also the chair of the Joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion. He says lawmakers are holding an informational hearing on DEI today. Reporter Colin Young at the State House News Service explains what an informational hearing is, and how it differs from a typical bill hearing.
Colin Young, SHNS: Well, it differs in that there are no bills up for a hearing today. This is really just a chance for the committee to invite specific people in to give testimony on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in education, in the Attorney General's office, in business and across state government. The verb that the committee is using is demystifying. They really seem to be presenting this as a chance to sort of promote these DEI initiatives in state government and across Massachusetts, just as you said, as the federal government is really pushing back on them.
Carrie Healy, NEPM: Also going on this week, faith leaders from across Massachusetts plan to urge lawmakers to modernize the state's CORI sealing system. And they're calling for the passage of ‘clean slate’ bills, easing the way for eligible residents to seal their criminal records. State Senator Adam Gomez of Springfield is a sponsor of one of these pieces of legislation. Can you break this down? What's behind these ‘clean slate’ bills, and why do they matter?
The issue here is with the criminal records that follow people after they've been released from custody, or even in some cases, when they're charged with a crime but ultimately not convicted.
And these criminal records can be a barrier to housing, to employment, and to all kinds of other opportunities for these folks. The idea behind these pieces of legislation is to have the state automatically seal someone's criminal record when they are released, or when their trial is over and they are not convicted.
Right now, when people return from prison and they're coming back into the community, they have to seek the sealing process out themselves for felony convictions. They have to wait seven years and for misdemeanor convictions, three years. So, these bills would make it an automatic process. There are more than 600,000 people in Massachusetts who bill sponsors say are eligible to have their criminal records sealed. And only about 10% actually have sealed records.
Since we're talking about criminal records, Massachusetts Democrats just met in Springfield to back a new party platform pledging to protect everyone's rights and dignity, including steps against anti-Semitism and hate crimes. So, when and where might we see these promises show up in action?
I think the first place we'll see them show up will be as some campaigns start getting going for next year's election cycle. The party platform is a really interesting thing in that Democrats get all hyped up about it at the convention, and they talk a lot about the platform, and then we don't always see the things in the platform get carried through to actual Legislative action or administrative and executive action at the governor's level.
Usually, the platform is something that shows up more in the politics of it all than the policy in the campaigning and in the jockeying for other offices. So, I expect that that's really where we will see the impact of the platform most… is on the campaign trail.
So interesting! Hey, you know, this is the third week of September, and while the Legislature has packed the week with committee work, there remains a stack of business in process that they left unfinished when they left for summer break back in August. Can you remind me what's known about bills that lawmakers need to and or want to take up?
Yeah, the Legislature has a few supplemental budget bills waiting before it. Included within those are a couple of time sensitive measures that Governor Maura Healey has proposed. So that may be one of the first things we see the Legislature tackle when it really gets back up to speed.
We do expect the Senate to get going this week. However, they teed up a couple of bills, possibly for consideration on Thursday. They're not major big headlining pieces of legislation, but they are things like expanding legal protections for people who either provide or use fentanyl testing strips. And then there's also a sort of technical tweak to an abuse registry that the state keeps.
