2021-07-21 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Public Service
2021-07-21 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Public Service
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
okay everybody, According to the Microsoft Windows clock on the computer, it's one o'clock and as I said, we want to get started right on time because we have a very full hearing today. So welcome everyone to our joint Committee on Public Service are hearing on health Presumptions and certain covid 19 related legislation. I am House chair ken Gordon And I'm joined by the committee and before introduced the committee. I am also joined by uh Senate Chair Michael brady. Welcome senator.
And would you like to share a54 few words? Thank you Mr coach here and I'm just looking forward to get this meeting started and I appreciate everyone's patience and with this public service committee because we've had to make changes along the way, but I'm not gonna just get moving forward. So I heard the back over to you, Mr Chair,
thank you very much. Senator Mr Chair um appreciate everybody's time and attention. We have solicited testimony on each of the bills on the agenda, solicited written and oral testimony and the verbal testimony will be heard this afternoon. Now, if89 anyone any member of the public would like to provide additional written testimony after this hearing. You may do so until Wednesday july 28th at five o'clock.99 If you're testifying verbally and you have more to say you're welcome to supplement your testimony with additional written testimony by email and there's an email address uh on the invitation that you got to come and join the hearing to that. I see certain members of the house members of the committee are here with us. So we have Representative Bruce Ayers, just looking through the the participant list over here, we have Representative David to cost we have Vice chair Natalie Higgins and uh ranking member tim Whelan to welcome everybody is and see if there's anybody I missed recently came in. Hang on. When we're obviously in person, we can see everyone working walking up to the table. So, okay, everybody for now and if anyone comes in, oh, representing America's here. Representative Lipper Garabedian is here.
Yeah, I think, I think that's everybody for now.
Okay. Um, yeah, we are, we're gonna get started right away. Um, and I appreciate your patience and working through this Microsoft teams platform. Um,
what, um, what we're going to do is through the chat function.188 We're going to give everyone an opportunity to have some sort of anticipation as to when their testimony is going to be called for because we're not only going to call the next witness, but we're gonna have sort of a rolling list of witnesses in order. So, you know, you're on deck or or or up next or something like that. Uh, just out of respect for your time. Uh, normally we we call legislators out of turn and what we're going to do for this hearing is that we've asked legislators or other elected officials who are going to testify to come in, but interspersed among members of the public so that members of the public don't have to wait for a long list of, of legislators are elected coming in all at the same time. So you'll see from time to time, will come off of that list that you'll see and bring in and elected who has shown some patients and waiting a little bit longer, uh, to come in and provide testimony. Um, we ask, as we always do that, we limit that you limit your testimony to three minutes. We'll be keeping track of the time. I hope you understand that out of respect for the very large number of witnesses that have signed up to testimony to testify, that we've got to impose that type of a limit. And as I said before, if you've got more to say, you can do so in writing and your written265 testimony is266 given just as much weight and consideration as verbal testimony. If you're coming as part of a panel, then we ask273 that the panel limit its remarked Remarks to 12 minutes. We will issue a 30 second warning in the Chat. We ask that you not use the chat um to speak to each other because it's not part of the public hearing. The public can't see it and it'll get real confusing um for us if we're using the chat things like to tell you when witnesses coming up if uh, if it's being used for other purposes. So I appreciate your help in doing that.
Now we're going to turn to a panel that's307 going to introduce a bill that many people are here to testify. Its H 2808 and s 1669 and our first panel to talk about that, and I will tell you, we're gonna have that panel come up and then we're gonna go to we have about four panel to talk about other bills, so we can take care of witnesses that are talking about some of the other bills that we have on today, There aren't many. And then we're going to be able to to focus solely on 2808 and 1669 that337 I know most of you are here to testify about. So if we could we're calling up Representative Zlotnik Senator Villas and Jim Durkin, are you here?
Yes, we are here. Mr Chair.
Yes, Mr Chairman.
Okay, so on my screen I see Representative. If you come off of mute I can see you easier on the screen. I can see Representatives lot
I'm here as well.
Um
Can my staff lizzie can someone pin because I don't know who said I'm here as well. I'd say it one or 2 shots but you look over here Jim382 Derek and mr Chairman. Jim Durkin. Okay.
Okay, so you're I see you're here by telephone number. Right?
Yes sir. Maybe you don't see that. Okay. So why don't we do this? Why don't we have the three of you organize your401 panel in in which way you you want? But we're going to hear from the three of you I their students working now. I can see it. Yeah, sure. Mr Kramer I'm happy to get started if you'd like
um shares and members of the committee. Thank you for your time today. Uh your consideration anyway race, I can't hear you. Uh, john represents a lot and you're not on mute, I don't think are you? Can,
is that better? Yes, I can hear you now. Right. There we go.
Sorry about that.
[REP ZLOTNIK:] [HB2808] [SB1669] Thank you for your time today. This bill proposes awarding a bonus credit towards retirement for public employees in Massachusetts who worked during the declared state of emergency at their normal post not working from home. Last year, especially at the beginning of the pandemic when almost everything was shut down. There are many public workers on whom we relied to continue to do their normal jobs from public safety corrections, public works maintenance and IT staff too many others whose work could not be done remotely and was essential to continued operation and basic government functions. All the things we normally take for granted.
I think it's important to remember479 that at the height of the pandemic last year was also the time we knew the least about Covid. Guidelines were constantly changing and PPE was in dire short supply. This was the time when these essential services were most important. The people being asked to perform that were most at risk coming into contact with members of the public and with co workers. And they continued to do their jobs, often exhibiting flexibility and creativity in an effort to ensure that those needs were met. It is in recognition of that effort that we offer this bill and we look forward to514 working with the committee as you review our proposal. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
And
I don't see either of our senate colleagues have joined us yet, so
um jim if you'd like to go next.
[JAMES DURKIN (AFSCME COUNCIL 93):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Thank you. Representative, thank you. Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee for the Record, Jim Durkin and legislative agent for AFSCME Council 93. Uh we represent more than 35,000 public sector workers in this state, nearly all of whom did not have the luxury working safely from their homes during the pandemic. They were needed on the job, needed to provide direct care and our state human services, hospitals and group homes needed to guard prisoners in our county jail. Work public infrastructure running smoothly. I needed to do the work the public relied on during what was arguably one of the worst, our country has ever experienced. But580 they answered the call each and every day.
And while people like me spent our days and nights at home getting paid to do our jobs virtually AFSCME members left their homes every day and returned home wondering if today was the day they contracted COVID-19 or even worse brought it home to their family members and they paid a heavy price for their Bravery. We know from publicly available data that more than 900 direct care workers in state human services facilities606 and group homes contracted the deadly virus. And we also know through constant communication with our members that people like our public works professionals and small skeleton crews on our public higher ed campuses were also infected. Look, I can't speak for everyone who is allowed to work safely from home. But I can say for me personally, I remember feeling very anxious every time I had to make that occasional trip to the pharmacy of the grocery store, wondering if that was the day I contracted the virus.
And I remember thinking how fortunate I was635 that I only had to make those trips maybe once every seven to 10 days. I think about the people we represent who had to go out every day and risk their lives and643 the lives of the people they came home to and how they lived in that seemingly perpetual state of fear and anxiety. And I remember one direct care worker in particular who worked at Tewksbury State Hospital would call me frequently to tell me how terrified she was because so many direct care workers were either exposed or infected this woman was mandated to work multiple double shifts in a single week, almost every week, many times in an overcrowded ward of Covid patients wearing the same dirty mask for days at a time.
A single mother who improvised childcare on a daily basis while simultaneously trying to help our kids, one of whom was in a high risk group due to asthma, cope with the challenges of remote learning. And I remember one of our public works professionals got the689 virus on the job, spent weeks on a691 respirator in the ICU. And although he recovered, he's still suffering long term effects. Mr. Chairman our retirement classification system and the age at which a person can retire without penalty is based primarily on physical risk and the stress705 associated with the job. So we hope that this committee708 agrees that the unprecedented risk and stress that these unsung heroes in the public sector have endured is worthy of this one time recognition this legislation would provide. I thank you for your time and consideration.722 I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
it. Mhm. Mr Chairman, I didn't hear from Senator Villas. He's having some technical issues so he is attempting to join. Um but we're happy to field any questions in the meantime. Okay. I appreciate that. Uh Sarah brady. Do you want to do you have any questions? No I just I know someone. We748 just finished the Senate sessions so some of the senators will be joining us periodically because we just got done with a set budget in the755 Senate session today. But I just want to thank the people that are here to testify. So thank you.
[REP GORDON:] I do just have a few questions and they're really dealing with the policy. First of all, the policy behind the bill is very admirable and we really appreciate the work that our public workers, the contribution of our public workers during this very difficult time. Um I'm a little concerned and I know we'll work together on this bill about784 some of the786 implementation challenges that may face us in moving forward. And so one question I have is if there's been an actuarial or fiscal analysis of the costs that would be incurred and we know we have a defined benefits plan retirement program and so802 they would have to be money put into the system in order to pay for this. Um First of all, how much if we've been able to determine that and then I don't think it would have to be uh contributed all at once because people are retiring on a staggered basis. But819 um can you just answer that as to whether you have a response to the cost?
[ZLOTNIK:] Yeah, I can I can answer that where we're at now. Um The short answer is we don't have a final number as we sit here today. We've begun to work on what I would say data collection to try and get some broad estimates. The reality is with a proposal like this which is a bit different from your typical ERAP that we've done many times in the past there's a lot more variables with this. It's spread over a longer period of time. Um It affects, it affects different people and there's a lot of data that will that we still need to gather and we're hoping to work with with you and the committee as we continue to work on that.
[GORDON:] Uh huh. Thank you. Jim did you have anything to add?
[DURKIN:] Uh on on top of what the representative just said you know, as he did say, this is not like the traditional five year plan, where you have to be within striking distance uh five years. So the cost is all up within that five year period. This would apply to everyone who worked on the front lines, whether they have one year in or 27 years. So you're really able to spread this cost out over decades. And I think it's also important to note that if if history is any indication, a good portion of the people who would meet the definition of eligibility900 under the bill won't stay in public service long903 enough to be eligible for a retirement benefit.
And, and finally, I would submit that, you know, most, if not all of the people who are going to come forward in opposition to this bill, the the actuaries the bean counters, if you will, um you know, respectfully, they are people who were able to work safely from home, people who in some cases are still working safely from home and and therefore really don't have a sense of what these brave men and women endured on the front lines and really going to carry with them for the rest of their lives. So look, we realize this is a significant cost. Um But I think if you look at the amount of support this has generated in terms of co sponsorship, it's clear that the Legislature wants to do something to help these people. So I really hope that, you know, considering that we're able to spread this cost out over multiple decades, that we're really able to make this happen for these people. They really deserve it. Thank you,
[GORDON:] You raised a couple of interesting points for instance and I recognized and thought about that um there are some people who won't be in the system long enough to retire with a pension But contributed during that one year period in 2020 or a little bit less than a year that we're talking about here. So I'm hoping as we look at this bill that we're not leaving anyone out who989 made the same contribution, you know, that EMT worker that made that contribution in an area where they were at risk but might be only on the job for a year. Uh No, I don't want to leave anyone out um to that same end.
And and my question and my question is that we define employee very broadly1009 in the bill, it's anybody who worked essentially outside of the home voluntarily or by assignment uh and was a state or municipal worker worker with. Um would you consider in looking at1023 this bill whether there would whether it be reasonable to play some minimum number of hours uh per week or so? In other words, should that EMT who is a full time work or facing a potential Covid exposure be treated the same way under the bill as someone who might go into the office for an hour every other week.
[ZLOTNIK:] I think we recognize that there are a lot of those details that need to be contemplated with this type of proposal, um and speaking for myself and my lead sponsor, I think we're prepared to be very flexible in working out those details. Um The important part is that we that we recognize those folks who who made that action and I think that there probably will need to be some consideration like what you described.
[GORDON:] I appreciate that that's what I'm looking to hear. So uh thank you1076 for the willingness to work together on this because it's a good policy and uh and as often happens, we can work together on the implementation uh as we move forward. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay. I do notice that we were joined by by Senator Villas. Okay.
Yeah. Mr Chairman, how are you, Senator? How are you? I am doing well, I appreciate that. I'm probably sorry I had a technical difficulty signing on here. Too many. Too many zooms going on. Too1109 many teams things. So it is now appropriate time for me to speak to this. Perfect time. Perfect.
[SEN VELIS:] [SB1669] [HB2808] Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Both chairman members of the committee for allowing me to testify in support of this legislation an act relative to providing a COVID-19 retirement credit to essential public sector workers. I'm very proud to be a joint presenter of this bill around rep rep along Representative Zlotnik as well as Senator Collins. As we all know when the COVID-19 pandemic first began last year, so many jobs and professions switched1142 to remote work. Employees went home,1144 companies switched operations and work adjusted so that people could stay safe. But for many employees in the public sector, working remotely is simply not impossible over the past year. In order for our commonwealth to continue to run and provide the services that our communities so desperately need essential public sector workers continue to show up day after day throughout the pandemic and of course we're grateful for all of them. These are our emergency responders, are law enforcement officers, our social workers who have responded to our calls and1177 kept us all safe.
These are our municipal workers, maintenance crews, school custodial staff who have kept buildings opens and lights on. These are the men and women. We have depended on so much for this past year, the ones who showed up to work despite the risk that it may pose to their health and the health of their families, so that the rest of us can stay safe. This legislation before you today is a recognition of the1202 deep sacrifices that these frontline workers have made for us since last spring. This bill will direct the secretary of ANF to identify employees were unable to work remotely throughout this pandemic and provide a three year COVID-19 essential employee retirement credit bonus for their respective retirement board. As we continue to recover from this pandemic, we must remember the incredible individuals who were directly on the front lines and gave so much during this past year. Thank you for your consideration and happy to answer any, answer any questions that you may have on this. I appreciate your time and I apologize about the technical difficulties. Thank you for hearing me. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
sorry, I'm still a mute. Thank you. Senator. I'm going to call on1249 Vice Chair Higgins, you've had your hand up and then uh Senator Collins is one of the sponsors uh who followed the bill and is a member of our committee. Welcome um as you arrived for the for the committee and then I'll come to you second. So Mr. Chairman, I'm happy to hold my question until Senator Collins can speak to the bill. Okay, Senator Collins,
[SEN COLLINS:] [HB2808] [SB1669] [SB1663] [SB1664] [SB1671] Uh Chair Gordon Chair Brady and Vicechair Higgins. Um I don't want to, you know, repeat too much of what's been1285 said by the previous speakers and the proponents of this legislation. Mhm. Um I do want to also because while I'm up here S 16631297 an act relative to disability on death caused by infectious disease presumption, I think even more critical with that, given what public employees was your last year, particularly our first responders. Act relative um you know, legislation that we've been debating in the House and Senate on on leave. But what this speaks to is somebody who was exposed in public service um infectious disease or in this case, you know, COVID-19. Um, and uh, they had their spouse had to take a use vacation time for their public service position because they were exposed to their loved one and there wasn't.
So that that's that's a discussion that we're already having. And, you know, but more of uh, an immediate for those who don't have extended leave, we basically gave them that in our um, effort. So in this debate that we've had currently this session. But this would just say for those who may not have now, they have to quarantine. There are a lot of people just happening last year, their spouses or another another private public. And then, you know, they had taken over this S 1671 along with1385 uh, 1664 around benefits and1386 I closed the survivor benefit, but 1669 speak to how much we value our public service workers. I think that's been said this committee does that every day thinks about how much more we can improve the quality of their life. Um, and so I think just, you know, I guess repeating, but not, uh, belaboring that what people were asked to do last year was unprecedented in our lifetime, question.
And that had an impact. So I think we're trying to calculate impact and the financial implications. We need to get into that in this committee.1427 I think it's really important to support this bill wholeheartedly and there's a way forward. But then we have to confront some hard data that has nothing to do with finances. We can't really quantify what it, but here's a start, uh, um, uh, an impact on life expectancy1443 and the weight of Covid-19. So last year alone, people lost in the United States 1.87 years off their life. Nothing else. You know, just 1.7 like on average. So for public sector workers that were out there stressed out um to be in the circumstance where they're likely going to expose their family. I mean this is just objective data that says what the average citizen in1471 the impact compared to our peers across the across the globe.
Um we had a we had to the committee um that was pretty uh um with MIT but it really gets into the critical data between end of 2018 and the beginning of um I'm sorry uh the end of 2018 beginning uh Well what that impact was and specifically uh 2020. The uh you know that life expectancy decreasing what it was. That's just all things being equal, never mind being out in the field1514 being exposed, working forced overtime in a lot of certain circumstances. So I just want to really, you know, leave my remarks with that data point that is unquestioned no matter Um you know how we look at the data um coming out of the National Center for Health Statistics.
It tells1532 us that not only is this the moment because we have funds that can be used for the things and and and we have some resources to do this, but but also we just can't ignore this data. It's not cheese, you know, did someone so working out from their home away from their home. Um you know, I know we have to, you know, get into eligibility really deeply here, but I just think we have to start from this standpoint that people who may have been unemployed uh seven years and like never mind those were out on the front line. So I just want to leave with that. I appreciate the time and take me out of turn. Thank you. Mr. chair madam. Vice chair, appreciate SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
thank you Senator for your testimony. Uh Madam by uh Vice Chair Higgins,
[REP HIGGINS:] thank you all for your testimony. I have been hearing quite a bit from my constituents concerned if they have a retirement Coming very soon, or maybe they have just retired. If this bill anticipates kind of retroactive benefits to folks who were working during the COVID-19 pandemic, but have just come up on retirement. Can you speak to that?
[ZLOTNIK:] I'm sure I can say first, that that's the number one question I think we've gotten um on this since we since we filed this because of that, we have submitted inquiry. I don't believe we've had an answer yet, if that is technically possible. Um and I'll add to in case there are other questions that we have compiled and will be submitted to the committee, um sort of the frequently asked questions that we've had come up with this and where some of those answers stand um to to facilitate this as well.
[HIGGINS:] Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any other committee members have any questions. If a committee member has a question, please raise your hand. You know, use the race raise1648 hand function. I mean, and I don't see any and I'm also looking could could a committee member raise your hand if I haven't introduced you because again, I can't see people walking and just raise your hand. I'd like to point that out. Mhm.
Okay, thank you very much. We are going to um we're going to move to a no another panel. I want to point out with respect to the raise hand function that just as we would in a public hearing, the questions would come from committee members. Um A person who is a witness could certainly ask their representative questions. But this is a formal hearing of the joint Committee on Public Service and therefore we're taking testimony asking questions. Okay our next panel, so we're going to do now is we're going to take a little um uh We're going to come off of the 2808 and 1669 we've been talking about because we've got a few panels on some of the other bills before1722 us and they're only I think five of them. And so then we're going to be able to spend the rest of actually maybe six. Uh So then we can spend the rest of the time on the bill that most of you have come in to testify about. So we have um eight, we have chief Steve Loner
Uh to testify about H 2567.
Thank you. Mr Chairman. Can you be okay?
Yes, thank you. Mr Champion.
[STEVE WOJNAR (DUDLEY POLICE DEPARTMENT):] [HB2679] [HB2808] [SB1669] Okay, great, thank you for the time. Yes. Uh Just one quick thing to if I could note on the uh the previous bill you were just discussing too. I think uh we would be also in support of something like that. I'm former past president of the Massachusetts Police Association. I currently work with Chief Kyes on the co chair of the Legislative committee, so we definitely have an interest in this and providing this type of benefit as well to our officers. Because in addition to working through the uncertainties of the pandemic, as you can remember, officers dealing with protests and riots last year Uh certainly working under difficult circumstances with that, and also handling a lot of the functions of the courts and other things that took place. So there was a lot of uh a lot of involvement in that whole thing and the stress and everything that went with it.
So we greatly appreciate your consideration of that bill. Uh One more important thing I was talking about was uh I believe it's under 2679 it should be a few others that are that apply as well for cancer Presumptions. If you look at some of the some1814 of the bills that are out there and some of the laws that are currently in place, uh we have certain benefits given to members of the Fire Department or other emergency first responders. And I think it's it's just time for police officers to be included into that group as well. The days of the red respond to this and blue respond to that are1832 over. We all respond to things together. If you look at the similar case of Office Familia from Worcester last last month with just that simple issue of here's police fire and EMS Are responding to a drowning incident which resulted in an unfortunate unfortunate death of that officer.
Uh And that certainly has raised a lot of points where what qualifies as a duty related death and things that I know your respective bodies are dealing with. But when it comes to things like cancer Presumptions or illnesses, I can certainly speak from my own personal uh experience as a 44 year old police officer who had been on the job for about 20 years at that point, uh having experienced some bleeding, going to my doctor and being sent for a colonoscopy and discover I have stage three colorectal cancer. With no family history and no other involvement uh through my family with this uh two rounds of chemo radiation, two surgeries about a year long process dealing with everything from there, certainly working with some great doctors, things came through.
But the first thing that rang in my mind was was I exposed1892 to something along the way, police officers1894 respond again along with firefighters and and EMS Personnel to fires, chemical spills, every other incident that you can possibly imagine. And most often police officers do not have the benefit of the protective gear that other emergency responders would have. So was I exposed to something along the way? That's certainly a very distinct possibility. But a lot of things go through your mind. I don't know if anybody else has been diagnosed with cancer or some of certainly some of the life threatening illness like that, but it is certainly a devastating thing on your family and on your own personal and professional basis.
So it's one thing I hope that the committee members certainly give serious consideration to making these bills and bringing everybody up on an equal plane because all of again they all emergency responders are out there to uh exposed to the same things dealing with all the same circumstances along the way. So I thank you very much for the time in a few minutes to put this forward. And if there's any questions on this or any other any other bills, I am certainly available to answer that. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you chief for your testimony. Uh Sure brady. Do you have any questions?
Just a statement coach here. I just uh prayers are with you chief and my mother had colon cancer. So I have to get tested every couple of years because of that. Good luck with everything. And prayers with it. Thank you. Yes, 66 or seven years free now. But yes, I know I just I want to ask ages of members of the committee but I know certainly many of you are probably in that in that age group will qualify. So if you haven't had that screen done, get it done. Because the one thing that I can say is that my doctor told me that that was probably there for 10 years and it was at1992 stage three when they found it. So if it had been found earlier, it certainly would've been a lot less. Uh so I always tell everybody the prep work and everything is going to deal with. That certainly beats the long term consequences if you wait. So go get your, get your screening is done.
Thank you very much. Thank you for that contribution. Any questions from any members of the committee just raise your hand.
Okay Seeing none. Thank you very much for your testimony. Thank you very much for the time. Uh moving on to a panel on age 2593. Jim Redman, Steve, craig Lan and robert. Sullivan.
Hi mr Chairman, can you hear me okay? Can you I just um for point of reference, I think it's just me on this bill, um always happy to have other people but um
it's okay to proceed. Yes. Okay.
[JAMES REDMOND (NAGE SEIU):] [HB2808] [HB2593] Uh once again, good afternoon. Chair Gordon Chair Brady and members of the committee and staff. For the record my name is Jim Redmond, um Legislative Agent for the National Association of Government Employees. I want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to offer strong support for two initiatives that seek to honor and reward the dedication and bravery of our front line and core public employees. House Bill 2593 would provide a hazard pay premium or comp time to any public employee who is required to continue reporting to their work site throughout the State2083 of Emergency. House Bill 2808 which you have already heard about from my colleagues, Would provide the same category of employees with a 3-year retirement credit in honor of their service.
Um in March 2020, the world changed in an instant. Many workers across the Commonwealth left their offices and cubicles most thinking they would be locked out for a week or two myself included, maybe a month until the COVID situation blew over. We soon learned that this would not be the case. Many employees in the commonwealth across sectors still have not been back to their offices. However, for a good cross section of the public workforce,2119 this was not an option. In an instant simply showing up to work became a potentially life threatening endeavor. But I'm here to tell you that NAGE members and public employees across the commonwealth showed up. They met the challenges and they did the work. They did the work in the midst of a terrifying pandemic that threatened their health, their family's health and their livelihoods while dealing with great uncertainty and anxiety that seemed to grow by the hour.
Our members deserve more than words banner signs, and car parades of the early days of the pandemic. They deserve to be rewarded for the bravery that it took to simply show up at work at a time when most of us could safely work from the relative security of our own homes. Massachusetts has received more than five billion in aid from the federal government. In addition, all indications point to a record shattering surplus when the final revenue tally for fiscal year 20 is released. There's no question that the Commonwealth has the resources to ensure that our front2173 line and core public employees receive the thanks they deserve. House bills 2593 and 2808 are big, they're bold and they're initiatives that will reward the women and men who kept the lights on the economy moving and answered every time the public called. For this workforce, there were no days off. Our workers deserve this recognition and it's never been clearer. I welcome the opportunity to discuss these initiatives with you further and look forward to working with you to make sure that our frontline workers get the recognition that they so richly deserve. I thank you for your time today. I'm happy to answer any questions. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Jim I'm also looking forward to working with you on it. Uh Chair brady questions.
I don't have any questions.2216 Thank you. Mr. Thank you. Mr Chairman. Any questions from any member of the committee? Seeing nothing seeing none to him. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you. Mr Chairman. And move on to H. 2628. David Betts2232 Chief Bill McGrath
the Chief McGrath or David bets here.
Indeed. A well I know I think that I think that Representative duly I think yeah I think they're coming a little bit later with Representative duly. So let's move to h 2648 and we're going to start with a panel including paul jake, jake's craig Party, Richard Mackinnon, Billy Cabral
policy. You thank thank you. Mr Chairman, can you hear me? Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. Uh huh. Mr Chairman, this is Richard McCann in President of the Professional firefighters. Can you hear me okay? I can hear you. All right. Great.
[RICHARD MACKINNON (PFFM):] [HB2650] [SB1663] [HB2726] [SB1691] [SB1664] [HB1717] [HB2651] [SB1725] [HB2648] Uh thank you. Chairman Gordon And chairman Brady and the rest of the committee. I thank you for this opportunity to speak. We will be brief. We do have a couple of panel members here with me. I have Billy Cabral Wwho's the secretary Treasurer of the Professional Firefighters. I have leg agents, Paul Jacques leg agent, Craig Hardy, leg agent for Boston. Local 718 Mark Sanders as well as leg agent Brian Tully. Uh We will uh2315 As we have in the past sent an extensive written testimony as well. So we'll be brief in this verbal testimony. Today you have before you some of the professional firefighters priority legislation marked for this hearing. I will start with house bill 26502334 and Partner Senate Bill 1663 an act relative to disability or death caused by a contagious diseases presumption. This bill has been offered by Rep Denise Garlick and2349 Senator Nick Collins.
Pre Covid this bill has been filed for several sessions now as we've worked diligently to move it along. Covid really brought this to the2360 forefront for our priority legislation this being probably our number one priority. Uh in the past, um firefighters EMTs And paramedics have been exposed to numerous contagious diseases but never like we experienced during Covid. Thousands of firefighters EMTs And paramedics have been exposed and actually come down and sick with Covid and we're still dealing with the repercussions. If this legislation was in place prior to Covid, we would have had the protection already. I urge you in the committee to move this bill forward again as you have in the past. The second priority piece of legislation is Senate Bill 1691 and House Bill 2726 an act relative to disability or death caused by post traumatic stress2409 disorder or as it's commonly known as PTSD.
We thank Rep Joe McGonagle and Senator Sal DiDomenico for offering this legislation for us. Behavioral health has become a priority among firefighters as well as this Legislature. You have partnered with us on sponsoring, supporting and funding many treatment programs for our firefighters across the state when they're dealing with behavioral health and substance abuse issues. And we thank2441 you for that support. We have2443 wonderful treatment options for our firefighters dealing with some of the injuries due to post traumatic stress injury. But currently that's not enough. When treatment is not enough when that firefighter cannot return to work due to their injuries this legislation, it needs to be in place when that firefighter who is disabled, cannot return to work and be eligible for a disability retirement.
This legislation has also been passed in many other states across the country and we need it here in Massachusetts it's very vital. We thank you for your support regarding firefighter mental health in the past and we're hoping we can partner moving forward. We've done our part to provide treatment for these firefighters and also erased the stigma that has been we've seen in the past with firefighters in asking for help regarding their mental health. And we're confident that this bill will be moved forward as well. Also, Senate Bill 1664 an act relative to survivor benefits. This was offered by Senator Nick Collins. Currently in the state we do have a cancer presumptive. Unfortunately, firefighters are being diagnosed and and uh succumb to their injuries regarding cancer.
Firefighters have a higher chance of getting cancer than the normal2527 citizen due to the exposures that we face and due to the building materials that we encounter. Currently after a firefighter retires after 32 plus years of service if they get diagnosed with cancer five years after retirement they are eligible for the cancer presumptive. This bill would raise that to 10 years. And the reason for this is what we're finding is the dormant stage and the latent phases of cancer are within our members and they're not coming out until after that five year uh retirement time. And the science that backs up that that cancer was definitely caused to the exposures over that firefighters career. Also, Senate Bill 1717 and its counterpart, House Bill 2651 an act relative to maintenance of physical examination records for public safety personnel. This was offered by Senator Paul Feeney and Representative Denise Garlick.
And what this is, quite frankly, we feel2596 is a housekeeping issue. So when a firefighter um is disabled and goes for that disability pension through the pension system, through their2605 retirement port through PERAC, they're required to produce a pre employment physical. Many of our firefighters, all of our firefighters get a pre employment physical to state that this firefighter is healthy and well and ready to serve the commonwealth of Massachusetts as a firefighter. However, due to some records either being lost and you know, we've had firefighters that the cities and towns cannot produce that pre pre employment physical. So when these firefighters go to retire under the disability that they encountered while working in their career, that is something that some retirement boards and PERCA is refuting saying that they need to produce this physical.
It shouldn't be on the disabled firefighter to produce this physical. Uh PERAC has been very good in dealing with. They have accepted affidavits from cities and towns saying that we wouldn't hired this, this firefighter without a pretty employment physical and they've accepted that. But currently we do have cases in Boston and in Medfield where that that firefighters are having a difficult time going through the disability process. So this2681 legislation would fix that issue. The last piece of legislation that I'm going to speak on and then I'll turn it over to our legislative agent Paul Jacques is Senate Bill 1725 and House Bill 2648 an act relative to Parkinson's disability and death in firefighters filed by senator Ann Gobi and and Representative Sean Garballey.
Currently, we have firefighters with Parkinson's. The science supports and the data also supports that the disease is linked to exposures that we face on a daily basis and over our career. My testimony cannot give this justice. The testimony you will hear from families of firefighters dealing with it and that have died from Parkinson's will be forthcoming in the next panel. This is2735 something where again we filed this um, at a couple of sessions now. Firefighter Greg Heath from the Westfield Fire Department who was forced to retire due to Parkinson's again linked to his exposures while serving his career on the Fire Department. And we have other cases that we will submit in written testimony um due to the exposures of firefighting that they've come down and been diagnosed with Parkinson's and the struggles that they've had to undergo. That is my testimony as president of Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts. I thank you for your time. I will turn it over to legislative agent Paul Jacques.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
paul, paul, europe, you
paul, paul, europe, you
right.
[PAUL JACQUES (PFFM):] [HB2709] [HB2784] [HB2808] [SB1669] [SB1755] [SB1767] [SB1786] Thank you. President MacKinnon. Good afternoon, Chair Brady Chair Gordon Members of the committee and staff. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. S stated for the record, my name is Paul Jacques legislative agent for the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts. Uh, We have submitted extensive and detailed written testimony but would like to add2814 to President MacKinnon's testimony. Just going on the record in support of the following Legislation. House Bill 2709, House Bill 2784, House Bill 2808, Senate Bill 1669, Senate Bill 1755, Senate Bill 1767 and Senate Bill 1786, uh, I'll keep a brief testimony and they said we have submitted written testimony and you've heard from other panelists today. House Bill 2808 Senate Bill 1669 An act relative to providing COVID-19 retirement credit to essential public safety, public sector workers.
As you know, this legislation provides public employees a retirement credit of three years added to age or years of service. Also, as you're aware that COVID-19 pandemic has presented all with an unprecedented amount of challenges and our members have and continue to be on the front lines of this COVID-19 pandemic. This retirement credit will provide a level of gratitude, um, that they deserve and have earned for our members for a job well done. And we ask that you report these bills favorably out of committee. Thank you. Now I'll turn it over to Mark Sanders Boston Firefighters Local 718
[MARK SANDERS (BOSTON FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 718):] [HB2651] [SB1717] Thank you paul. Chairperson brady. She had forced person Gordon and committee members. Good afternoon. My name is Mark Sanders. I'm a Boston firefighter and legislative agent for Boston Firefighters Local 718. I'd like to thank this body for the opportunity to testify in favor of House bill 2651 It's Senate bill 1717 but I'd also like to thank Representative2919 Denise Garlick and Senator Paul Feeney for sponsoring these important pieces of legislation. This particular legislation will directly affect eight Boston firefighters who have been diagnosed with career ending injuries classified as occupational cancer and cardiac disease. All of these firefighters are presumed to have contracted these potentially2938 deadly diseases in the line of duty as outlined2941 in Cancer Presumption Law and Heart and Lung Law.
2944 However,2944 providing that these diagnosis diagnoses are job related, hinges upon the employee's documented passage of a physical examination prior to employment. Furthermore, the result of their physical exam must not have revealed the condition to which they are currently diagnosed. Firefighting is a deadly disease and coupled with the burden of proving that you were healthy upon hired has made this a very difficult process. This has become enormously stressful not only to these eight Boston firefighters, but to their families that they now have to prove that prior to employment that they were healthy.
The passage of House Bill 2651 and Senate Bill 1717 will do just that with the submission of an affidavit in lieu of a missing document. It is wrong to punish these firefighters physically with their job related diagnoses and mentally with the stress of not having their injury acknowledged by the municipality that they have spent an entire career protecting. We urge you to report on this favorably and I appreciate my time. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay.
Yeah, thank you john, is that the testimony of your panel peers to be uh sarah brady. Do you have any questions
[SEN BRADY:] Just uh, of Mark You mentioned it was eight Boston firefighters. Do we know how many in, because I mentioned earlier there was, it was Medford and Boston firefighters that's affected. And do we know besides Medford and Boston is there a big number across the commonwealth related to these illnesses?
[SANDERS:] I don't, I don't have that number for you. Senator Brady. Uh like I said on behalf of Boston, I know there's eight and I know Medfield also has a situation there. I don't know if Paul Jacques
3053 [BRADY:]3053 Yeah3053 Paul might have an answer go ahead Paul.
[JACQUES:] Yes. As uh as Mark said there was he answered for the Boston portion, but as far as there is Medfield, they've been working on that situation with Representative as well. So it only affects a couple of members there, but there as we research this more and get out to our members at different state meetings and such, we're finding that it's happening a lot of other places. So we're documenting that as well. Uh and in a future date we can gather all that information and get it to.
[BRADY:] That'd be great. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you.
Mr coach here. Thank you. Mr chair any members of the committee with any questions? I see none. So thank you very much to this panel. Um I am going to, first of all, um I noticed that there are two witnesses that were listed to testify with Jim Redmond. I didn't realize you were here, but you're here. Um We do have a representative duly here who had signed up to testify now at 1 50. So I'm gonna call up Representative duly and then I'm going to call uh Stephen Craig, Lynn and robert Sullivan. Um, so so realize you're next on deck and I believe Representative duly you have a couple of thought constituents with you.
[REP DOOLEY:] [HB2628] I do thank you. Mr Chairman. Um and3136 I appreciate you taking me out of turn and I apologize. My3139 my camera is not working on my phone for some reason. Um the joys of technology. Uh, but I'm here to testify on H 2628 um similar to some of the earlier bills. What this does is it um allows for disability benefits and the presumption of a diagnosis of cancer for police officers. So basically what it does, it takes the bill that we've done for firefighters and um extend this to police officers as well. Um, you know, I'm fortunate enough to still serve on my local fire department and I can testify to the fact that um consistently and when we're at these fires and we're at burning buildings and whether it's a car fire or wherever where a lot of these carcinogens are being released. Um We're not, there alone.
Our brothers in blue are always there with us. Oftentimes they're there first, um and they're they're in, you know, in harm's way as well, and they are breathing in these toxic chemicals and they do not have uh the apparatus. So a lot of times3206 they're first on the scene, and they're they're trying to do everything they can to help save some people people uh if the Fire Department isn't there yet. Um, and so they're being exposed to this as well. So I think it's very fair uh that we are able to make sure that if someone is in this particular situation that they are treated with the same level of care and respect uh, that the firefighters get. Um and with me today, I have uh, Chief McGrath who is the Chief of Wrentham and also Lieutenant Detective David Betz of Chelsea, who's testifying on behalf of his partner Carlos, who actually um recently passed away from cancer caused on3252 the line of duty. So I won't go on. So I don't know. Uh, you would like to take Chief McGrath or lieutenant Betz first. Um, but thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Is Chief McGrath on
eric. I lost you for a second.
Chief demographic. God, yes, you can hear me teeth3287 go ahead, yep.
[WILLIAM MCGRATH (WRENTHAM PD):] [HB2628] Um so I'm reading a statement on behalf of Deputy Chief George Labonte, uh, who is very active on this cause. And I support him of course, and he's traveling, so he's in transit and I'm going to read his statement as if it's him. So bear with me on that. You know, in general, I kind of echo what Representative Dooley just stated. Which is that I've been, I've been on this job for over 20 years and every time there's a fire police3325 are there they're there first. And it would only seem logical to me, uh, in many of these cases that the police are exposed to the same kind of toxins and hazards and don't have any of the equipment that like the firefighters that they're actually exposed to, it probably for longer periods of time and they're in the thick of it once they go in. So that's just my own comment on it. That it all seems very logical that it that that we would fall into the same category.
But I'll go on now to read this statement from Deputy Chief George Labonte who by the way, is an inspiration to this department and everyone who knows him for the way in which has been battling this cancer. Mhm. My name is George Labonte and I am the deputy chief Of police from town to Wrentham, where I also resigned. I am 41 years old and I have been a police officer in Wrentham for over 18 years. I'm here today to voice my support for Bill3382 H 2628 an act providing disability benefits for3385 police officers with certain conditions of cancer By Representative Sean Dooley. Five years ago and after 12 years on the job, I was diagnosed with a rare and3397 incurable form of thyroid cancer. My first thought was how can I have cancer? I was 35 years old, I ate healthy and exercise often. My second thought was, how am I going to take care of my family?
I had three young Children, all under the age of five. I soon had surgery, Chemo and radiation, all of which3417 left me temporarily unable to work. However, I am one of the lucky ones as I was able to return to work full time after just five months. A year later, the cancer metastasized to my spine and a year after that it developed in my liver, lower spine and hips. Thankfully due to a trial drug I am currently prescribed, I am able to continue to work full time and still able to provide for my family. Currently, Massachusetts only allows ordinary disability retirement if a police officer is diagnosed with cancer, which leaves them totally disabled and unable to work. The officer must have 10 years vested in the retirement system and their benefits are equated to years of service if they were at the age of 55.This would have left me with only 35% of my salary.
35% of a police officer's salary would not have been enough to support my family, let alone also pay high medical costs associated with cancer treatments. This bill closely mirrors the current Cancer Presumption Law for firefighters who are disabled or die as a result of3484 certain types of cancer. The current law, which protects firefighters, was enacted in 1990 and at that time there were not many research studies on the correlation between police officers and cancer. Since 1990, several studies, including international research have shown police officers to be at a higher risk of developing certain types of cancer than the general public.
3506 I3506 have researched many peer reviewed articles and have empirically backed evidence showing police officers suffer disproportionate from cancer. I urge you to report to report out Bill H 2628. Police officers who are more likely to develop certain types of cancer because of their profession are due the financial support they deserve if they are left totally disabled and unable to work from this awful disease. I thank you for your time. Deputy Police Chief George C Labonte. That concludes the deputy's statement. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Uh huh. Thank you for your testimony here, brady. Do you have questions? I don't have any questions. MR Coach here. Thank you very much for sharing that statement and for testifying members of the committee. Any questions
um Is Lieutenant Bets Mr Chairman is lieutenant Bets on the line. Is what on the line? Lieutenant Bet right represent. I'm going to call it. Okay. I just wanted to make sure you have him as well. Thank you sir.
So I hear no question. So therefore, thank you very much for your testimony. And it's the next person on the list is David Betts.
I don't see your name, but you might be one of the phone numbers there.
Okay. I don't see a David bets on the on the list of people here. I'm assuming you're not a phone number because you would have answered so, so representative duly when he gets here, we'll take we'll look for him. But I don't think he's here.
[DOOLEY:] No, no. Thank Thank. Thank you. Thank you very much. And I just wanted to add that this was also co sponsored by the this bill is actually co sponsored and supported by the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, as well as the Boston Patrolmen's Union. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Representative. Uh, next thank you. Thank you. Uh, robert. Sullivan, are you here? I think you're here.
That's fine. About 2593. Mr Sullivan, I saw you here. Okay. How about Stephen Craig Land, steven craig land? Are you here? Okay then. Let let me see if we have signed up for this time. Mhm. As people come in and out, the the scroll is a little bit more difficult. Let's see. We have who has signed up? Hold a
wow. Um Okay, let's see. Uh
Okay, we're gonna move on to our next panel then. And that would be bryan tully, Mark Sanders, brian, driscoll's,3702 jennifer driscoll On h. 2648. And I think you've also signed up to testify about Senate 1725 1663 and house 2650. You could just combine your testimony on those bills. I believe you were panel. So, yeah.
[BRIAN TULLY (BOSTON FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 718):] [SB1725] [HB2648] How are you doing good afternoon. Uh the Driscolls we're gonna, we're gonna testify on uh Senate Bill 1725 in House Bill 2648. Uh Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brian Pizza. We I'm a newly elected legislative agent for Boston Firefighters Local 718. I'm a 32.5 year veteran of the Boston Fire and like I said, I'm newly elected to this role I'm in today. So uh I'd like to thank that chairs and the body for allowing this testimony and with the Driscoll families to my, to my left. And this is Beau Sants Angelo, son of another one of our retired firefighters that's been stricken with Parkinson's. So before I let the Driscolls and the Sants offer some testimony just let me off you a brief history on both of these fine gentlemen.
Uh Lieutenant Driscoll he actually testified before this committee in October of 2019, but sadly he passed away in April of this year, God rest his soul. Uh He was appointed to the fire department back in 1978. He was always on a busy fire company. He was on during what we call the war years before my time. He probably responded to over 1000 fires probably more than that. And even3809 though we did everything right, it's the nature of the business. Uh you get back to the firehouse, you take off your3816 PPE and you find that you're covered in this oily black film and then you jump in the shower and you know, you're absorbing all these toxins into your system.
So uh You know, Bobby, his wife's over in the forum here, so and and uh Bobby Suh Beau's dad Robbie Sant Angelo. He was appointed in 1987. He was a 31 year veteran, Same as Lieutenant Driscoll, he was always on busy fire companies and uh Robbie was diagnosed in September of 18 and sadly he retired from the Boston Fire in October of 18. So we feel that who better to tell their story than the Children because this god awful disease doesn't just affect a member. I think it affects the family is probably more so if I could please introduce to you first Brian and Jeniffer Driscoll, thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Good afternoon, uh can you move the either the camera or the computer over? Mhm. Thanks.
[BRIAN DRISCOLL (CONCERNED CITIZEN):] [HB2648] [SB1725] Yeah, good afternoon as a Deputy Tully explained two years ago my father Robert Driscoll was was here sharing his own testimony regarding the Parkinson's bill and unfortunately April this year he passed away due to uh complications from his weakened state due to his Parkinson's disease. I just want to reiterate again today just how important this bill is to ensure that that other firefighters who are suffering from and will suffer from Parkinson's in the coming years are ensured the assistance that they and their families deserve. Uh it has already been acknowledged that other health problems such as cancers and heart issues can be attributed to the hazards of, of exposure to toxic chemicals and substances firefighters face on the job.
Substances like benzene, tetrachloride, PVCs, PVCs, other industrial solvents, Just to name a few. The name's the same should be said for neurological diseases like Parkinson's. When these chemicals burn and mix together in an uncontrolled environment the fumes and soot from these reactions are equally as deadly as the flames. Even with advances and protective equipment, these substances and byproducts of their reactions get in lungs seep into your pores cling to your clothes. From my childhood I will never forget the smell that always accompanied my father every time he came home from a shift on the job. Um, again, as it was, as it was stated, uh, my, my father was a 41 year veteran of the fire department. He started in 78.
Uh he weathered the layoffs and, and the arson epidemic of the early 1980s. And by the time he was promoted to lieutenant in 2006, he took a desk job at the personnel division was, it was already too4012 late for him. Um, after developing some, some tremors on the right side of his body in 2015, he was finally diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.4022 As we learn more over the coming months, it became more apparent that his first symptoms may have actually started occurring 15 years prior back in 2001 when he lost his sense of smell. Um despite the fact that his desk job as a lieutenant was meant to be temporary, he wished to return to uh a house and an active truck. Um Over the years, his his symptoms kept getting worse and it it soon became clear that he wasn't gonna be able to return uh with his fellow firefighters to respond to emergencies.
I remember coming home a lot from school and seeing him watching Youtube videos of fires that he was at and fires that his his co workers were4074 at. It was very clear that he missed being on the job in that way. Um his career meant that he spent a lot of time away from home, coupled with the fact that during much of his time at the Boston Fire Department, he worked two jobs to make sure that his family was taken care of. And as a result4095 of this time away, we, we really appreciated vacations together as a family and our most fondest vacations where when we would rent an RV and go on road trips together. Because of this, my father, his dream retirement was to own a RV of his own and so we could finally go on all the trips that4113 had to get put off. And as his symptoms got worse and worse, it, it soon became clear that he wasn't going to be in any physical condition to operate or maintain something like an RV.
So his retirement was taken from him before he even left the job. Um, inevitably he lost ground with his fight against Parkinson's because there's no cure. And after his diagnosis, it was clear that it was time for him to retire, but there was hope that a bill like this would be passed years ago. And as a result, my dad held on and continued his career, hoping the bill would pass so his family could be assured a little extra help with his eventual need for care. I hate to say this, but it's important to note that in my father's final years at the fire department he had a mass on his thyroid biopsy. Fortunately it was benign but he he later he later confided in us to us that he had hoped that it was cancerous so that he could get some some some recompense and Remittance for for for his time on the job since he knew that he wasn't going to get anything for Parkinson's.
This isn't right that no one, let alone uh a first responder should ever have to have that kind of thought when thinking about their family and how to take4196 care of4197 them. Um The tremors turned to shuffling feet. He then started to have difficulty concentrating and he eventually was getting lost coming home from work and then the hallucination started. So he he finally retired after 41 years in 2019. And he testified at the statehouse on this very bill or a bill, similar with my sister Jennifer. And again, the can was kicked down the road. We got to go on one final vacation, the May of during the month of May in the year he retired to celebrate. And unfortunately last year, his retirement was obviously lost to Covid, the lockdown shutdowns, there was no traveling, there was no trips.
Um and just after thanksgiving of last year,4244 he fell getting out of4246 bed through the night because he suddenly had lost use of his legs or his feet. And his final four months, he spent bouncing around between hospitals and rehabs, mostly in isolation. We weren't able to go visit him, we weren't able to call him. He continuously worsened and he didn't know where he was, he didn't know who he was. He thought his family was dead, he thought he was in jail. He was so confused. So we finally were able to get him home where he actually received better care. When we finally got to see him for the first time in four months, that was the first time I ever saw my father cry and I will never forget that.
I'm very grateful that we got to spend one last Easter dinner together as a family. He passed away two days later. This isn't just my father's fight, Jen and4304 I have two cousins who are also on Boston Fire. There are other firefighters who have or are at risk of Parkinson's. While it may be too late for my father please don't wait any longer in passing this. There are other men and women on the fire department who don't deserve to suffer the same fate. Give them at least a peace of mind that they will have assistance in dealing with the cost of care and lifestyle changes that inevitably come with this disease. Thank you. Thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much for your testimony. I'm sorry for what you went through it for your loss.
Mr Speaker, We allow jennifer testified briefly as well. I want to be as sensitive as possible, but we have such a number of witnesses coming. So the answer is yes, but if we could make a brief, I really appreciate it. And I don't mean to sound insensitive about thank you.
[JENIFFER DRISCOLL (CONCERNED CITIZEN):] [HB2648] [SB1725] Thank you. Um, so obviously I won't reiterate what my4374 brother already went through, but just to make it clear, Well, my father was concerned about came to fruition. Um, even in his states of altered mental status, he4385 had to check in every now and then to make sure that we were financially sound. Um, on his death certificate will read Parkinson's and actually it was sepsis that got him in the end because of the wounds he received in his care. Um, but it was really also a combination of the healthcare SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
can you move the camera again please? I'm sorry. Um, so
like table right well arranged.
I'm sorry.
[DRISCOLL:] Um, so4417 my father was hospitalized.4425 I'll try to make this really quick. Um, right after thanksgiving, he was hospitalized. They weren't sure what was causing us. He did test positive for Covid, but there was no explanation for what he was going through. He was sent immediately to a rehab facility that he went in walking and he came out bedridden completely bedridden. We actually had to call the police to get him out because they refused to call him an ambulance, kept telling us he was fine. Um He went to the Newton Wellesley where again they couldn't figure out what's going on. He was transferred on Christmas to the Brigham and throughout all this he developed a wound on his back that would reach his spine. He needed a boom back.
Um They sent him to another facility and again um He's just his condition worsened and worsened. Um He they took the they would unplug his phone and he lost the function to dial on his cell phone so he would go entire weekends thinking we were dead and we couldn't reach him. Um he finally came home in March and we ran into big issues right away. We had to buy everything that he needed, We had to rent everything that he needed, the in home nurses. It was hard getting them and when they came they didn't have all the supplies that they needed for him. So my mother bought those too. Um My father paid into a pension so we did not have Medicare benefits. He would have had from his other job, but the4512 payments never made it to Social Security. So we didn't find that out until later.
And my father was so diligent in putting money away for his retirement that we also didn't qualify for any benefits. Um it was a very real fear that we were going to have to spend through all those savings. And a month at one facility alone was over $26,000 and medication for $800, Multiple ambulance rides for at least $600 a piece. And on top of that, once he was home, nobody would transport him to his doctor's appointments. No private ambulance company would come to our house to transport him to doctor's appointments because they don't do that anymore. So I called the state, I called elder services and they gave me the number of a random guy who showed up at their door with a business card who had his own rig. That was the solution.
Um My father, unfortunately all those injuries he sustained while he was in care, his condition for Parkinson's, and all those symptoms and masked each other and he woke up not able to breathe on the morning of April 6th. He was on a ventilator by that afternoon and he was dead by that night. So we're at my father wanted this bill to pass so badly. He knew it wasn't for him. Um, as you heard my brother said his job and the people he worked with were a part of him. And the dangers of this job4598 are changing and he was imploring you to help these men and women to serve, who served um to help them live and in dad's case, die with dignity.
Um, as traumatic as this was for our family, we were incredibly lucky to have the support of the Boston Fire Department and the Professional Firefighters Association of Mask and a good friend of4616 his in general, Captain Paul McCarthy. Um but, where would we have been4620 without this? I don't I don't know, it was overwhelming. It was isolating and quite honestly it was four months of treatment. Had he lived further I don't know what we would have done because in four months of treatment we went through most of what he saved us. So I will be respectful of your time4642 and please please pass this bill for him. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you so much for your testimony. And again I'm so sorry for your loss.
Um Does uh Mr chair I have any questions. Uh I just want to thank Kenneth and her brother buying for their powerful looking at your phone testimony.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I'm sorry. Any questions for4681 many members of the committee?
Okay. Uh hearing none. Thank you so much for your testimony. We have representative garlick.
[REP GARLICK:] [HB2651] [HB2650] Hello. Good afternoon. Um I am here to testify4700 on two bills H 2651 an act relative to maintenance of physical exam, records of public safety personnel and on H 2650 an act relative disability, death caused by contagious disease. But first I'd like to express my respect for the chairs and the sensitivity in which they are addressing these heart rendering stories that we're hearing and the great needs that are being discussed. Um just overwhelming, overwhelming to hear these stories. Um on H 2651 I wanted to say very briefly, I thank you for taking my testimony. I am here to demonstrate in person my strong support of these two bills and I am4744 submitting written testimony on both. If I could summarize briefly, 2651 actually deals with an issue related to a town in my district. But I know it is repeated throughout the commonwealth.
We know that all fire departments are not created equal with resources and staffing. And in fact within 20 miles of Boston, the town of Medfield4766 has had a volunteer fire department for a very long time, as does the town of Dover. And that has led to um perhaps um fragmented or inaccurate record keeping over many, many years. Um, the lack of personnel records results in an unintended consequence leaving senior members of the department ineligible to receive disability and death benefits. This bill asks um, fire departments to be able to submit affidavits that a member has underwent a physical exam at the time of hire and then deal further with under any underlying health conditions. Um, to be able to deal with the issue of disability and death benefits.
Um, I think for many of the members on the committee, they will find that this is true in their districts, in the towns and their district as well um through the years, but not to have um to have another pathway to have the affidavit will be very, very helpful. And the second bill on an act relative to disability or death caused by contagious disease. What we are trying to do in this bill is to create a rebuttal presumption for public safety and first responders that any disease resulting from exposure to blood or other bodily fluids while suffered in the line of duty. This is consistent with state practices. Certainly related to firefighters, EMTs, and other public safety personnel um In light of cancer. We are trying to expand this benefit and to align um the way we approach these issues.4860 Um I thank the committee for the time. I am committed to working with you as we move forward. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much.
I appreciate cheer uh brady. Do you have any questions? I did not just thank you guys for your testimony? Absolutely, yeah. Thank you very much. Do we have any questions from anybody from the committee hearing? None. Thank you very much represented Garlic. Next we have signed up represented chris Hendricks with Deborah Cassidy.
Hello? Mr Sugarman. Can you hear me?
Hello. Thank you very much. Representative. Right
[REP HENDRICKS:] [HB2650] [HB2770] [SB1760] So thank thank you. Mr. Thank you Chairman Gordon and chairman Brady and thank you to all the members of the committee. Um I am here today to speak in support of three bills H. 2650 H. 2770 and S 1760. All of which in one way or another would create a legal presumption that any police officer stricken, with COVID-19 did so in the context of his or her4940 employment as an officer of the commonwealth. As we all know, the families of police officers are entitled to certain benefits if the officer dies in the line of duty, This includes increased percentages in pension disbursements, as well as federal and state lump sum benefits. Without some sort of legal presumption as it stands today, if an officer dies from COVID-19, that death is typically treated as an incident outside of the context of that officer's employment.
Um This in turn, has created an increased burden on the families to get with what they're entitled to, because it's practically impossible to show where this Covid molecule was contracted. Um And quite frankly, municipalities are not necessarily jumping at the gun to protect these families,4981 like you think they would in these situations. But this is fixable, however, with the functions of the law as structured um in the three aforementioned bills. Recently, Mr. Chairman, The City of New Bedford lost one of its officers Sergeant Michael Cassidy, to COVID-19. Um and because no such presumption exists his family is currently receiving less than they would have had this been deemed a work related5004 injury.
Um Instead of getting 100% of the pension, um they're only getting about 70 some odd percent. Um And the lump sum benefits on the state and federal level are both being tied up for this very reason. Um So we so we in the legislators should be asking ourselves, is this what we want for families of those who protect us to go through an administrative nightmare to get what they deserve, especially during a global pandemic. So, these bills would essentially remedy that situation. Uh Mr. Chairman. Making Covid diagnosis presumptively work related5033 and is an acknowledgement that we value the risk that police officers and other essential workers have taken during this outbreak. Um And that when they do succumb to COVID-19 God forbid their families know that they'll be better protected. Um, and in turn, will have a better peace of mind.
Um because of this unprecedented pandemic, police officers have been told to continue working despite the daily risk of contracting the virus. They are on the front lines. They are sacrificing or risking everything for the common good. Police officers should be detected, should be protected from this financial hardship that would result if they succumb to COVID-19 and have their benefits withheld. So what makes someone essential in the first place, it's their job, right? So the notion of work related this in it of itself is baked into the foundation of what it means to be essential to begin with. Um, so why is Massachusetts not affirmatively pro and proactively protecting police officers that we've directed to continue working through5088 the pandemic.
Um, and now committee with cases again on the up and with the delta variant making its way through the commonwealth. We really should be proactive on this matter, I think. And get something like this on the books to protect our first responders. Like, like, like Sergeant Mike Cassidy. Mike Cassidy who passed away from COVID-19 in the line of duty. With that, I urge you Mr. chairman and the rest of the committee to report these bills out favorably. Um I don't know if Ms. Cassidy planned on speaking at all. I know she's on the call. Um I5123 reserved sometimes in the event that she wanted to so at this time I'll just reserve um for her to speak. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
5129 Did5129 you contribute?
Hi, hammy can.
[DEBORAH CASSIDY (CONCERNED CITIZEN):] [HB2650] [HB2770] [SB1760] Okay, I'm Deborah and Michel, Sergeant Michael Cassidy's wife On March 14 he tested positive for COVID. He went downhill pretty quick. He went by ambulance on March 16th they sent him home saying he was fine. He was not fine. He could barely walk. He could barely breathe without a struggle. He came home He had fevers surging to 105. He went back by ambulance on March 18th. Uh And it struggled. Got put in ICU On March 26th on April 2nd Got put on a ventilator.5178 Every day was a struggle trying to get Doctors to tell you what was going on because my daughter and I tested positive after him. We weren't allowed into the hospital the first day we were allowed into the hospital was March 31st to see him And it was only 10 minutes at a time. He couldn't even speak. He was on a BiPAP machine.
This is a strong healthy 52 year old male. Every day we went to visit him while he was on a ventilator, his body starts shutting down. His organs start shutting down. And on April 28th he passed away. This man would put on his uniform and be a cop 24/7. He received citations, lifesaving awards whether he was on duty or not, he was out there serving and protecting this city. The city is not standing behind him or his family. They are having a hard time seeing that Covid is in the line of duty. This bill would help my daughter and I ensure us that I wouldn't have to worry about losing my home because now suddenly I became a single mom of a college student. It has been heartbreaking the emotions that go along with it all, but the panic of not knowing what our future hold.
When he for 27 years put his life on the line not knowing if he was going to come home to his family and this time he did not. So with this bill being passed it would ensure our family and also help future families that wouldn't have to go through what we're going through right now. And that would ensure them to get the benefits that they need and deserve for serving and protecting and putting on that uniform and taking that5325 oath to protect and serve. Thank you.
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Thank you very much. Miss Cassidy. Thank you for the service of your husband. I'm sorry for your loss and I appreciate that. Representative Hendricks has been filing this and other present presumption bills turning over the the idea that workers shouldn't have to prove where they contracted the virus that we're willing to go out and serve the public during this difficult state of emergency. Uh Senator brady. I just like to convey my condolences to mrs Cassidy as well. And thank you for a testimony. Everybody from the committee
Harrington, thank you very much for your testimony. Ah Representative Allyson. Sullivan has signed up.
[REP ALYSON:] [HB2784] [HB2808] Thank you. MR Chairman. I do apologize that I am on my phone so I do not have the video capabilities right now. Um I just want to thank you and the committee members for your time this afternoon. I understand you have a very busy committee hearing in front of5403 you. So I will keep my testimony brief And he had to testify on behalf of House 2784 which is an act relative to PERAC benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. This bill would essentially give a waiver to PERAC to allow retirees on disability to earn more taxable income um than they are allowed. then their allowed amount. I filed this legislation in response to a constituent who reached out to my office regarding how he and his family have found themselves struggling because the pandemic and his income restrictions.
Unfortunately his wife had lost wages during the pandemic and he was also restricted on the amount that he could earn. I recognize that many families struggled during the pandemic. However, those that were restricted on how much they were allowed to earn found themselves struggling even more. Governor Baker in 2020 gave a waiver to state retirees to lift certain restrictions. But unfortunately those restrictions were still in place for those retired with disability. I ask the committee to report this bill of favorably in a timely manner to help those who are finance who are still financially struggling. I5464 also would like to give my support to house 2808 and uh thank you Mr. chairman and the committee members for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Representative for your testimony, Chair brady doing the questions
helmets and chairman. Just thank you to the represent for5485 a testimony. Thank you. Anyone from the committee seeing none. Thank you Representative taking time to testify before us. Uh next up Brian McPherson testifying about age 2784.
I'm sorry brian Mcpherson.
Okay. Um Next up, I'm going to go to brian, are you there? You are here? Okay? Alright. Someone's not on mute I think. Uh let's go to um
let's go to Back to H - 808. Merrie Najimy.
Yes, I'm here. Okay,
[MERRIE NAJIMY (MTA):] [HB2808] [SB1669] greetings. Thank you, Chairs Brady5545 and Gordon and members of the joint committee for giving me the5548 time to speak today. I'll be brief. My name is Merrie Najimy. I'm a public school educator, public college graduate and the president of the 117,000 member Massachusetts Teachers Association. I'm speaking you to do today to express the MTA's strong support of H 2808 and S 1669 an act relative to providing a COVID-19 retirement credit to essential public sector workers.5574 Many thanks to Rep Zlotnik Senator Velis and Collins for filing these important pieces of legislation.
Throughout the unprecedented pandemic educators have linked hands with other5587 essential workers across the commonwealth to keep our communities functioning and thriving despite the crisis and at great risk to our own health and safety and that of our families. It's often been extremely stressful, physically, mentally and emotionally, but we did not hesitate and I know we would do it all again because we believe the public sector serves the public good. This legislation is one way that you our elected leaders can recognize the extreme sacrifices that all essential workers have made to keep the public functioning. When schools, colleges and universities were closed during the peak of the pandemic MTA members were therefore our communities and worked hard to ensure that students and staff could return as safely as possible.
Even when returning to work sites with poor ventilation and other structural deficits that are often in low income communities of color, which experienced some of the highest Covid rates in the state. Our public educators were there for their students and we went above and beyond in service to the community at large. Our educators, including our education support professionals in our K 12 schools and our public college and universities heard the call and stepped up the help to recovery by serving meals to the neediest. Reaching out to students and families, helping schools to reopen safely and even sanitizing our public buildings themselves so everyone can return with a greater peace of mind. And in closing as the president of the MTA I'm proud to represent K12 teachers, public higher education faculty and staff. Pre K12 educators and education support professionals throughout the public education system and for them and all other public employees who've been given so much to help Uh put the pandemic behind us. I respectfully request your support and quick action on both House 2808 and Senate 1669. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much mary. I appreciate your testimony. Chair brady. Well said thank you for your testimony. Thank you. Thank you all. Let me see if I see it. He and from the committee, yep, seeing none. Thank you very much hopes for your testimony. Next up, tim Mcmillan to testify about S. 1725
to Macmillan. Are you here? Yes.
For for Mr Tierra? Senator walter. Templeton has joined us. Uh Yes, thank you very much. And I actually send out a message he'll be testifying5759 next. Thank you sir.
Good Mr Mcmillan. Go ahead. Okay, thank you.
[TIM MACMILLAN (CONCERNED CITIZEN):] [SB1725] Thank you. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Members of the board of the committee for having me here today to do testimonial on Bill number S 1725. An act relative to Parkinson's disease, disability and death in firefighters. I just like to give the testimony on behalf5785 of my brothers and sisters, the fire service throughout the commonwealth. Um As myself, being a retired firefighter with Parkinson's myself. I was diagnosed back in 2014. I. Mhm. With Graig Heath, who is a retired firefighter with Parkinson's disease as well. What him and I go through and As my father who served 37 years on the fire department as well, Um, he developed Parkinson's symptoms and passed away from those Parkinson symptoms back in 2007.
And I'd just like to say that I'm here to support the bill and this bill I support this bill because back I was a firefighter from the town of Spencer for several years and then I became disabled due to Parkinson's disease. And back in when I was on the fire department back in February of 1986, there was a huge tire fire at Joe's junk yard located in Spencer. The fire was so large that recoil usually Services from 11 surrounding communities and took five days to burn. I worked at the fire. It was estimated that 750,000 tires burned, exposing the firefighters, excuse me, exposing the firefighters to plumes of thick, accurate toxic smoke. My wife and I believe that my exposure to the toxins and the smoke is due to the cause of my Parkinson's.
And again bringing up my father who fought for 37 years was at the same fire was exposed to same toxins. He died at the age of 62 from his Parkinson's related symptoms. And we believe his exposure to toxins at the fire are the cause of his medical disease. And not only that, but I found out that there was two other members on the same engine company that my dad and I were on the same department at the same tire fire for the same amount of days they experience inhaling all this thick toxic smoke developed Parkinson's disease and one of those members have passed away a few years ago. And my former captain, which I found out a couple years ago, he was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and I just found out probably four weeks ago that5959 his health due to his Parkinson's disease is declining greatly. Yeah so I just like to say that I support this bill and hope we can go forward and that we the firefighters have been there in the community's time of need. So now it's time for the community to turn around and be there at our time of need dealing with Parkinson's and please support and pass this bill. I greatly appreciate it. I greatly appreciate for your time. Thank you very much.
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Thank you Mr Mcmillan chair brady. You have any questions? No I just ah my heart goes out to Mr Mcmillan and his family and thank you for your testimony. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Senator. Thank you uh questions from the committee saying none. Thank you for your testimony. Mr Mcmillan. Senator Timilty Thank you for joining us with the committee and also you have some testimony. I believe you went off
[SEN TIMILTY:] [SB1786] Chair Gordon Chair brady. Distinguished members of the committee thank you very much for this opportunity to testify. Mr Macmillan thank you for your brave service to the commonwealth. Today I'm here to testify and support a bill that I6038 filed Senate Bill 1786 an act relative to the safety of fire, police and emergency medical technicians from contagious diseases. Moreover, this bill is a re file from the previous legislative session. Specifically this legislation, as I have proposed it creates a presumption for police fire EMS personnel, corrections officers and court officers that any contagious disease resulting from exposure to blood and other bodily fluids of the sick, including Hepatitis A, B, or C, Tuberculosis and HIV were suffered in the line of duty. As such this legislation will simply ensure that our public safety officials6082 and personnel will see benefits in light of these work related illnesses resulting in death, disability or medical services being required under Chapters 3241 and 152 of the Mass General Laws.
Additionally, this legislation will give the commissioner of the Department of Public Health the authority to add to this list of contagious diseases if it is determined that a disease has a statistically significant correlation with police fire or EMS. Quite simply every day, public safety officers and personnel put their lives on the line in order to protect the general public. Furthermore, we have witnessed throughout the last year as our first responders, our police, our fire our EMTs And all public safety personnel have battled COVID-19 during this pandemic. The lengths that they and do go to protect us. Ensure that this legislation will ensure that those who put their lives on the line for all of us receive the same level of care that they have so selflessly delivered to us each and every day and continue to do so.
So for that I6158 thank all of our police our fire, our EMTs, our corrections officers and our court officers for all that they do. And with that, I respectfully ask that Senate Bill 1786 be given a favorable report by this committee. I look forward to the opportunity to work with this committee going forward. It's a committee that I've served6177 on in the past proudly. I thank you. Chair Gordon you Senator brady for your leadership and to each and every member of the committee. Thank you.
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Thank you senator for your testimony. This important bill and your advocacy for IT. Senator brady chair brady the site to convey. Thank you Senator for your testimony. Thank you very much more than happy to answer any questions as always, thank you very much. I don't have any at this time. Members of the committee, thank you very much. You know that we have a few elected officials waiting to testify. What I'd like to do is kind of go, uh alternatively bringing people from the public who have been waiting as well and then we'll get to the elected officials in that way. So the next person when a call is Gregory Halton to testify about H 2808 S 1669 with Senator di dominica from the Colin. You next
6240 Gregory6240 album.6240 Are you here?
Okay, let's go. Um, I I would like to get one more member of the public paul, Cormier. are you here? Yes, I'm here. Okay, go ahead.
[PAUL CORMIER (MONTACHUSETT REGIONAL VOCATIONAL SCHOOL):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Yeah. How you doing? Um I am testifying on 2808 and 1669 Paul Cormier, I'm an electrical trade teacher at Montachusett Regional Vocational High School in Fitchburg, and I'm speaking on behalf of my school system and really any other school system that was open in the uh, during this school year. Most of vocational schools were open in6279 some sort of hybrid mode. Um, needless to say it was a very long and6285 challenging year. What a lot of challenges that we faced. Um a lot of adapting very fast to how, how we were going to get information to students and keep students in school as much as possible. So we operated in hybrid mode. So the school,6301 the students were coming to school every other week and being trained at home on the off weeks.
Um It was a tremendous undertaking. Um We we definitely had our issues with Covid and the school but we stayed safe following the CDC guidelines and everything seemed to work out at the end of the school year. Um But that's about it. I just want to express that this this bill would go a long way in showing appreciation for the challenges we faced um the entire school year. It was very challenging year. And even if there was some sort of shared cost associated with this, um I I think that would be acceptable, but that's all I have to say. Thank you very much.
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Thank you paul for testifying. Um uh Chair brady. Do you any questions?
No, thank you paul for testifying. Thank you. Any member of the committee? Thank you very much for your testimony and thank you for sharing your support. Uh Senator Di Domenico, you're here to testify.
[SEN DIDOMENICO:] [HB2726] [HB1691] Mhm. Yeah. Thank you, Chair Gordon And Chair Brady and members of the committee, thank you for taking me out of turn I'll be brief. This bill has been spoken about by previous speakers as well, but I'm here to support and speak on behalf of House Bill 2726 Senate Bill 1691 that I have filed with Representative McGonagle and also with the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts. This bill would establish the disability of death and death of police fire or various of the public safety officials resulting in PTSD is presumed to have been suffered in the line of duty.6398 This bill is very, very important for a whole host of reasons. Many of our first responders respond to tragedy and many instances trauma. Our first6407 responders are the first to arrive at the scene. It's a continuous exposure to car accidents, house fires and other emergencies causing the deterioration of their mental health.
In fact, research has shown that repeated and extended exposure to traumatic events triggers PTSD, At similar rates experienced by military personnel who returned from combat. Approximately 20% of firefighters and paramedics meet the criteria for PTSD, compared to the 6.8% lifetime risk of the general population. Furthermore, studies indicate the persons who suffer from PTSD are six times more likely to commit suicide, compared to those who do not suffer from that condition. Our firefighters put this, put their lives on the line each and every day with all of our first responders to keep our communities safe. It's paramount that they receive the support and benefits they deserve to continue doing their jobs to the best of their ability and also live happy, healthy lives outside the workplace.
I filed this legislation to ensure that PTSD be treated like any other disability. By defining post traumatic stress disorder as a disability and creating a presumption that PTSD was suffered in the line of duty this legislation will ensure our firefighters and all our first responders receive a timely and adequate medical care and treatment they need to prevent chronic disabling and potential life threatening disorders from developing. It's essential that the Legislature take this action to provide assistance to protect the first responders to the commonwealth who expose themselves to danger and work tirelessly to ensure our safety and times of trauma and tragedy. Thank you for your consideration and hope the committee will report this bill out favorably. Thanks very much.
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Thank you. Senator6503 Clinton also thank you for filing this important piece of legislation. Uh, Senator brady chair, brady
joe. I was just trying to click back on. No, I just want to thank the center fruits testimony. Okay. Any questions from any member of the committee? Seeing none. Thank you very much. Senator appreciate it. Uh, next we will call on Michael Pereira.
Michael, are you? Yeah. Okay. Okay.
[MICHAEL PERREIRA (MASSCOP):] [HB2808] [SB1669] [HB2628] Good afternoon. Thank you for having me. My name is Michael Pereira on the labor relations manager for the Massachusetts Coalition of Police. Massachusetts Coalition of Police is the largest police union in Massachusetts and represents 4600 members. We have submitted on testimony6558 today on House Bill 2808 and 1669 A act relative to providing COVID-19 retirement credit for a central public sector workers. There are a few times in history that have resulted in the loss of life, destruction of an economy and overall negative impact on lives of every person in the, in the, in the nation. While many people were required to quarantine from their homes, the men and women of law enforcement were out every day in this pandemic, providing order, keeping peace and taking care of those who needs.6594
This included encountering known infected individuals on a regular basis many times with insufficient personal protective equipment. Many of our members who are affected by this result of their duties and sadly some passed away. The pandemic took a serious toll on public safety employees. Yet they left their homes every day to go to work. 2808 and 1669 provides it means of mitigating some of the damage that was caused by this pandemic. Adding three6625 years credit to public employees retirement, who actually had to leave the safety of their homes is the right thing to do. It will assist older employees that are moving forward in their retirement, where many cases they will continue to recover from the infection. It will reward younger employees for their dedication to our community,6643 despite risk of their own health.
6646 In6646 law enforcement it would assist in bringing a new younger, talented individual that can assist in bringing the proposed change of that many are looking for in our profession. Will also assist preventing layoffs in many communities that have seen have been hit hard in its economic impact of the pandemic. We also like to recognize our colleagues, public safety and fire and emergency medical services who stood beside us day to day helping our communities. There are many other essential agencies employees who did not have the option to work remotely from home and help the less fortunate they help the less fortunate and those who find themselves in troubling way.
This bill will reward them for their efforts. We respectfully request this honorable committee to vote these important pieces of legislation favorably and move them through the legislative process as quickly as possible to ensure maximum intent of the benefit for both employers and employees. I'd also like to show our6711 support to Senator Dooley's um Bill House Bill 2628 an act providing disability benefits to police officers with certain conditions of cancer. Uh we will also be filing written testimony on many other bills um that we support. Thank you for your time. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay, thank you very much. Mr Pereira, thank you for your verbal testimony and for following up with written testimony because as I've said before that really does get just as much weight and interest on our part as the rebel testimony6744 taken to that chair brady. Thank you Mr Coach mike. I just want to convey thank you for testimony but also um during the situations that had arisen, not only in boston but in some of the community that I represent everybody has a right to assemble in a peaceful manner.6762 But we did see some unlawful acts where police officers were spit upon and brick stone upon and everything else which6769 was totally uncalled for an illegal. So thank you. Thank you appreciate your words. Thank you. Questions from the committee. Okay seeing none. Thank you Mr Pereira for your testimony.
You've been joined by Representative paul Mark here on the committee as well as he is offering testimony along with George Noel. All industry Philip.
[REP MARK:] [HB2808] All right, thank you. Mr. Chair thank you Chairman Gordon and Senator Brady for allowing us to speak out of turn and thank you allow me to participate by phone. I live in one of those town without the internet, which makes this kind of testimony challenging. We're6808 going to speak about H 2808, which I am a co sponsor of. And I'm joined by my good friend George Noel, who's the business manager of OPEIU Local 6 and a former director of labor under Governor Patrick. And he's going to offer some Verbal Remarks on H 2808.
[GEORGE NOEL (OPEIU LOCAL 6):] [HB2808] uh, thank you very much. Representative Mark uh, and uh Chairman Gordon And everybody else, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on this today. Um like Paul mentioned on the business manager for OPEIU Local 6. We represent over 4500 members of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts uh municipalities and mostly in the trial court. Uh and uh we uh we ask today that that that make it clear that the trial court employees are included in this bill. Uh and if they are not please, we strongly urge that you amend Uh so that they are included. Uh This bill seeks to provide uh COVID-19 essential employee retirement credit bonus of either three years uh of age three years of service, credible to calculation of employee's retirement benefits.
Um The uh the all state employees who reported at work sites during the pandemic, including our members, would benefit from passage of this legislation. These employees would receive recognition for the work they did throughout the pandemic to keep government services running. Uh they put their health and safety on the line as well as that of their families. Uh these bills recognize the collective sacrifice, you know, of OPEIU Local 6 uh members of people that uh worked at the registries of deeds and the municipalities. Our members were essential in the operation of trial court in these registries Uh During the throughout the pandemic. A majority of our members worked in person at their courts allowing uh for continued administration of justice and recording of deeds and other instruments concerning titles to land.
While many of the courts uh shifted to virtual hearings and encouraged e-filings of court documents our members provided in person services day in and day out. Uh You know, they include the clerical staff, professional staff who uh provided interpretive services. Our facilities, people reported to work every day making sure those courthouses were cleaned and disinfected. Many of our courthouses were closed due to uh members of the public showing up and uh that were infected with COVID-19. Uh You know, these facilities, people they like I said, they reported to work every day. We also had our office of uh community corrections out in the public, uh not only delivering PPE to the courthouses but also delivering food and providing services to the communities.
Uh You know, once again we ask that uh this bill be reported out favorably and uh and that it does include uh members of the judiciary7023 who who reported7024 to work and performed above and beyond the call of duty. Um You know, we lost one of our uh one of our office managers in the Springfield District Court due to Covid early on and many of other many others uh suffered infections. We think these people deserve to be recognized. And once again thank you for taking me and uh Brother Paul out of turn today. Thank you for your time.
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Thank you very much Mr Noel. And the bill is broadly written as I see it and we'll we'll take a look at it again. But I think it includes all uh state workers and their subdivisions7071 uh counties are subdivision but we'll take a look at it. Uh Cher brady questions.
Oh thank you. Mr Chair thank you. Any questions from the committee. Okay thank you very much for testifying Next. We're going to turn to Lori Clayton. Laurie, are you here,
Laurie Clayton, are you here?
Okay? Uh Anthony servos pronouncing that right?
S I. V. E. R. S. Anthony symbols. Okay
[CHRIS ROY (ACE UNION):] [HB2808] How you doing? It's Chris Roy in lieu of uh Anthony, with A.C.E. Union correction and county employees in Plymouth County correction officers, maintenance medical we represent. We are calling about the House bill 2808 37127 year credit as you know and it's been stated numerous times. People have been talking about essential employees and that the Rigors that we had to go through. Um quite frankly, a lot of us had to walk into areas in which we knew 100%7146 there were positive cases and we went and did that. Walking in, not positive myself, walking into a positive unit, knowing the risk and we did it time and time again. We were Drastically affected by this staff wise.
We had at one time 30 people at a time out holidays. An eight hour shift wasn't an eight hour shift, it was 16 hours. We constantly are looking at the lifespan of a CO is 59 years old, 59 and we do not know the ramifications of what Covid does to you and how much it does take off your life. But I do know based on all my fellow employees and the 370 people I do represent that doing doubles on a regular basis of 16 hours a day, not seeing family, friends, loved ones through all the holidays that's what we signed up for. We expect that. But because our staff was so short and still is, we're constantly fighting the battle. And we've done a very good job of isolating containing what we had. But the risks are very rail and we're affected by7225 this on a regular basis and no one, No one in our building shied away from their duties for 30 seconds.
We have a lot of lip service at times. We have a lot of promises that go unfulfilled and uh, we would greatly appreciate this committee to pass this. It's7243 in dire need for people that have this disease. I've had it been exposed to it and we don't know the long term ramifications and a lot of us probably won't see retirement. So when we're talking about estuaries and bean counters, it's kind of frustrating. It's frustrating because that's not the reality of the situation and we've seen the testimonies throughout the day. But I can honestly tell you we answered the call without hesitation. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much for your testimony. Senator brady. I'd like to thank you for your testimony.
Thank you. Questions from the committee
cut. Thank you very much. Uh Next uh next up we have a panel kevin flanagan and guy glow Otis.
I can't look
[KEVIN FLANAGAN (MCOFU):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Good afternoon, good afternoon chairs. Gordon and Brady committee members. My name is Kevin Flanagan I'm the legislative represented for Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union. Um MCOFU represents approximately 3700 correction officers, recreation officers and maintenance workers. I'm here in support of House Bill 2808 Senate bill 1669 um which7335 is commonly referred to as a three year retirement bill. Um,7340 MCOFU , who is proud to be a co7343 sponsor of this bill also. All through this pandemic um, like always correction officers went to work 24/7, but during the pandemic, we were obviously faced with much more, um, than we've ever seen before. We saw staff, um, more than frequently come down with the coronavirus going into units that we knew are Covid positive and those staff members went in there to do their job like they are trained to do not knowing what the ramifications were.
And obviously, and a lot of times going home with Covid and subjecting their family members to Covid. Unfortunately when that happened, other officers had to step up and like my brother officer at A.C.E. said eight hours turned into 16 hour days. Um, there were no weekends, there were no holidays off and the correction officers in Massachusetts, um really stepped up and faced this in, uh, invisible enemy straight on. Um, you know, this retirement credit would be a well deserved sign of appreciation for all those, um, that faced this danger, uh, and put their safety aside so they can maintain safety and security in our prison system. We remained professional through it all and went above and beyond doing this. So I'm asking that you favorably report House Bill 2808 and Senate Bill 1669 and continue to continue to support correction officers. I'd like to turn over to Guy Glodis lobbyist for7445 MCOFU.
[GUY GLODIS (MCOFU):] [SB1669] [HB2808] Chairman Gordon and chairman Brady, thank you for your time and service today and through you the members of the committee. I just wanted to reiterate what Kevin Flanagan and said. Public safety employees really had such an arduous challenging task as we all know during the early and almost really during every stage of the Covid pandemic. They were not given the option uh, to stay at home and they really had to go into some very, very dangerous situations and lives were lost and families were really displaced and moved through this pandemic. And You know, we just are asking for your consideration on this bill.
It's something we feel as if the Commonwealth can afford, it wouldn't be a budget buster as the way the bill is written. It could be spread out over 20 years7493 and we look at it, this is our job, this is our duty, they performed their job well. Uh, they would do it no matter what. But we certainly feel as if it would be a very positive and a nice gesture by the commonwealth of Massachusetts to recognize this by allowing this three year retirement bill to go forward. And with that said, we certainly again appreciate your time into consideration on behalf of all of our brothers and sisters in public safety. Thank you.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much for your contributions and your testimony. Senator brady, chair brady. Do you have questions? Thank you both guy and kevin for your testimony as well. Thank you.7535 Any questions from many members of the committee, seeing none. Thank you very much for your testimony. Next up, Arthur Saint Ange.
Arthur ST Onge.
Okay, how about scott Hennigan?7552 Hello, can you hear me here you? Yes. Yes.
[SCOTT HENNIGAN (MA STATE PUBLIC LABORATORIES):] [HB2808] [SB1669] My name is Scott Hennigan. I work at the Mass State Laboratories or what's now the Mass State Public Health Labs. Um, I'm a molecular supervisor. We were the only show in town when Covid first hit. We were the ones that had the CDCSA we were it. Um What I want to establish with you is I'm not here for myself 37 years in I'm almost 63. I'm walking out the door. Why I am here is for all the people that stepped up and stepped forward And went into the hoods and did the 4000 samples a day and really got the testing done.7591 Um I'm I could only say that these are the best people I've ever worked with and I am very proud to be working with them. Um We were the Covid response And all staff from all laboratories in the building stepped up and came forward to go in the hoods to do the paperwork to work with the systems the computer systems to get the results out the door within a 24 hour period of time.
We worked with outside laboratories and sent samples to them because we were inundated with samples. The janitorial staff in the building kept all the door knobs clean, removed all the packaging materials and made sure that materials were removed and people weren't getting exposed what we do here at the laboratory.
There are 18 laboratories from rabies, the TB laboratory, the STI lab, multiple laboratories in this building and everybody came to work every day and functioned. The maintenance facility, making sure that we're able to get the new equipment that we needed in real time up to the floors and we're wired so we could utilize them because again, we were the only show in town until things really started happening. So kudos to the entire staff here at the laboratory.
And to be honest with you With H- 2808 and Senate Bill 1669. They deserve it. However, it has to happen. They deserve it. They came to work like what I'm hearing everybody else say. People had to go back outside while most everybody else was sheltering in place at home. We had to go to work. We had to face the threat of infection. And then people that were doing the testing had to go into a lab environment and again deal with the testing and the large amount of samples, some of them leaking too. I know it sounds crazy, but we had to change what we were doing to accommodate what we were doing. Um It was a very stressful time. We were working seven days a week, 16 hour days and it went on for pretty close to a year. Uh It was very strenuous.
Um I think one thing I want to say and I want to reiterate is that what this bill would do for me, it's really not doing anything. But what it will do is I think retain individuals in jobs that we need them to do. A lot of young kids came forward, signed on. It was really hard, finding the right people right now it's really hard hiring people to fill these really important positions. If you offer them these people that have worked through7755 this madness, um, you offer them that three year period, what that is, is a level of retention because they are going to stay because you've just given them three years towards their pension. It's also showing a level of, you know,7770 worth what they did really mattered. It really meant something that they came in seven days, months on, you know, seven days, Months and months and months and 16 hour days just to get this done. You're going to retain these people. These are the people that we want in these positions now because I tell you this is not over. Just because we're opening up right now this is not over 83%. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Yes. You are past your time. Okay thank you.
I have a tendency you're going on. I appreciate it.7802 It might not be over but I appreciate that our time is okay. Do you want to wrap up or is that it? Okay. All right. Okay. Yeah brady questions. Uh Just like to thank7814 him for his testimony and you are right. It is not over because we have another variants in this case is done in private town in other parts of the commonwealth right now as we speak. So if we're doing the the G. S. The sequencing for those7829 samples, it's another thing that we do here at the lab. So I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Thank you for your important work. Members of the committee and questions. Okay thank you very much. Mr Hannigan. Next up is keith. Wet stone,
keith wet stone. Okay, Francis glove port.
Yes I see you
go ahead. Mr laporte. Come off of you.
You're still on there though? It's on you. You're still on mute. Mr Report you're still on you.
I don't know how,
I don't know how to help but you're still on you and tell you what we're gonna do is to report you. Hang in there we'll take one more witness. Come back to you and you toggle and see if you can help If you can do it. Elizabeth. Harris,
Elizabeth Harris. Are you here?
Okay? Mike Norgren,
When I see you come off mutants of course I'll come back to you. Mike Norgren, are you here? Mhm. Our committee counsel is7923 trying to help you with in the chat and I'm going to take Patricia. Do sheen? Here you are?
Good afternoon. Can you hear me okay?
[PATRICIA DUSHANE (UMASS ARMHEST):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Um My name is Patricia Dushane And I am a licensed electrician employed by the University of Massachusetts. Amherst I've been here for 29 years. And when I work for the I.T Department and when Covid hit and uh governor Baker shut down The Commonwealth My department was made to stay because we were IT and um right around April middle of April I was allowed to leave because I am 62 years old. I was out for a couple of months but the people the other people in my department works hybrid a week here a week there they would swap it off. But in July we were made to come back full time and we all electricians and IT Techs came back full time along with other7984 electricians and maintenance people who were deemed we were deemed on site essential personnel.
While working here at UMass they had students that could not leave campus because of their origin where they come from. So UMass had set up a Covid dorm for students that had come down with the infection and we were made to go in those storms and we didn't have the PPE that the hospitals had. And in December I came down with COVID, I ended up 16 days working days out of work. I ended up in the emergency room of Cooley Dickinson Hospital and then a respiratory clinic. Further I gave it to my husband who didn't get it as bad as I did. Um the reason I'm testifying is that we were at such great risk because we were dealing with students from foreign countries and younger people who just weren't as uh protective of themselves or other people. I will say that because I am a mother of a child who is like that and it bothers me.
Um, but that we deserve this. We, we came to work every day and uh, we did our job and at one point after I had Covid, um, one of my fellow workers was made to go work in the Covid dorm and he was 64 years old and I told him, no, you're not going in there. I will take your place. I've had Covid, I'll go in and you know, he was grateful for that because, you know, it's such a high, high risk. And we just didn't, we didn't have the protection that a lot of these healthcare places had. You know we had our mask and we had gloves, that's all we had. Um and we did our best and we showed up for work and we continue to show up for work every single day and I would just really appreciate the support of this bill. Um It would great a lot of us would greatly appreciate it. I get questions every day from people here at UMass. What do you think about this bill? And I said well I'm hoping that people will see the people that deserve it and that money shouldn't be the reason that it doesn't8114 pass. Thank you.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much. Thank you for your service and thank you for your story. Thank you for your sacrifice. So I don't have any questions. Um I'm gonna ask mr laporte, why don't you log off and come back8130 in again? I can I can see that you're trying just come on back in. We'll be here waiting okay. Um Any questions from the committee for mr Shane? Now again. Thank you. That was a very compelling story and I appreciate you sharing it. Uh Megan Murphy. Yes, I'm here. Okay.
All right, yes I'm here, yep. Go and start. You're just home.
[MEGAN MURPHY (TEWKSBURY HOSPITAL):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Yes. Hi. I am the admissions coordinator for DMH for Tewksbury Hospital. And8163 ever since8165 the beginning of Covid we as a hospital didn't even have the right PPE. We didn't have enough PPE. We had to reuse masks. At the very beginning I was told not to wear a mask because I was told I would scare people. So we went through hell here. I was not as an admissions coordinator I had no admissions due to Covid. So because of this to justify my job being at the hospital the entire time of Covid, I worked on the units for DMH as an MHW Donning and doffing every single day for this hospital for the patients. I couldn't see my family for months.
My brother has stage four brain cancer. I couldn't see him for months. Okay. I couldn't see anybody because of what I did and I travel, I commute out of New Hampshire so I couldn't go anywhere. I couldn't see anybody for months. So obviously this is still affecting me. Um and I apologize for that. But um it's been very hard, it's been very hard on everyone. And to see people get sick to see my coworkers pass away. To see my patients pass away has been horrible and it's it's been hard to deal with honestly. And I don't think we we don't deserve this, we need this, we need this. We all need this. And I don't know that's all I have to say. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Well, thank you very much for sharing that important testimony. Thank you Members of the committee. Do you have any the questions? Well, seeing done again. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Uh, Mr Norgren. I don't think you're back. So I'm gonna go to brad gallant and I think you're here.
Yeah. Hey folks, I am here. Okay, just getting my camera rolling. I apologize for the bright background that's behind me. I don't really have a choice as to where I can speak from.
[BRAD GALLANT (DCR):] [HB2808] Um, so thank you all for allowing me to speak with you here today. I would specifically like to thank Representative john Zlotnik who entertained this crazy idea that I had um when him and I first spoke about House Bill 2808. The important thing to remember here is it's not just about the work that people did, because all the work is important. It's really recognizing the risk that these people took by going outside of their homes to not only perform their work, but to do everything else that they had to do in life while others could stay home, those police and firefighters and corrections officers and EMTs and park workers and mental health workers, all of them gained an increased risk of contracting the disease.
Many of them did. The lucky ones. I can still call them friends today, The unlucky ones, I'm still mourning their death. So to say that money could be an issue, we can always find the money. It's really about acknowledging thanking and recognizing all of us who went to work. So as I said, I'm going to keep this very, very brief because I know that the list is8366 quite huge, but I appreciate everybody who does go to work every day and I think we all do. But it took a global pandemic to recognize that increased risk for those of8376 us who did show up to work every day. I myself as a worker for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, uh overwhelming numbers of visitors because the governor was telling people to go out there and get some exercise.
On a Wednesday afternoon in April I would normally have maybe a couple of 100 people. I was the only person on duty and I had several 1000 people at my park talking to every one of them. They couldn't see my smile because I was wearing a mask, but I was still trying to smile at them and give them as much information as possible. So from my job to everyone else's job, I encourage everybody here to support this bill. Three years8415 seems like a lot but spanned out over the course of 30 to 35 years for anyone, anybody who did just get on the job who can cash it in and use it as sort of a gift card later on. I think this is a8429 small price to pay for the risk that we all endured during the pandemic. I thank you once again uh and I encourage you to pass this bill forward. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much for your testimony. Uh Any questions from the committee? Okay. See none. Thank you very much for sharing that. Mr mr laporte. Yes, testing. Yes, we can hear you used to work in television. So this is this is not not unusual.
[FRANCIS LAPORTE (AFSCME LOCAL 425):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Uh Good afternoon Senator brady, chair Brady and chair Gordon I want to thank you for finally letting me speak today. My name is Francis LaPorte. I'm a proud member of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. I am currently the president of Local 425 the Quabbin Regional School District located in north central Massachusetts and I represent the custodial staff, staff and office managers. I can't stress enough how important this act of providing a COVID-19 retirement credit is to8499 all essential public sector workers. From March of last year through December of last year, many of us on the front lines were required to work full time at our positions, which is which has been reiterated many times8512 here Today.
We did this without protest and as you recall, the world was just learning about COVID-19 and its implications. We as the frontline workers were unaware of the potential hazards and risks Once again, that was reiterated that we all faced. However, we8528 realized that it was our job to do our part and to keep the public safe. The anxiety created by8535 this virus was felt by many of us. At that time With no vaccine available, we were worried about our own health and the health of8544 our loved ones at home. We were required to use the strongest cleaning agents, allowed to disinfect every surface, touch surfaces in our buildings and did so, knowing the risk of excessive chemical exposure. It was our job to prepare the facilities for the safe return of our Children and8563 staff whenever that8565 was going to occur.
The parents and taxpayers needed to know that we were doing our job. As time went by, we started to learn more and more about the virus. Like most of us, our worry and level of anxiety only increased the uncertainty of the future of our jobs. Our families were the utmost concern to us, but there was a job to do, our job to be done. Besides the personal stress and worry, we experienced the loss of income. Nightlife and weekend activities at the schools came to an abrupt stop last year. These activities provided us with extra pay which supplemented8606 our modest pay.
In conclusion with regard in providing these courageous workers a proposed COVID-19 retirement credit. It would serve greatly as a gesture of confidence, trust and gratitude for their unrelenting efforts which lasted almost an entire year, day in and day out. Other sectors get rewarded with raises and assorted bonuses sometimes on a regular basis. These hardworking people are really not quite that fortunate. I implore you to consider and compensate these brave, honest and diligent workers and please provide them with this extremely rare benefit that we can all be proud of. I thank you for your time and I apologize for the technical difficulty. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Well thank you very much. Mr laporte for your testimony. I can see why you did well on television. The compelling story. Thank you. Any questions from anybody on the committee.8669
Seeing non. Thank you very much for your testimony. Uh call matt. Thank you Matthew Frost.
You hear not to frost. Okay now we have someone with the first name of nancy and before you go changing your screen name to8688 nancy um I don't see anyone with a screen name nancy so we'll ask any available nancy. I envisioned that nancy Pelosi might not stepping forward but that would be kind of fun. Okay with that. I'm going to move to C. J. O. Donnell.
C. J. O. Donnell. Okay, Justin then caught
Justine van cut. If you're slow with the mute button, just jump in. Next name on the list is steve. I think it's thorough or maybe Tariel
are close maybe to that pronunciation. Okay, dale Webber.
Yes, Thank you. Can you have8740 a winner? We have a winner. I see you. Yes. Mhm. You can hear me All right,
thank you very much.
[DALE WEBBER (COBRA):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Uh Good afternoon. Honourable chairs. Mr Brady and Mr. Gordon And members of the public service committee also like to extend to thank you to Rep Zlotnik and Senator Collins for sponsoring this bill. Ah I write today and appear today actually on behalf of the over 300 public service members that I am honored to represent in the Collective Bargaining Relief Association, an independent association with the acronym of COBRA Here in America's hometown of Plymouth, Mass, where it all began 401 years ago. So, when you all look around your outside surroundings, remember everything started here in America's hometown of Plymouth Mass.
So having said that, I want to talk about our members, they are a very diverse group, providing life sustaining and public health support services in the areas of drinking water treatment and distribution, wastewater treatment, disinfection and discharge in one of the largest geographical areas in the commonwealth again, America's hometown of Plymouth, Mass. And these people never missed a8822 day of service, from soup to nuts in all of the aspects of their respective duties and respected treatments. Also, during the COVID-19 pandemic, all of our members worked diligently in the town and school sectors8837 of our governance to maintain the public health and safety services So many of the public take for8844 granted. Areas such as trash removal from our beaches, parks, buildings and our transfer stations went on daily without a hitch, maintaining public safety.
Road painting, sweeping repairs, drainage infrastructure, tree work, to maintain public safety went8864 on without a hitch. Our librarians, technicians and associates at our two libraries worked diligently to revamp services to their patrons that had found themselves as outreach patrons uh with no thanks to Covid. And they developed one of the first of its kind curbside pickup programs to continue the services the public has come to expect serving hundreds of patrons in compressed schedules daily. Children's programs were put on electronically and virtually at a time it8901 was most needed, thereby providing needed8904 structures for our youngest patrons. Uh, Our employees in the, in the cemeteries division had huge8912 impacts as burials and cremations Cremations8916 unfortunately did not slow down.
Nor did the fueling services that we supply at our municipal airport to the Mass State Police air wing and the medical flight crews that service hospitals in the Cape Plymouth area and into Boston. Uh, our building maintenance craftsman in both the town and schools worked overtime creating petitions for social distancing practices as well as service8947 to the air quality, ion exchange unit installations, HVAC Filtration systems as well as spray disinfection applications and constant, heavy cleaning with8958 our custodian groups. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
I'm gonna have to ask you to wrap up Going beyond the 10 minutes. All8966 right, thank you.
[WEBBER:] Uh, we were all classified as essential workers. These bills in front of you today recognize and reward the important work we do. And we respectfully urged your support and recommendation to the passage. And I thank you and the committee very much for everything you do in the line of public service. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much. Thank you for your testimony to your brady. I don't see you on my screen. If you count. If you're here and you come off mute. I know that you had to take a little break so I don't know if you're back. Yeah. I got to pick up some paperwork for another media. I'm sending one of my legislative age9000 to tonight but I'm all separate. I just want to thank him for his testimony as well. Okay thank you. And I just didn't ask you. Maybe you were here for the last witness or two. I just can't see you on my screen at this point. So uh sorry for overlooking you if you were here study you're better off not seeing me. Mr Okay. All right. Uh Any uh any questions for Mr weber from the committee? Okay. Seeing none. I called the name Justin Van Cott. And maybe it's Van Cott. But I see you on the list of names I got here. I think you're here.
Uh, yes. Mr Chair. Okay. I know you're paying attention to me so I sure am. Go ahead and uh, appreciate your testimony. Yeah, absolutely.
[JUSTIN VANCOTT (LITTLETON LIGHT AND WATER DEPARTMENT):] [HB2808] [SB1669] I just wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify today. Uh, the operations manager for Littleton Light and Water department. And I just want to kind of give my two cents on everything with Covid. You know, we were asked to show9062 up every single day, keep the water flowing, keep the sewer moving. We we didn't have the option to, you9070 know, stay at home. We are, you know, critical infrastructure employees. Um, you know, we're asked to come in and do our work no matter9080 what. There is many of us that, you know, um, we all have families we were willing to put our families aside and literally stay at our treatment facilities to keep the water going if need be.
Uh there were9093 several other, you know, areas in the commonwealth that9096 did the same thing and you know,9099 three years I think isn't too much to ask for, you know, the credit for the retirement given that, I mean with especially the wastewater um side of things with the industry, we were actually testing the wastewater for um we were actually testing the wastewater for actual Covid. Um so, you know, that being said, we were asked to come in no matter what, um didn't have a problem coming in and really put our life, you know, on the line. And I just wanted that to be known and like I said, I don't I don't think it's too much to ask, you know, for, You know, a three year credit.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you, thank you very much.
And thank you for contribution to addressing the issues that were the terrible challenges that we were confronted with. Uh, chair brady.9155 Do you have any questions?
I'm also Mr Chair thank you. Thank you. Anybody from the committee with any questions? Okay, thank you. Mr Van Cott. Thank you. Mr. Chair next to robert Ballet is a
[ROBERT BOULLE (CONCERNED CITIZEN):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Good afternoon Chairman, Gordon And co chair Brady. I9176 just wanted to give basically what he said. I worked9181 for the water and wastewater industry and the commonwealth and in February, when all the town offices and buildings were closing and our building was closed to the public, we could not walk away more out of an esprit de corps because when9198 you do the work for the public and you're9201 protecting the public water supply, it's important work and it needs to go on. So when we were asked to report to work and you would ask, well, are there any masks, gloves were in plenty masks were in short supply. Through it all All the folks that do the work that I do within this industry responded with a yes, we'll be there. And why wouldn't we be? Water is one of the most necessary things you need. If you're relying on the public water supply, whether it's at a hospital, your home for sanitation, the water has to be delivered, it has to be safe to drink.
We were thinking maybe some for parents on some of the regulations through the DEP Martin Suberg and a lot of meetings with the MWWA. On Zoom, we learned that the federal government wouldn't allow that. They decided the EPA said, nope, everything has to be enforced. Lead and copper samples have to go out. Cross connection control work has to continue, means have to be taken care of and same for the wastewater folks work out to go on. So you asked us to be there? We were And now we're asking you to support us in this effort for Senate Bill 1669 And House Bill 2808. I hope you'll give it a favorable vote and move it along quickly. It's important to us. It's an appreciation. Uh, and it's also a welcome thank you for all the men and women that had to deal with this, including operators and other staff at the wastewater plants that had contracted Covid and then someone else would have to take their shifts as they9300 were meant to stay home. With9302 that. I'll wrap it up and say thank you for allowing me to testify today. Much appreciated.
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Good afternoon. Well, thank you very much Ships. Thank you for sharing your story and uh chair brady. Do you have any questions? Just thank you for your testimony? You're welcome gentlemen. Any questions from anyone from the committee?
Okay. I don't see any. So9327 thank you very much. Next witness. Christopher. Crowley. Crowley. C. R. E. W. L. E. Y. Really? I think.
Okay. Uh James McCormick thomas
Mr thomas Mr McCormack thomas.
All right. Edward. Me on. Mln.
Okay, next on the list is brian Castonguay,
brian Castonguay.
Next up. Gwen, hearty
when hardy.
Yeah. Olga Lotta rouleau. I think it's about a rouleau.
No. Okay. Uh Donna Brown Rego
Yes. Mr Chairman, I'm here. Thank you very much. Before you begin. You know you the witnesses here are still here but just as a general statement, the uh writing written testimony is accepted. So these folks that aren't here um may have left and may have9405 sent us emails. So anyone we still have a week uh where we're leaving testimony open for anybody9412 who wanted to do that. So I just point that out. But Miss Brown Rego.
[DONNA BROWN (MASS NAHRO):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Yes, thank you. Good afternoon. Chairman Gordon Chairman Brady and committee members. My name is Donna Brown-Rego. I'm the9425 executive director of the Massachusetts Chapter of NAHRO. Mass NAHRO is a member service association representing the 242 local housing authorities across the Commonwealth that served the state's low income, elderly9439 handicapped veterans and families. Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify today On House 2808 and Senate 1669. We are very much in support of providing this benefit to the many deserving essential employees who continue to work on site at their respective jobs during the COVID-19 state of emergency. We respectfully request that the committee consider amending the definition of employee to specifically include local housing authority employees.
The bills include persons employed by political subdivisions of the state. However, according to an analysis from an independent attorney housing authorities are not covered by this definition. There are several cases where courts have directly addressed this issue and determined housing authorities are completely distinct from political subdivisions a term of our traditionally referring to cities, towns and other units of local government. Local housing authorities across the state are responsible for providing safe housing conditions for some of the most vulnerable residents, families with Children, seniors and disabled. They are among the most essential workers in each of the 242 communities they serve, and to the more than 70,000 residents that live in their units.
Much of these low income populations did not have the resources to find alternative methods of obtaining food, medicine and services during a complete shutdown. Housing authority employees, including maintenance staff and directors did not have the option of working remotely to keep their clients safe secure and calm. From the onset of the pandemic Housing authority, employees went above and beyond normal operations and functions to procure personal protective equipment for their residents, sanitize building seven days a week, organized delivery of necessary food and medicine regularly monitor the safety of the most vulnerable elderly and disabled and develop innovative ways to minimize fear and isolation.
As a result of these essential employees' efforts and vigilance, the number of positive cases and deaths among the public housing population was remarkably low. We respectfully request your support of House 2808 and Senate 1669 with9578 the amendment to the definition to include essential housing authority employees in this well deserved benefit. Thank you for your consideration of this request and I will also submit written testimony. Thank you SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
very thank you. Thank you for the written testimony. That would be important.
[GORDON:] Thank you for pointing out the the dispute in court that uh that we went to court to determine the standing of a local housing authority uh to be considered a subdivision political subdivision. So thank you for making us aware of that. Um Just a just a question really is um it would seem that housing authority employees that are very large percentage of them would be those that would not work from home. In other words, some of the work maybe renting or a rental agent might be able to do some work on a computer. Bur probably9630 very little because I would think that your residents by and large, are looking for personal interaction, is that sense, correct?
[BROWN:] Exactly yes. The maintenance personnel especially and property managers and the upper management had to be on site most of the time. Yes. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Okay, thank you for pointing this out. That's interesting. Thank you brady.
[BRADY:] Thank you. Mr co-chair and just what was said. I know a lot of the maintenance and and repair people had to be on site to do any work on the existing buildings where these residents live. I did hear that some of the office workers could switch off and do some virtual some in the office and there was a lot of outbreaks in some of these9674 housing authority buildings this past year. So thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you. Any questions from anyone else from the committee. Okay, thank you very much. Mr Brown. I appreciate it. Mr Brown Rego. Next up is deal weber gale. Weber
dale Webber. Okay. William morgan.
Are you here? Mr morgan?
Yes, I'm here. Okay, thank you very much. Go ahead.
[WILLIAM MORGAN (RMV):] [HB2808] Okay, good afternoon chairs. Gordon and Brady and other members of the Joint9713 Committee. My name is William Morgan and I am an employee of the Registry of Motor Vehicles for 14 plus years. My job title is row test examiner. I am one of the original hires That were hired in May 2007 to replace9730 the Mass State Police. I'm speaking to you on behalf of myself and 16 other road test examiners. We have report reported for duty despite the hazard of contracting the COVID-19 virus. Our job description, as many of you probably know bringing Children in for road tests is that we sit approximately 24" from people um, in a confined space. A car minimum ventilation. Uh, the only safety that we had where the cars were clean between each road test.
Many times we'd look over to see the road test applicant without his mask on during the test in the car as we're trying to pay attention to the actual driving portion of their test. Sometimes we've had people get in the car and asked the Covid questions and we asked them if they had contracting COVID-19 in the last two weeks and sometimes we get a yes, which was unbelievable. We had to exit the car quickly and send them home and tell them they're not supposed to be there for a road test. Um, yeah, that was pretty uh, enlightening and uh, hazardous and scary. Um, so we're in front of you now to ask for your support of the Bill 2808, which would be very meaningful to us. The passage of 2808 would show the state employees who unselfishly reported to work in what was obviously a hazardous environment an appreciation of continuing service to the Commonwealth and its citizens. At this time I want to be brief. I want9833 to thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
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Thank9837 you very much for your testimony. I know that you anticipated some of the hazards of working with kids like my son. But thank you for passing him but not this one. And so thank you very much for for what you do. Chair brady.
[BRADY:] Thank you. I just on the outside question if Morgan Mr. Morgan knows. Have things been caught up? I know because the registry9860 did close for all in the heat of Covid and we did allow some people to extend their license expiration dates etcetera. But has things been caught up with the registry, are you aware or No?
[MORGAN:] We we are opening more branches. There are more branches open that can conserve better. Um road test as you would imagine just felt. So we were overloaded. It was incredible Coming back to to see. We're responsible right now for doing each person 100 tests a week. If9893 you think about that, you're sitting next to someone that you don't know where they came from, 100 faces within two feet, definitely not adhering to CDC guidelines. Um So it's spooky but yes, back to that answer. It is getting better. There is an improvement. I've heard that South Bridge and East Hampton, our9916 opening um the first week of August so that puts uh more uh appointments available to people. Um9925 And I know that a lot of the examiners are working double shifts, sometimes trying to keep up uh seven days a week I believe is what's being SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
done.
Thank you. Mr morgan. You're welcome. Thank you. Any questions from the committee?
No thank you. Mr morgan. I appreciate your testimony, appreciate what you do. Thank you. Next up Emily Griffith,
Emily Griffith, are you here?
Okay next to Stephanie Mandala Mandel Mandel
9957 Stephanie.9957 Okay now next uh our David, Queenie and Donna Guarani. And I think it's probably not a coincidence. So uh no it's not together. Right. Yes. Uh Well I have to apologize. My mother daughter isn't available at the moment. Okay would you like to testify on your own behalf and then tell us how you can tell us. Thank you.
[DAVID GUINEY (TEWKSBURY HOSPITAL):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Why thank you committee members. Uh So I work at Tewksbury Hospital and well over Covid we experienced a lot of things you heard from a colleague Megan Murphy. I worked for the Department of Public Health and I was one10001 of10001 the screeners for the door to ask the Covid questions. And in the beginning we had no masks. People would come10009 in and you would be probably less10011 than two feet away from them, asking,10013 oh, did you have any Covid symptoms? And sometimes the answer's yes. Uh, and of course, well,10019 you had to be referred to employee health to be tested. I10025 also did the fit testing10026 for the N- 95 masks, which is it a very close quarters procedure which would involve not having a mask on10035 and spraying a solution at them and asking, can you10039 send smell this?10040
Uh, in addition to10041 that, there was a10044 lot of patients that experienced a horrendous uh, time from being10047 confined to their rooms because of Covid outbreaks,10055 uh, patient deaths, even staff deaths, which my10059 mother, I wish she would10061 was10062 here she would tell you about a staff member10065 a friend me that10066 she10066 spoke to not long prior to10069 his death from Covid10071 who was a late night nurse on one of the units. Yeah. And really it was just a traumatic time for us. So I appreciate that if10081 this committee would support10084 S 1669 and H 2808. Thank10086 you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much for your testimony. I appreciate that. Uh Chair brady.10096 Any questions? No,10097 I have no question. Thank you10101 for your testimony.10103 Okay, anybody from the10104 committee. Hey, thank you very much. Thank you for testifying uh to Laura's Donaldson.
Dolores Donaldson.
Okay, robert.10111 Sullivan.
Okay. Todd Melanson.
Todd Mallinson.
Mike. I I see you out there and I'm gonna try. I'm here. I just I had trouble on10135 my king myself. I apologize. I no wait, let me try it. Mike10138 did Tina10139 Santo, how to do it? Chairman, very close. Okay. Mike Denson Santo.
[MICHAEL D'INTINOSANTO (MNA):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Chairman Gordon? Chairman brady Members of the committee. Thank10145 you for the opportunity to10147 testify. My name is Mike Denson santa I'm a nurse at Templeton Community Services and the10153 executive chair of MNA Unit 7 representing nearly 2000 healthcare professionals and registered nurses working10157 in various10158 departments and10159 agencies in the10160 commonwealth. Um, I present this testimony10161 in strong10162 support of House 2808 and10165 Senate 1669. An act providing uh Covid relief to essential public employees. And I thank my representative john Zlotnik and Senator Collins for sponsoring these bills. As you10180 know, the Covid pan pandemic was unprecedented.10182 We faced a novel virus that was both highly contagious and deadly.
And in too many cases10189 our members had to do so10191 without the proper personal protective equipment. You've heard from some of10194 my10195 brothers and sisters at Tewksbury.10196 Without the proper PPE and without our10198 facility management taking the steps necessary to protect our members and our10201 patients. Just to give you a few examples of what we faced during this pandemic. In early spring 2020 76 veterans10208 at the Holyoke Soldiers home died from COVID-19. An additional 80 for veterans and over 80 staff tested positive. Several reports have10215 been conducted as to the leadership failures that led to these tragic10219 outcomes that put patients and10222 staff in danger. As of April 2020 at Tewksbury Hospital, 81 patients And 90 staff tested positive for COVID-19.
A smaller cluster occurred in November of 202010231 when 28 staff and 11 patients tested10234 positive. Lack of PPE was certainly a contributing factor in the second wave. As identified in10241 the letter sent to the Baker Administration by your House colleagues, Representative David Robinson, Colin Gary Tram Nguyen Tom Golden and Rady Mom. As of April 2020 62 patients10252 and 40 staff at Lemuel Shattuck tested10256 positive. These are10257 just a10258 few examples of what we10260 faced during this pandemic. Some of my members got sick. Our members exposed their10264 family members to the virus. We don't yet know the long10267 term effects of even a mild case of COVID-19 so10271 we cannot be sure how much of10273 an effect it will have on their lives. We do know that every10277 day these nurses and healthcare professionals showed up to take care of their patients and we're asking you10281 to take care of10282 them.
As you know, this would add three years to10284 age or years of service for retirement credit. We've seen this is more we think this is more than fair as an10289 exchange for the sacrifice we've made10291 over the last year10292 and a half. Some of my10293 colleagues couldn't be here to testify today because they're10295 where they were during the pandemic taking care of our10298 patients. But I know many have or will be providing written testimony10301 and hundreds have signed10302 a petition of support that will be submitted to the committee. I ask you to10307 report these bills out favorably. Thank you for10309 your time and I'm happy to answer any questions.10311 SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much for your thank you for everything that10314 you10314 do. Your testimony was important and it reminds us of what you went through10318 helping our residents and some10319 of the tragedies10320 that occurred along the way. For sure. So share brady questions. I just want to say thank you10326 as well for your testimony. Okay. Thank you Todd millions. And I saw10332 you coming back. I I'm the one that put your10335 hand down because10337 I saw you that
10338 thank10338 you. I appreciate it.
[TODD MELANSON (MWWA):] [HB2808] [SB1669] Um uh Chair brady chair Gordon10340 and the committee. I really do appreciate your time. I'm a certified10343 water operator in the10345 state of Massachusetts uh drinking water, I'm a member of Mass Water10349 Works and I'm10350 here to speak on10351 behalf of them. Um most of the people10354 that have spoken firefighters,10355 teachers, nurses, most of them would not be able to do10359 their jobs without us. If you don't have water either drinking or wastewater there's not10366 much you could do in our society. Um we were um on duty the entire time10372 during the pandemic. Um I was on a lot of the10376 MEMA calls10377 trying to get PPE for our staff. It seemed10381 that everyone was above10382 us. Um It was10384 extremely difficult um time for us.
10387 It10387 was frustrating to see everyone get moved up the list on vaccinations. Yet the water operators were not. We were10396 in people's homes10397 when a meter breaks. When a shutter felt breaks, we had to go10402 and attend. If there's a main break10404 um during the winter time is the time that most of the water mains do happen. Um We were on duty and fix those. You never lost water10412 and any one of your facilities statewide. And that10415 is because of the water operators um job that they did and the excellence they did were viewed as the invisible infrastructure because you do not see10425 it. Most of our stuff is underground and out of sight. Most of our workers do their job in the same10431 manner.
Um I10432 would propose that the House bill uh 2808 I believe is the number10436 and Senate Bill 166910439 would would come out coming10441 out of your10444 committee10444 with a favorable hearing would would ratify the feelings that we're doing our job and doing it10450 well and that we're appreciated. Um it was a difficult time for all of us and10455 um as it's been said by some10458 other people, nothing regulatory changed. We still had to do our sampling, we still had10462 to do our reporting.10463 All the infrastructure work had to10466 be done. Um and again,10467 you know, you don't think10468 about it, but we were in people's homes,10471 meters had to be10473 changed and fixed and things10474 like that. So I appreciate your time and I10477 appreciate being able to speak. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you very much for your testimony. Chair brady. So you have any questions?
I have no10484 questions. Mr jim, thank you10485 for your testimony. Thank10487 you. Thank you sir. Anyone from the10490 committee? Thank you very10491 much. Mr Melanson. Next up, thank you. Next up we have kind of10495 Gibbons. I10497 think I see you10498 on here.10499
We're on here. Okay. I don't see you or hear10503 you. Bridget Quinn.10505 David.
[BRIDGET QUINN (MASS AFL-CIO):] [HB2808] [SB1669] [HB2648] [SB1725] Hi everyone. Chair Gordon Chair Brady and Members of the committee. My name10513 is Bridget Quinn10514 and I'm here on behalf of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO And I would like to testify in favor of10522 as many have gone before me on10523 House Bill 280810524 Senate 1669. So as10525 we know, um as we've heard today, the COVID-19 pandemic has been the focus10529 of our lives for about a year and a half now and10534 rightfully So. The10535 lives of10536 Massachusetts residents have been impacted beyond measure. Every sector of our economy has suffered. Our transportation, hospitality, healthcare and,10542 you know, as we know the list goes on10545 and on. But when Governor Baker declared10548 a state of emergency on March 10th10551 2020, thousands of workers myself included moved10553 from their physical workspace and transitioned to working10555 from home.
However, essential public-sector employees simply reported to work10558 the next day and10560 continue to work in person, ready to serve10563 and keep the public safe. Our firefighters, police officers, correctional officers and first responders had to navigate navigate COVID-19 in real time, finding ways to meet the unique needs of our communities and the populations that they serve,10577 while at the same time placing themselves in their families directly10582 in harm's way Risking exposure10583 to COVID-19. Front line clinicians and nurses and our state hospitals, group home workers10587 at DDS, mental health and public health professionals, transportation wastewater and human service10592 workers and so10594 so10595 many more that we've heard from today Went10597 to work to keep the Commonwealth running and serving their communities. And10603 we know that10604 many public-sector workers tested positive for COVID-19 eventually becoming very ill from the virus.
So this bill will add10609 three years to age or the10611 years of service for the10613 public sector workers who worked outside10616 the home during the10618 COVID-19 emergency. And you know, I think this for our public sector workers who sacrifice so so10623 much to keep10624 us all safe during the pandemic. We must honor that sacrifice. And10629 I urge you to report this bill out10631 of committee with a favorable report. We'd also like10634 to register in10635 favor of House Bill10637 2648 and its companion 1725, which is an10639 act relative to Parkinson's disease, disability and10641 death10641 in firefighters. Thank you.
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Thank you10656 very much for for your10657 testimony. Both of those of10658 those. Thank you. Chair brady questions.
No, thank you. But thank you for your10666 testimony presume. Thank you. Any10669 questions from anybody from the10671 committee? Okay,10673 thank you very much.10674 Next we have two witnesses10676 testifying together.10677 Catherine maduro with Kiana florentine by and I'll start right. Yes.10684 Thank you. Thank10685 you.
Go ahead.
10690 [AKIANA10690 FLEURANTIN10690 (SEIU10690 LOCAL10690 509):]10690 [HB2808]10690 Um10690 Thank you, Chairs Gordon and10692 Brady and members of the10693 committee. My name10694 is a Akiana Fleurantin. I am a response worker and an emergency response worker10698 out of the Cambridge Burlington DCF area10700 office. Um I am a chief union steward at my area office and sit on the executive board. I am a10707 proud member of SEIU10708 Local 509 And I am10709 testifying in10710 support of House Bill 2808. During Covid. During the covid10714 pandemic,10715 I was one of many social workers throughout Massachusetts10718 that worked at the front lines amongst the first responders without recognition and little10723 compensation. Day to day, Children and their Children and their families throughout Massachusetts face crisis that persists despite world pandemics10732 and staff shortages.
10734 In10734 fact, during the10735 pandemic, these families found10737 themselves10737 at an increased need of support would decreased accessibility and10741 resources. I, amongst many of my co workers responded to these emergencies in person, visiting homes,10748 hospitals, police stations and other locations in the community. Holding, transporting and caring for Children and youth who10758 were not only exposed to the virus,10760 but at times10761 positive for the virus. Yet day to10763 day10763 and facing sleepless night,10765 I responded10766 in person placing myself and my family at risk of a virus we10771 now know can be10772 fatal or cause serious medical complications. With the world shut down the number and social10778 workers unable10779 or fearful to work grew leaving workers like myself to feel the pressure and the weight of the10785 area offices.
Despite spending hours in the community risking exposure in10790 functioning under fear hazard pay was limited10793 to direct in person contact with clients, ignoring time spent in the hospital's holding cells, hotels shelters, and10800 other institutions, gathering information.10803 I need not to remind you that together we were all waiting for direction10809 on how to ensure10810 safety. While waiting10811 PPE was not always available.10813 While the world around us seemed to be10817 crumbling due to10818 the pandemic and social injustices. I cannot emphasize10820 the impact of the stress cause by the10824 fear of in person contacts during the pandemic. There is a different type of10829 fear when you face, there's a different10831 type of fear you face when there10833 is no end in10834 sight and you alone can10835 be responsible for your loved ones contracting10837 the10838 virus. I know that the dedication and sacrifice myself and other social10842 workers have made may go unnoticed by the world. I ask that10847 you acknowledge these sacrifices10848 Our Dedication and Our Hard Work by Passing House Bill 2808. Thank you10854 for your time and consideration.10857
10857 SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Thank you10860 for your patience first of all, testifying towards the end. Uh, thank you10864 for the very valuable services you provide10866 for our community.10867 Uh Okay,10869 thank you for convincing testimony. You10871 were signed up to testify with Mr10874 Marlboro, but I10875 don't see her that she's not here. I think you're10879 just10879 fine. Sorry. This is this10881 is Gina frank coming in From several nine. She had to hop off unfortunately. Okay. All10886 right, Jeannie, you're going to be about two of you to from now, but thank you10891 for10891 telling me that. Uh, thank you10893 very much for your testimony. Chair10894 brady. Thank you10896 for your testimony as well. Thank10898 you, Jeanne. I know you're, you're hopping on just to tell me that so I appreciate that. Okay. Thank you. Anyone from the committee have any questions?
Okay. Uh, Marie santos
is Marie santos here? I think I10917 think I saw you here recently. I don't see10920 you here. Okay, Gina frank. You're10923 up. Oh no, I'm not testifying. I was just in listening in to make sure that a Kiana had everything she needed. Okay. I feel less guilty for10933 not calling any10934 earlier. Not at all. No worries. Okay. Um that is the list that we have now. Um, was there anyone on the list that I called? Who didn't testify? You know that?10948 That may not have been here when I10949 when I read your name,
10952 you10952 can come off and you can tell me10953 if you want.
Okay. All right. Um
What we're gonna do is we're gonna keep these10964 bills open for a week uh so that they will10967 all be available for uh for uh written10971 testimony and10973 we'll10974 address them. Thank you very10976 much. Everybody who's still here for attending. Thank10978 you. Everybody everybody10979 watching online. Some of you watching online were10982 here earlier. I'm sure this is what10984 there's an important hearing10985 today. These are important matters. We're certainly going to consider them very carefully. Uh10990 Chair brady. Do you wanna have a10992 closing statements? No, thank you for everyone for their10995 patients today. It10996 was a long hearing and10997 I appreciate everyone's testimony. Okay, thank you and ask11001 for a motion to11002 uh Jordan so moved your second
second. Thank you very much. Thank you. All in11012 favor. Say, aye, aye. Some of11016 the votes came from outside the committee, but that's okay. Alright. Uh thank you. So moved. We're adjourned. Thank you everybody for attending.11023 I appreciate it.
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