June 12, 2023

The Honorable Robyn K. Kennedy, Senate Chair
Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities
State House, Room 507
Boston, MA 02133

The Honorable Jay D. Livingstone, House Chair
Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities
State House, Room 146
Boston, MA 02133

Dear Honorable Chairs:

The Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators is pleased to submit testimony in support of H.191/S.84, An Act relative to a livable wage for human service workers, filed by Rep. Khan and Sen. Friedman. Following an extensive and thorough process, the Caucus selected this bill as one of just five legislative priorities this session.

As you know, the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators is a bipartisan and bicameral caucus, currently with 62 members—comprising 31% of the legislature. This session, the Caucus selected three overarching strategic priorities to guide our work: Elevating Women’s Economic Opportunity and Eliminating Barriers, Addressing Racial and Gender Disparities in Health Care, and Empowering Women in Government. An Act relative to a livable wage for human service workers fits squarely within our Elevating Women’s Economic Opportunity and Eliminating Barriers priority, and we look forward to continuing to advocate for its passage.

This bill seeks to eliminate the pay disparity between the salaries of human service workers employed by community-based services and state employees holding similar job titles who perform similar work. This category of workers, regardless of where they work, perform critical services for some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. However, depending on where they work, their rate of pay can be drastically different—sometimes by up to 30%. This disparity is making it increasingly difficult for community-based organizations to recruit and retain qualified workers, adding to an existing workforce crisis.

An Act relative to a livable wage for human service workers would create a reasonable schedule through 2027 to fully eliminate the pay disparity between state workers and those employed by community-based human service nonprofits. This bill also would require reports to better understand the existing disparity and develop strategies to strengthen recruitment and retention of workers at community-based nonprofits.

This bill applies to human service workers employed by nonprofits that contract with the following state agencies: Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Executive Office of Elder Affairs, and the Department of Housing and Community Development. These are agencies that provide some of the most critical services to members of our communities.

This disparity disproportionately impacts women. An estimated 80% of human service workers in Massachusetts are women, and nearly one-third are people of color. Human service workers are more likely to live below 150% of the poverty level, have consistently lower wages, and lower household incomes than workers in other industries. We know that women are critical contributors to our economy and to our state. This bill will positively impact a female-dominated workforce that is currently struggling. By advancing this bill, the Commonwealth will be supporting this workforce and helping to close stubborn disparities.

Thank you for your review of this bill and your work on the many other critical matters before our Commonwealth. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, or if we can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Senator Joan B. Lovely
Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators Senate Chair

Representative Hannah Kane
Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators House Chair

June 2, 2023

The Honorable Marjorie C. Decker, House Chair
Joint Committee on Public Health
State House, Room 130
Boston, MA 02133

The Honorable Julian Cyr, Senate Chair
Joint Committee on Public Health
State House, Room 111
Boston, MA 02133

Dear Honorable Chairs:

The Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators is pleased to submit testimony in support of the following two bills: H.534/S.1381, An Act to increase access to disposable menstrual products, filed by Sen. Jehlen, Rep. Barber, and Rep. Livingstone, and H.2163/S.1375, An Act relative to postpartum depression screening, filed by Sen. Friedman and Rep. Fiola. Following an extensive and thorough process, the Caucus selected these bills as two of just five legislative priorities this session.

As you know, the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators is a bipartisan and bicameral caucus, currently with 63 members—comprising over 31% of the legislature. This session, the Caucus selected three overarching strategic priorities to guide our work: Elevating Women’s Economic Opportunity and Eliminating Barriers, Addressing Racial and Gender Disparities in Health Care, and Empowering Women in Government. An Act to increase access to disposable menstrual products and An Act relative to postpartum depression screenings both fit squarely within our Addressing Racial and Gender Disparities in Health Care priority, and we look forward to continuing to advocate for their passage.

An Act to increase access to disposable menstrual products would require all primary and secondary schools, homeless shelters, and prisons and jails to provide free menstrual products, without stigma, to all menstruating individuals. Half of our population menstruates, yet one in seven menstruators struggle to access menstrual products due to cost barriers. No one should have to choose between food, a roof over their head, education, and access to menstrual products. Implementing this bill would ensure that menstruators are not forced to make this choice.

Currently, over half of Massachusetts school nurses report seeing students miss class due to a lack of menstrual products. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, homelessness rates have risen 14% in Massachusetts, exacerbating the need for menstrual products in shelters. Finally, restricted access to menstrual products in prisons and jails allows products to be used as bargaining chips and tools of control. Therefore, this bill serves as a means for tackling economic, educational, and health inequalities across Massachusetts.

An Act relative to postpartum depression screenings represents a simple, common-sense solution to the challenges parents face in accessing care if they experience postpartum depression. Postpartum depression (PPD) is vastly underdiagnosed. Oftentimes, parents will not make their symptoms known due to the stigma surrounding PPD. According to the Department of Public Health, untreated PPD can lead to negative consequences for both parents and children, including “poor cognitive functioning, behavioral inhibition, emotional maladjustment, violent behavior, externalizing disorders, or psychiatric and medical disorders, weight problems, alcohol and illicit drug use, social relationship problems, breastfeeding problems, or persistent depression.”

This bill would require MassHealth to cover postpartum depression screenings for parents at pediatrician appointments for up to one year after giving birth. Presently, these screenings are covered by MassHealth for up to 6 months at the pediatrician’s office and 12 months with their primary care physician and OB-GYN providers. The effects of postpartum depression may not appear for several months following birth, thus these additional screenings provide an opportunity for proactive diagnosis and intervention.

An estimated 75% of parents experiencing maternal mental health conditions do not receive sufficient care needed for recovery. This lack of care is disproportionately experienced by Black and Brown parents, who are statistically more likely to experience PPD. Equitable and accessible PPD screenings are essential for the health of families. By providing additional coverage, this bill serves to minimize inequalities related to identifying and treating maternal mental health conditions.

As legislative priorities of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators, we request that you give both An Act to increase access to disposable menstrual products and An Act relative to postpartum depression screening favorable reports.

We also would like to highlight two additional bills that the Caucus has endorsed, that will also be heard at the same hearing as the above two priority bills. The Women’s Caucus also supports H2138/S145, An Act relative to menstrual product ingredient disclosure, filed by Rep. Blais and Sen. Comerford, and H2209/S1457, An Act promoting access to midwifery care and out-of-hospital birth options, filed by Rep. Khan, Rep. Fluker Oakley, and Sen. Rausch.

Thank you for your review of these bills and your work on the many other critical matters before our Commonwealth. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, or if we can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Senator Joan B. Lovely
Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators Senate Chair

Representative Hannah Kane
Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators House Chair

May 8, 2023

The Honorable Patricia Jehlen, Senate Chair
Joint Committee on Labor & Workforce Development
State House, Room 424
Boston, MA 02133

The Honorable Josh Cutler, House Chair
Joint Committee on Labor Workforce Development
State House, Room 472
Boston, MA 02133

Dear Honorable Chairs:

The Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators is pleased to submit testimony in support of H.1849/S.1191, An Act relative to salary range transparency, filed by Rep. Cutler, Rep. Fluker Oakley, and Sen. Jehlen. Following an extensive and thorough process, the Caucus selected this bill as one of just five legislative priorities this session.

As you know, the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators is a bipartisan and bicameral caucus, currently with 63 members—comprising over 31% of the legislature. This session, the Caucus selected three overarching strategic priorities to guide our work: Elevating Women’s Economic Opportunity and Eliminating Barriers, Addressing Racial and Gender Disparities in Health Care, and Empowering Women in Government. An Act relative to salary range transparency fits squarely within our Elevating Women’s Economic Opportunity and Eliminating Barriers priority, and we look forward to continuing to advocate for its passage.

Years ago, the Women’s Caucus supported and helped pass pay equity legislation in Massachusetts. This monumental piece of legislation took important steps to close the gender wage gap by preventing employers from requiring salary history on job applications, defining comparable work, and more to ensure pay equity throughout the state.

As the next step to achieve true pay equity, the Caucus is prioritizing An Act relative to salary range transparency. This bill would require employers with 15 or more employees to disclose pay ranges in job postings and makes related retaliation unlawful. The bill sets up reasonable enforcement mechanisms through the Attorney General’s office.

We know that across sectors, women and particularly women of color continue to make less than what white men make. Knowing a salary range while applying to new positions is an important step to narrow these gender and racial gaps, by giving applicants more tools to understand and negotiate for the wages that they deserve. Knowing the salary range of a position will allow potential applicants to better select which jobs to apply for, in line with salaries commensurate with their experiences. This saves businesses the headache of getting to the final step in an interview process and then having a qualified candidate turn down the job when informed of the salary. Including salary ranges is common practice in some industries, but some businesses are reluctant to participate for fear of being put at a competitive disadvantage. Having this uniform state law that cuts across all sectors will level the playing field for employers while also supporting jobseekers.

The Women’s Caucus also endorsed H.1940/S.1181, An Act relative to transparency in the workplace, filed by Rep. Rogers, Rep. Barber, and Sen. Feeney. Related to the salary range transparency legislation, this bill would help collect more comprehensive data to allow us to better understand existing wage gaps, in turn helping us make effective policy. We support both bills as they are before the Committee for consideration.

As a legislative priority of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators, we request that you give An Act relative to salary range transparency a favorable report. Relating to our work to elevate women’s economic opportunity and eliminate barriers, we strongly believe that women should be able to secure economic stability and independence without being hindered by systemic challenges. We believe that these bills will go a long way toward achieving that goal. It is time for Massachusetts to take the next step toward pay equity and join a growing number of states in requiring employers to disclose the salary range when advertising a position.

Thank you for your review of this bill and your work on the many other critical matters before our Commonwealth. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, or if we can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Senator Joan B. Lovely
Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators Senate Chair

Representative Hannah Kane
Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators House Chair

May 16, 2023

The Honorable John F. Keenan, Senate Chair
Joint Committee on Election Laws
State House, Room 413-F
Boston, MA 02133

The Honorable Daniel J. Ryan, House Chair
Joint Committee on Election Laws
State House, Room 443
Boston, MA 02133

Dear Honorable Chairs:

The Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators is pleased to submit testimony in support of H.669/S.422, An Act supporting parents running for public office, filed by Rep. Connolly, Rep. Meschino, and Sen. Jehlen. Following an extensive and thorough process, the Caucus selected this bill as one of just five legislative priorities this session.

As you know, the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators is a bipartisan and bicameral caucus, currently with 63 members—comprising over 31% of the legislature. This session, the Caucus selected three overarching strategic priorities to guide our work: Elevating Women’s Economic Opportunity and Eliminating Barriers, Addressing Racial and Gender Disparities in Health Care, and Empowering Women in Government. An Act supporting parents running for public office fits squarely within our Empowering Women in Government priority, and we look forward to continuing to advocate for its passage.

Having a young family can be a barrier to running for office in Massachusetts, most notably for women and women of color. Childcare is a necessity for all working parents, including those who run for office. By allowing campaign funds to be used to pay for relevant and reasonable childcare expenses, Massachusetts would remove this critical obstacle for parents who seek to serve their communities. Childcare should be treated like other allowable expenses—printing literature, meals for campaign staff, tuxedos for campaign events—as an essential component of a viable campaign.

This bill, which is consistent with federal law, would simply amend current campaign finance laws to cover childcare expenses that would not exist but for the campaign. 28 other states have authorized the use of campaign funds to pay for childcare—including our neighbors in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.

In the past, this Committee has done important work to study this issue, through the work of a Commission led by Chair Finegold and Chair Lawn. The legislation before you today is consistent with the recommendations of that Commission, which concluded that “if the Legislature employs these recommendations, they will make great strides toward a more diverse candidate pool...”. We are grateful for the thoughtful consideration that has gone into this legislation and believe that it is truly ready to be passed into law this session. There were also several Women’s Caucus members who served on this Commission—Rep. Hannah Kane served as Governor Baker’s designee and Rep. Kimberly Ferguson served as Minority Leader Jones’ designee.

By passing this bill, Massachusetts will create a common sense and equitable solution to the often-insurmountable barriers that working parents face while running for office. As a caucus of women legislators, we know first-hand how critical it is to have diverse elected bodies—which can only be true with diverse candidate pools. Diverse voices, including parents of all ages, races, and socioeconomic statuses, will make for sounder and more inclusive policies.

As a legislative priority of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators, we request that you give An Act supporting parents running for public office a favorable report. It is time for Massachusetts to implement this important, thoroughly considered, and rather simple policy.

Thank you for your review of this bill and your work on the many other critical matters before our Commonwealth. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, or if we can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Senator Joan B. Lovely
Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators Senate Chair

Representative Hannah Kane
Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators House Chair

September 12, 2024