By: State Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives – Feb. 2017 Last session, as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses, I was tasked with reviewing proposals for a major overhaul of the state’s zoning laws which have become strained under modern housing pressures. The goal of the comprehensive bill passed by the […]
By: Senator Katy Ives – Feb. 2017 As regular readers of this column may know, last session I filed a bill to reduce housing costs for veterans by offering a tax rebate to landlords who rent dwellings below market rate to individuals who receive state Chapter 115 veterans’ benefits. In the past legislative session, a […]
By: State Senator Katy Ives (D-Newburyport) In my effort to continue to focus these columns on bills that I will file in the next legislative session, I want to discuss in this edition a bill I sponsored last session which sought to reduce human exposure to a dangerous chemical hidden in many items of daily […]
By: State Senator Katy Ives – Dec. 2016 The sight of military-style vehicles barreling down the narrow streets of Boston is a common one to those who live or work in the city. People may wonder how the iconic duck boats can safely manage to navigate the streets with bikes, motorcycles and pedestrians, all while […]
By: Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives – Nov, 2016 Leading up to the beginning of a new formal legislative session in January, I’m focusing in on which bills will be priorities for me to file, re-file and co-sponsor. My column over these next months will be focused on a number of those bills. This month’s column […]
By: State Senator Katy Ives – Oct. 2016 On July 31, the formal legislative session technically ended, meaning that between August and January, no formal voting on major bills takes place. In the months leading up to the beginning of a new formal session in January, I’m focusing in on what bills are priorities for […]
By: State Senator Kathleen Ives – Sept, 2016 In August, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made an important ruling, determining it to be unlawful for electric distribution companies to pass along to ratepayers the costs associated with the construction of new, privately-owned natural gas pipelines, through what some have referred to as a “pipeline tax.” […]
By: State Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives August, 2018 In July, the Massachusetts Senate passed legislation to promote the use of ignition interlock devices by OUI offenders, which test a driver’s blood-alcohol content before starting a car. Mothers Against Drunk Driving and AAA Northeast have endorsed the use of the devices as an effective means to […]
The Massachusetts Senate unanimously approved omnibus veterans’ legislation in June known as the Veterans H.O.M.E. Act. State Senator Katy Ives – July, 2016 Senate Bill 2325, “An Act Relative to Housing, Operations, Military Service, and Enrichment,” seeks to improve housing and employment opportunities for military veterans and their families. The bill allows municipalities to offer […]
By: State Senator Katy Ives – June, 2016 In May, the Massachusetts Legislature approved legislation that seeks to enhance government transparency and accountability by providing residents with greater access to public records and imposing penalties for non-compliance with public records requests. I re-filed a piece of legislation this session, co-sponsored by Representative Diana DiZoglio, in […]
By: State Senator Katy Ives May, 2016 Kinder Morgan, a Houston, Texas-based energy infrastructure company, submitted its first letter related to their Northeast Energy Direct Project (NED Project) to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on September 15, 2014. It detailed a plan to construct 177 miles of new pipeline from Wright, New York to […]
By: Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives – April, 2016 Recently, the State Senate unanimously, and in a bipartisan fashion, passed a bill I filed to protect consumers from unknowingly entering a credit contract and to limit instances of fraud resulting from the mailing of unsolicited and often predatory loans. Every day, residents across Massachusetts find what […]
By: Senator Katy Ives – Jan. 2016 There have been a number of important legislative developments toward tackling public records reform. This month’s column is an opportunity to describe the status of public records legislation in the effort to produce meaningful public records reform this session. At the onset, Senator Jason Lewis filed S.1676, which […]
By: Senator Kathleen Ives Dec. 2015 The Massachusetts Senate recently completed the first year of a two-year legislative session by sending to the governor’s desk legislation for increased penalties for trafficking fentanyl, and five bills related to veterans. To further address the health crisis of opiate abuse in the Commonwealth, the legislature passed House Bill […]
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is due to make a formal recommendation on whether to adopt the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test or to continue with the MCAS test at their meeting on November 17. In the final weeks leading up to the decision, the debate […]