The House is currently debating H.4860 - An Act relative to Justice, Equity and Accountability in Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth a summary of which can be found here. The senate debated their own version of a police reform bill, the final text of which can be viewed here . A comparison of the final senate version and the preliminary House version can be found here.
In this table you will find a list of amendments Rep Connolly is supporting. Additionally Rep. Connolly filed Amendment #200 to fully ban tear gas in Massachusetts.
| Number | Sponsor | Tittle | Summary | Supported By |
| 1 | Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa | Ensuring Public Accountability for School Policing | Language allows School Committees to decide whether a School Resource Officer (SRO) is assigned to their respective school districts, in which the superintendents have to provide the School Committee and state with documentation on associated costs and past arrests/referrals before a SRO designation can be made | Coalition for Smart Responses to Student Behavior, Progressive Massachusetts |
| 2 | Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa | Use of Force within the DOC | In order to establish clear limitations on the use of physical force by correctional officers, the commission shall collect and analyze data on the use of force against inmates. Further, the department of correction and sheriffs’ departments shall provide the commission access to any and all reports written pursuant to 103 CMR 505.13 (1) and (2), or successor provisions. The commission shall ascertain whether the information provided is uniform, standardized and reasonably complete and, if not, shall recommend policies to increase uniformity, standardization and completeness. This aligns with Senate language. | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 12 | Rep. Ruth Balser | Inmate’s Access to Use of Force Records | Grants inmates access to copies of any records associated with use of force in their respective cases; the records shall be made public with the inmate's information redacted | |
| 46 | Rep. Mary Keefe, Rep. Steven Hay | Justice Reinvestment and Workforce Development Fund | Establishes a workforce development fund that takes the savings from lower incarceration rates and reinvests into communities where policing and incarceration have been highest to generate economic opportunity. Requires DOC to itemize its budget on its public website. *Slightly different language from the final Senate bill that removes the $10 million fund cap and permit participation in a nonprofit social enterprise (like UTEC or Roca) to be eligible for funding. | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 53 | Rep. James O'Day | ID access for people experiencing homelessness | Provides greater access to ID cards for homeless individuals, waives fees, and addresses documentation requirements | Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless |
| 57 | Rep. Marjorie Decker | University Police Military Weapon Inventory | Requires campus police departments at public or private colleges, universities or other educational institutions to provide the police chief of each municipality in which the educational institution is located with an inventory of all military grade controlled property in the campus police department’s possession yearly. | |
| 71 | Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa | Alternatives to Policing | Establishes Community Emergency Response Teams and provides training to 911 on how to best direct calls to the teams. Community Emergency Response Teams would be independent from police | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 77 | Rep. Andy Vargas | Preponderance of Evidence as the Burden of Proof for License Suspension and Revocation | Changes the burden of proof used by the Massachusetts Police Standards and Training Commission to suspend/revoke licenses from “clear and convincing evidence” to “a preponderance of the evidence”. | Progressive Massachusetts, ACLU |
| 78 | Rep. Kay Khan |
MA Coalition for the Homeless - Special Legislative Commissions |
Adds ED/designee of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless to the Special Legislative Commission on Structural Racism, to the Special Legislative Commission on Structural Racism in the Parole Process, and to the Special Legislative Commission on Structural Racism in the Massachusetts Probation Service | Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless |
| 86 | Rep. Liz Miranda | Prioritizing Social Equity Spending of Marijuana Revenue | Creates a Social Equity Training and Technical Assistance Fund (SETTAF) to be expended by the Cannabis Control Commission and requires that money transferred from the Marijuana Revenue Fund into the Police Training Fund be no greater than the amount expended from SETTAF. | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 88 | Rep. Nika Elugardo |
Protecting Students From Profiling |
Amends the bill by striking out section 65, regarding school disclosure of information to law enforcement, in its entirety and inserting the language from S.2820 that prohibits school personnel from sharing information from its databases or other record-keeping systems with a law enforcement officer or agency. | Constituents. Progressive Massachusetts |
| 92 | Rep. Nika Elugardo | Pre-Emptive De-Escalation | Amends the bill in section 29 by inserting language from S.2820 that requires police to communicate with organizers when they have knowledge of planned mass demonstration and plan strategies to avoid conflict and address potential communication needs | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 94 | Rep. Maria Robinson | Police Training Fund | Removes funds from the Marijuana Trust Fund | Constituents, Progressive Massachusetts |
| 95 | Rep. Maria Robinson | Makeup of POSAC | Commissioners on POSAC's immediate family members must also be civilians | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 96 | Rep. Maria Robinson | Designation of POSAC Chair | The commission a member to be the chair instead of the Governor appointing one | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 97 | Rep. Maria Robinson | No-Knock Warrants | Fully bans no-knock warrants | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 98 | Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa | Decarceration | Based on H.4652, this amendment would address the pressing need to safely depopulate our prisons, which have remained under lock down and with bleak conditions since March. | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 99 | Rep. Christine Barber | Work and Family Mobility | Similar text to An Act Relative to Work & Family Mobility. Would permit all qualified drivers, regardless of immigration status, to apply for a standard MA driver's license. | MIRA, SEIU State Council, Driving Families Forward Coalition, Major City Chiefs Assocication, Progressive Massachusetts |
| 100 | Rep. Denise Provost | Addressing Direct Civil Rights Violations | Amends the bill by inserting a new section that would remove the requirement from the MCRA that in order for a secured right to be violated it must be done by threat, intimidation, or coercion. | ACLUU, Progressive Massachusetts |
| 103 | Rep. Kay Khan | Raise the Age to Include All High School Students | Raises the juvenile court jurisdiction age to include 18 year olds | Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless |
| 115 | Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa | Parole Reform for Inmates with Dementia | Have the Parole Reform Commission established in the legislation require the DOC to notify counsel that a guardian must be appointed and, if an inmate does not have counsel, to request an attorney be appointed through Committee for Public Counsel Services or Prisoners’ Legal Services | |
| 116 | Rep. Liz Miranda | Safety for Children and Elders | Changes language that states that prior to receiving a no-knock warrant the affidavit must establish probable cause and include an attestation that there is no reason to believe that minor children or adults over the age 65 are in the home. | ACLU |
| 119 | Rep. Smitty Pignatelli | Add Housing Status to Bias-Free Policing | Amends the bill in section 29 to include housing status in the definition of bias-free policing. | Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless |
| 120 | Rep. Smitty Pignatelli | A Bill of Rights for People Experiencing Homelessness | Amendment #120 is complementary to #119, which would create a Homeless Bill of Rights for people experiencing homelessness in the Commonwealth Building on the addition of housing status for bias-free policing, this would serve as a statement of legislative intent that will guide agencies to promote the rights of people experiencing homelessness This would ensure that people experiencing homelessness are not discriminated against or denied rights based on their housing status |
Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless |
| 121 | Rep. Smitty Pignatelli | Helping Overdosing Persons in Emergencies | Would ensure that all first responders are trained in the use of Narcan and have it on their person while on duty. Would require every first responder (including law enforcement) to both be trained on the use of and carry Narcan while on duty | |
| 127 | Rep. Liz Miranda | Affidavit Establishing Probable Cause | Amends exception to ban on no-knock warrants, by requiring that if probable cause that if officer announced their presence it would endanger life is based on info from a confidential informant (CI), then CI needs to provide an affidavit. | |
| 131 | Rep. Jack Lewis | Restrictions on the Acquisition on Military Grade Controlled Property | Amends the bill by inserting language from S.2820 to place requirements on state police, local law enforcement, regional law enforcement, and sheriff's department access to military grade controlled property. | Constituents, Progressive Massachusetts |
| 148 | Rep. Kay Khan | Custodial Sexual Assault | Strengthens the custodial sexual assault language. This amendment clarifies that individuals cannot consent to sexual relations when they are in the custody or control of law enforcement. It also expands the language to include indecent assault and battery, and ensures consistent penalties are maintained in the prosecution of sexual assaults on certain vulnerable populations (children, the elderly, and people with disabilities). | Constituents |
| 163 | Rep. Carlos Gonzalez | The Latino Commission | Creates permanent commission on the status of Latinos. Includes member make-up as well as expectations of the commission. | |
| 166 | Rep. Andres Vargas | Clarifying Expungement | Distinguishes between cases that are dismissed and cases that lead to convictions in the context of expungement and allows multiple cases to be considered for expungement | Progressive Massachusetts, UTEC |
| 176 | Rep. Jonathan Hecht | Reforming qualified immunity for law enforcement officers | Qualified immunity would apply in civil claims against law enforcement officers if the law clearly establishes that an officer's conduct was lawful at the time it occurred. Eliminates language that would make only decertified officers ineligible to use qualified immunity defense in court. The changes to existing qualified immunity would apply only to law enforcement officers; no change for other public employees. | ACLU, Progressive Massachusetts |
| 179 | Rep. Dave Rogers | Violation of Facial Recognition Law | Allows victim of a violation of the facial recognition law to bring a suit against the violating party for injunctive relief, declaratory relief or a write of mandamus for $100 per violation or up to $1000, whichever is greater | ACLU |
| 180 | Rep. Dave Rogers | State Police Use of Facial Recognition Technology | Allows only Massachusetts state police, instead of all law enforcement, to request that the RMV conduct a search using facial recognition technology if conducting an investigation of a violent felony | ACLU |
| 194 | Rep. Maria Robinson | Use of force tactics | Bans the use of rubber pellets or dogs to control or influence people's behavior. Removes exceptions in the bill. | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 202 | Rep. Marjorie Decker | Police Standards Commission | Amends the membership of the Massachusetts police standards and training commission by removing the chair of the Massachusetts Law Enforcement Policy Group and a member selected from a list of 3 persons submitted by the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, Inc | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 210 | Rep. Liz Malia | Officer identification | Requires that all law enforcement officers must wear a badge on duty with their name, ID #, agency. If officer deliberately obscures it, they may be disciplined. | Progressive Massachusetts |
| 211 | Rep. Aaron Vega | Marijuana Regulation Fund | removes the provision whereby cannabis revenue is used to fund police training | Constituents |
