2023-10-05 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Public Health
2023-10-05 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Public Health
SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Good morning. We're gonna bring the committee to order. This is the hybrid public hearing of the joint committee in public health. My name is Julian Cyr. On the state senator for the Cape And Islands, and I'm the senate co chair, will be joined very briefly by, my house co share at Marjorie Decker. I wanna welcome, members of the public who joined us this morning. Wanna welcome representative Garcia who's with us. Other members of the community will be joining shortly. So today, we'll be618 here to hearing testimony and 26 bills pertaining to environmental and environmental health matters. A number of these, you624 know, these bills are important bills. That deal with critical policy facing the commonwealth. In an effort to hear a testimony, on every bill, we'll allot up to 30 minutes, for each bill, once635 we've heard every bill, if we've gone, if any bill has gone over that 30 minute limit will come back, come back to the come back to you. The committee recognizes committee members to take questions. We also take legislators out of order. As they appear for those testifying today. Please limit your testimony to no654 more than 3 minutes. Please, you know, summarize your testimony. You don't reading reading it verbatim. We really welcome a written testimony as well. So our our staff and and and we can sync our our time into this. I mean, if you're in a panel, There's no more than 6 minutes of panel. So so please divide that up judiciously among panel members. I wanna thank LIS, our quarter or Scott or staff and our interns for helping us today.679 And again, we we welcome, written testimony. And, for those who are joining us on teams, once you finish testifying, please leave the teams meeting, and you can join and continue to, if you're riveted, you can continue to listen to the hearing via the live stream. There's just a 30 second delay on the live stream, but that helps us helps us keep track. So we're gonna, I think just get into this. Oh, on teams, we we have, Senator Payano and representative Kane has joined or members of the committee who are joining us, on teams. I'm gonna start this morning, with719 representative Eldridge who has joined us remotely represent I'm sorry. Senator Eldridge. Jamie, I apologize for the demotion. You've been727 a senator for, gosh, and so
SPEAKER2 - I was a
SPEAKER1 - high school maybe or something about that long, but, it's good to be with you. It's good to see my good friend. Senator Aldridge, and wanna thank you for joining us this morning. Thanks.
SEN ELDRIDGE - SB 1362 - Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Brought me back some, memories from, 15 years ago. So thank you. Thank you, Chairman Cyr, Chairman Decker, and the members of the joint committee on public housing for taking me out of turn, and I'm here to testify in support of my legislation. Senate 1362, an Act, relative to the Massachusetts lead law and promoting equal access to lead-free housing. This Bill would fill the gaps that exist, despite the 1971, Massachusetts-lead law, which for over 50 years, unfortunately, inadequately protected Massachusetts citizens and their children from the harmful effects of lead poisoning. A 2021 lead poisoning report by DPH indicated the Commonwealth has the fourth oldest housing stock in the US. Unfortunately, that means that many of our houses particularly789 multi-family, have a high amount of lead paint.
Lead paint is the primary source of exposure795 for childhood lead poisoning. DPH has observed that children living in low-income communities are 3.4 times more likely to have elevated blood levels than those in high-income communities even more seriously, multi-race children are three times more likely to have lead poisoning than white children. So this is a systemic problem. The current legislation we rely on is inadequate. So what this Bill would do, was eliminate lead points, paint hazards, and approximately 1.8,000,000 new homes. It would also phase in the requirement that all landlords must debate lead paint regardless of the presence of a child under the age of six in that dwelling. Which currently, unfortunately, incentivizes the housing discrimination of family families. Finally, the Bill will ensure that de-letting occurs first in those communities with the highest rates of childhood lead poisoning. So thanks so much for taking me out of turn and respectfully ask the committee to consider Reporting the Bill favorably. Thank you.850
SEN CYR - COMMITTEE CHAIR - Thank you, Senator, for joining us and, for obliging, my slip there. Lead pan issues are crucially important. I think it's as as you well know, I used to work on these issues when I was a mid-level PR accredited department of public health. So we really care a lot about, led also in the, bipartisan tax package, that872 the governor just signed yesterday. We actually update. We up the tax credits related lead abatement, which is going to help in that space. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Are there any questions from the committee? Thank you, Senator. I wanna recognize my co chair, Marjorie Decker, who is joined us this morning. Always good to be with you representative. And, we're gonna keep trucking. Now, we're gonna hear testimony on House bill 2208 and Senate 1352 and act modernizing each other led poisoning prevention, and Omy, Amara Singhham from, is is with us this morning. Homi?
OAMI AMARASINGHAM - MPHA - HB 2280 - SB 1352 - Good morning. Senator Cyr, Chairs Decker, members of the Public Health Committee. My name is Oami Amarasingham, and I'm the deputy director at the Massachusetts Public Health Association or MPHA. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this important legislation sponsored by Senator Cyr and Representative Vargas. We're glad to see the committee take up this Bill and this issue more generally. As you've just heard from Senator Eldridge, childhood poisoning is a persistent and pervasive problem that affects the health of families across Massachusetts. Between 2017 and 2021, there were 1,851 confirmed cases of childhood lead poisoning in the state. Lead exposure in young children can cause severe and irreversible health effects, including impairment of cognitive and physical development, and965 has been correlated with poor future school performance, behavioral difficulties, and learning problems. Lead paint is an especially serious threat to young children in Massachusetts with more than 70% of the housing in Massachusetts being built before 1971 when lead was banned from household paint.
Second, there are stark racial and, economic inequities in the prevalence of childhood-led poisoning in Massachusetts. Senator Eldridge also just testified that children in low-income communities and kids of color993 are much more likely to experience lead poisoning. Almost all of the 16 communities identified by the Department of Public Health as high risk for lead poisoning are gateway cities. These inequities are driven by past and present discrimination and housing opportunity cost and quality. Looking ahead, MPHA's concerns these inequities will get worse in the coming1014 months and years as the state looks to find housing for migrant families that are in temporary emergency shelters right now. Given the state of our housing crisis, as migrant families eventually move into permanent housing, it's likely that some, if not most of this housing will be substandard. Exposing more kids of color to lead an historic and long-term health impacts. One thing that this Bill would do is update the funding structures that support lead poisoning prevention, which has not kept pace with inflation and costs, the program is entirely funded by fees and fines, which would be updated by this legislation.
They have not been updated since 1994. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't situate this Bill and this issue in the context of many pressing issues that are in front of the legislature today. Fully addressing this crisis will involve an integrated approach. I want to thank the committee for advancing Safe 2.0 recently out of committee The current state of local public health infrastructure is that local public health is wholly inadequate to take its role in this crisis with respect to inspections and remediation. Similarly, public health workforce challenges have huge implications, both in the local public health workforce, but also with community health centers, which are responsible for doing many of these screenings. In the last seven seconds, I'll touch again on the migrant crisis and the housing crisis and the importance of making sure that the housing we do have is safe for the kids and families who live there. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you so much, and thank you for, talking about a a really important topic around around lead policy. Other questions from the committee? Thank you so much. I wanna recognize, Representative Howard, who who's joined1112 us in person. We also have committee members, representative Cassner, and represent of Kearns who who are on on on with us on teams. We're gonna now continue on to House Bill 2131 and Senate Bill 1382. And act to improve, outdoor and indoor air quality for communities burdened by pollution. And, we're gonna this morning with Claire Carl Miller.
And, what I like to do is sort of tell you who's coming up next. You can be in anticipation. So wig Wigs the more you are on deck. Claire, thanks for being with us.
CLAIRE-KARL MÜLLER- UU MASS ACTION - Hi. Thank you so much for1146 the opportunity to testify. I will keep it very1148 brief because the experts are coming behind me. But my name is Claire-Karl. I use they, and them pronouns, and I'm the Movement Building Director at Unitarian Universe Mass Action. As well as the1159 coordinator for the coalition mass power1161 forward. Every year as we get ready as mass power forward a coalition of over 200 organizations to prioritize which policies we want to go to the state house through We do a very deep, big messy consensus-building process. Involves approximately four months of listening to what campaigns are out there, what is most urgent, what is most needed, who, you know, what's being prioritized by the communities being hit first and worst. I'm very proud to say that this Bill is a big priority for us. It's incredibly important for public health and environmental justice, and I'm very excited about reprioritizing it, you're not going to hear more about what's in the Bill from those coming behind me. So thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Questions from the committee. Appreciate it. Wig Zamore. His wig with us. Alright. Elizabeth Pinsky and, reverend, Vernon Walker, you're on deck.
Hi, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH PINSKY - MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL BRIGHAM - Good morning, Chair Cyr, Chair Decker, and members of the committee. My name is Elizabeth Pinsky. I'm a child psychiatrist and the associate director for advocacy at the Mass General Center for Environment and Health. I'm here on behalf of Mass General Brigham in support of this Bill to improve outdoor and indoor air quality for communities burdened by pollution. Air pollution begins to harm my patients before they are even born. Pre-natal exposure to air pollution increases preterm birth, and low birth weight, and impairs fetal lung development. As children, exposure to air pollution increases their risk of asthma and is associated with neuropsychiatric problems, including lowered IQ, and attention deficit disorder, even children's psychiatric emergencies are higher on days with poor air quality. As my patients grow into adults, pollution causes lung disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke, lung cancer, and diabetes. There is no known safe level of air pollution. In 2019, Massachusetts's average particulate matter was well below EPA limits. Despite this, our state experienced an estimated 2,780 air pollution-related deaths and the loss of 2,000,000 IQ points in young children attributable to air pollution.
These consequences, as we know, are not attributed equally, and communities of color are consistently exposed to higher-than-average levels of air pollution. Emergency department visits for asthma are 2.5 times and 3.5 times higher for Hispanic and black children compared to white children. Black Americans die from particulate matter exposure more1319 than triple the rate of white Americans. All of these outcomes are expected to worsen as the climate crisis deepens and our air quality is impacted by wildfire smoke, longer pollen seasons, increased mold related to precipitation, and higher temperatures that increase ground-level ozone. The good news is that the health benefits of improved air quality are incredibly rapid. We know that cleaner air almost immediately improves outcomes as wide-ranging as preterm, births, and heart attack in the elderly. I appreciate that this Bill pays attention to indoor air quality, which offers my patients protection at home and at school. We know far too well from COVID that inequitable school infrastructure and air quality impacted children's access to learning. Improving air quality for our most vulnerable residents will save lives across the commonwealth. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and on behalf of Mass General Brigham, I urge you to support this legislation. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. Other questions for the committee? Alright. We're gonna continue with Reverend Walker. Is Reverend Vernon Walker with us here this morning? Alright. Cole Stanton It's called San with us this morning.
Great. Good morning. Good morning.
COLE STANTON - CONCERNED CITIZEN - Thank you to the Chair,1403 vice chairs, and members of the committee. My name is Cole Stanton. I am here as a constituent. I'm represented by Kay Khan. I'm a lifelong Massachusetts resident from Newton Corner. However, I have made my career in the environmental world specifically in restoring the health of the built environment. Lead asbestos mold and mold has been a particular volunteer passion of mine I've served for nearly three decades on the committee, that developed and as a mold, voting member, for the mold remediation standard known as the IICRC S520. The IICRC is an organization that I am not here representing. I want to be clear about that. I'm here as an ordinary civilian. The current 2131 text puts the onus on certain agencies to develop within one year safe and effective performance standards and guidelines for mold remediation.
I wanted to share with you having been involved in the development of state legislation guidelines and remediation in states such as New York and in DC and, involving the sunset of the programs in Florida and Texas that this can be a real stumbling block for implementation. For the Commonwealth to develop its own, performance standards for both inspection and remediation would be onerous and would be time-consuming, and then would not only require drafting time, but also time to develop, a population of remediation professionals who can then provide those services to the public. The IICRC S 520 standard is now more than 20 years old. It's in its fifth edition. It would be updated automatically at no cost to the Commonwealth every five years because it is an anti-required standard. Massachusetts has historically favored ANSI-published, ANSI peer-reviewed standards.
There are already over 500 certified professionals in the S 520 standard and mold remediation in the Commonwealth. So the Commonwealth could avoid as I said, a major stumbling block a major delay, and a major budget outlay, by adopting an already existing international standard. This would solve also problems such as the differences between the remediator and the assessment professional. There are several passages in the current text, which refer to inspection by the remediation professional. This has the potential of drifting into a Fox guarding the hen house situation which we have avoided with asbestos and led by insisting on avoidance of conflict of interest that the inspector does the inspection or mediator does the remediating. I will acknowledge in remediation, the remediator will do inspections on small-scale projects, but they must disclose to the owner that that is what is1591 taking place. I understand that beep was my time is up. So if or any questions, I'd be happy to help. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Questions from the committee? Thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Next we have a panel with Sarah Armen and,
Mary Clara Kelly. I want to also recognize, Representative Dorosa who's joined us. Come on. Okay. Go ahead.
SARA ARMAN - GREENROOTS INC. - Good morning, Chair Cyr, and good morning, Chair Decker, and the members of the committee, thank you so much for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Sarah Arman. I'm a lifelong Chelsea resident, and I'm the director of health equity and policy at Greeners and Environmental Justice Organization working to organize our communities. Chelsea and East Boston provide some of the region's most intense benefits while shouldering the burden of air pollution. Communities are home to the new New England produce center, the Tobin Bridge, which seats over 60,000 cars per day, as well as, jet1649 fuel stored on the banks of Chelsea Creek.100% of the jet fuel goes to Logan Airport, and around 70 to 80% of the region's home heating fuel is stored on the banks of our of the Chelsea Creek.
While we are so happy to provide these benefits to the region, we also know that the connections between the pollution and emissions created by these industries and these activities are really disproportionate to our residents. Chelsea and East Boston see constantly high rates of asthma, asthma hospitalizations, and numerous other respiratory illnesses. In fact, Chelsea ranks third for asthma hospitalizations across the state. We are also really lucky in both of these communities. We have access to air quality monitors, which tell us the type of pollutants that we see. The rest of the state doesn't all they don't all have this. So we're really excited to support this Bill to advocate for increased air quality monitoring and set really ambitious targets for pollution reduction so that our community members in Chelsea, East Boston, and across the state all have us to clean air and a healthy environment that improves our health outcomes and does not detract from it. Thank you.
MARY CLAIRE KELLY - ALTERNATIVES FOR COMMUNITY & ENVIRONMENT - Good morning, and thank you for listening to this morning. My name is Mary Claire Kelly. I'm a climate environmental justice attorney at Alternatives for Community and Environment. We are an environmental justice community-based organization rooted in rocks located in Nubian Square. We've been working on air quality at Ace for 30 years,1734 In the 90s, a group of young people, in Roxbury, responded to1742 the deaths of two of their friends, by organizing and doing their own research into why the rates of acute asthma were so high in their neighborhoods. Nubian Square, as you may know, is it's the hub for a lot of MBTA activity. There's a lot of transportation pollution in the area. These young people and their friends had died of acute asthma attacks within close proximity to one another, and they did their research, they organized, and that organizing led to policy changes, such as the diesel emissions, reduction, ordinance, and air pollution monitoring, such as air beat.
Now we need the government to step in and help with air pollution monitoring, indoor, and air outdoor air pollution quality because we believe and insist that air pollution, or that the ability to breathe clean air and to breathe deeply, should be a right, but right now, it's a luxury. Afforded to people based on where they live, which depends, in our society and our city and our state on often, on whether you're in an environmental justice community, what, race you are, and what your income level is. So we urge you, as ACE and as members of the environmental justice table to back this Bill, which will prioritize environmental justice communities. This is important because for too long, have people in environmental justice communities been left behind, and it's important that we address that now and in the future. Thank you.
CYR - Thank you. Questions from the committee. The one question I have, I'm just going to ask this of you as sort of a technical folk, little folks. There's a lot of focus here on sort of shutting this authority within DP. All of the indoor air quality programs in Massachusetts is actually housed within the Department of Public Health Bureau of Environmental Health. Do you folks was there any sort of thought in in sort of why this was sort of housed within the Bill? Much of the authority was housed within There's lots of, again, consultation language with DPH and other, agencies and not within the existing indoor air quality program. Even the air monitoring program you mentioned, you know, that's my understanding is that's affiliated with long time air monitoring around a local airport that again is a run by the Department of Public Health Bureau Department of So just sort of curious if you have thoughts on that. If you don't right now, that's okay. We can follow up afterward, but I just wanted to ask about that.
KELLY - Can we follow up with you after that?
CYR - Sure. I think we would appreciate some sort of feedback there. You know, clearly, DP and DPH work closely. A number of environmental health, a number of environmental issues, DEP having the authority related to, you know, the health of the environment and DPH having you know, for human health. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
So thank you so much. Any
SPEAKER11 - other questions?
SPEAKER1 - I see representative barbers with us this morning, and we're talking about your bell. So very timely. Please come and join us. Thank you.
REP BARBER - HB 2131 - Morning, Chair Decker and Chair Cyr. Thank you so much for taking me out of turn, I'm, yes, grateful. The timing worked out great. You're hearing already from the amazing advocates in the EJ table, who have worked with on this Bill. So I'm Rep Barber, 34th Middlesex District, and I'm here in support of House 2131, an Act to improve indoor and outdoor air quality for communities burdened by pollution. So, you know, we know this, especially coming out of the COVID pandemic that the air we breathe is a matter of life and death. This Bill, I'm really grateful for the EJ communities who have worked with me and Senator Jalen to file this Bill. As I know, the chairs in this committee know communities of color, EJ communities have been most impacted by pollution, in my district in Somerville, the largest public housing development, sits right up against I93. We've had Tufts and other researchers do great work on air quality and have shown that higher levels of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and asthma, are directly related to the pollution from the highways. I'm really grateful that this coalition came together and that this is a very expansive Bill.
We know, but working on both indoor and outdoor air quality. I do want to go and this Bill, of course, would target EJ communities around the state. So Springfield, Dorchester, and Chelsea are places that have disproportionately been overburdened by, both outdoor pollution and indoor air quality issues like mold. We'll definitely get back to you, Senator on your question, but just to speak to that a little bit. So in the Bill, we both look at d DEP and DPH. So DEP does have some existing outdoor air monitoring that they've been doing over time. We want to beef that up and make sure that it is, really looking at EJ communities. Then, and definitely work with DPH, we've worked with them extensively on mold issues and indoor air quality issues, but also looking at the air outdoor air quality monitoring. So we'd love to work with you on making sure that that is really involving DPH because they do have oversight over this and can play a really important role. They get the health of communities, and we really want our air quality and the air we breathe to be a part of that discussion. So thank you for that, and thank you for the committee's, work on this Bill. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, representative. I I know the committee's a good have to work on this as well in in the prior session. Other questions, you know, from the committee on the bill representative?
REP DECKER - COMMITTEE CHAIR - No. I just also want to acknowledge my staff actually did extensive work with you on this Bill. I just think it's important to take note. I appreciate that you acknowledge that it's an expansive Bill So for people who are here, I don't normally comment on this, but I have a lot of constituents who are here right now too. We did a lot of work because it's an expense a Bill. We got a lot of emails saying this should just be a no-brainer. The goals are a no-brainer. The implementation is actually absolutely not a no-brainer. Our goal is not just to get it out of my committee, because clearly our committee now is so happy we're together. It's that's not the hard part in terms of this. It's about getting it through the thousands of other Bills and making sure that when it gets to each other committee it's actually ready for implementation. So just for those who are here again, just so you know that there has been, it's great that you have advocates who file the Bill, but also we have a lot of incredibly smart committed staff and public health, who have been with me, who've been really working hard to give feedback and to help rewrite parts of the Bill and to do a lot2158 of research to figure out how do we get it all the way through. So just wanted to make2162 sure people understood that.
CYR - Yes. I think, you know, I would echo those comments. Getting this policy actually right in these programs really matters as someone who worked on the Logan Airport, study who worked on the McGrath Highway study that the Bureau of Environmental Health worked on pretty extensively around how we would sort of fix McGrath. These are very, getting the technical piece of this right making sure the agencies have, the necessary staff, and the structure, I think, really matters I'm really proud actually if you look in environmental health. There's actually a pretty significant expansion in the FY 24 budget in environmental health in part to work on climate, in part to2205 work on, several other pieces, forever chemicals is2209 another topic as well. They're going to2211 need2211 to that we're working to sort of staff them up on. So, you know, this is an issue I've worked on for a long time, and I think we want to work with you to get that we're getting this policy right. It's crucially important. I think for too long, you know, we have seen disproportionate health burdens on certain communities, in part because we haven't gotten this issue. Right? So really thank you for your time this morning. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Any further questions?
SPEAKER2 - Thank you so much. So both of you and to your teams for your2238 have worked on this a lot, and we hope to,2240 continue to work on it to get this right.
SPEAKER1 - You so much for being here. I wanna recognize that Representative Kearns, has has now appeared in person, from teams. Really appreciate, seeing her. And represent cirrhosis here and and Garcia and Howard, we're now gonna continue, with a panel, Suhala Cotton or Suwala Kowton, and Julia Bay, and Anya Raykar, think I put you on all 32269 of your names.
Apologies for,
Alright. Cool. I got 1 right. Anyway, thank you for joining us, this morning here at the state house.
SPEAKER13 - Okay.
I'm just waiting for the timer. Yes.
SAHILAH KOWTON - CONCERNED CITIZEN - Good morning. Chairs and dear members of the committee. I'm Sahilah, and she is pronounced. I'm a 12th-grade older sister and Cambridge resident. Here, I'm representing our climate. Everyone in this room must know the definitions of environmental justice recycling, renewable energy, and air pollution already. We're too far into this crisis for anyone in power, not to understand the widespread effects of climate change. I know you all understand the problem at hand. For three years, I have met with my legislator, Rep Decker, chair house chair of the public health committee about air quality. You have said, I'll keep an eye out. I've shared my story to be cut off with an I understand. Yet though it is supposedly understood, it has still not been passed. For three years, I missed classes, homework, and time to be a teenager because I lobbied for the indoor-outdoor Air Quality Act, and which would identify highly polluted areas neighborhoods in Massachusetts, mandate air filters for those near high-polluting areas. For years, Massachusetts legislators have not passed it.
They have set schools next to factories that don't need air filters, though my little brother shouldn't live in a mold building, and be shoved in quietly, and the end of this air quality is also the mandate that there'll be no more gas stoves in Southern Homes, another major plus on the quality of life chart. I have lived in an apartment without a working stove one where our gas stove wouldn't light without a lighter. Not a few times, the carbon monoxide alarms went off because of gas leaks, and we'd all evacuate outside at 4 AM. Now in Cambridge, we have an electric stove, and I can sleep peacefully at night. We cannot wait until our homes become flooded. Our schools are too hot to learn in our neighborhoods poisoned by mold and air pollution. We cannot wait until people in our communities cannot breathe because currently, those people do not live in Cambridge or Beacon Hill a wealthy area. We cannot wait period.
JULIA BAY - OUR CLIMATE - Good morning. My name is Julia Bay, and I'm 16 years old. I'm a field representative at our climate as well as the co-leader at Spring-Ford whose primary work is running climate lessons and workshops for elementary and middle school students. Despite the organizations we are affiliated with, the political beliefs we hold, or the towns we live in, one thing that every single person in this room has in common is that we need breathable air to live. One thing that we do not have in common, however, is our access to clean air, which is something that immensely affects our health and ways of living. Air Pollution is yet another effective climate change that disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color. Throughout my time at Spring-Ford, I have noticed particularly high interest in our environmental justice lessons.
Educators and other individuals recognize the gravity of air pollution and other effects of climate change. In particular, our climate justice monopoly game reflects the real way the already marginal communities are impacted by climate change. Air quality is one of the central aspects of this game as the unfortunate truth is that some individuals live in moldy, and dusty buildings and experience critical health issues, such as lung cancer and asthma, because of poor air quality. I have had children aged ten or less approach me after a2509 workshop, concerned because some people2511 don't have clean air to breathe, and ask what they could do to help. Well, I'm urging you all to help us now. Give environmental justice communities the support they deserve. Let me tell young students that our legislators have passed policies to help us support the original language of the indoor, and outdoor air quality act and make a difference in the way thousands of people live. Thank you.
ANAYA RAIKAR - OUR CLIMATE MA - My name is Anaya Rykhar, and I'm 16 years old. I'm an intern at Our Climate Massachusetts as well as a steering member of the Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition. Right now, I should be in physics class learning about two-dimensional motion, but instead, I'm here on behalf of 30-plus organizations and hundreds of youth in Mike who decided that this Bill out of the thousands in the legislature is most representative of our shared vision of environmental justice in the State. Environmental justice means centering communities that are hit first and worst by the climate crisis, and this is our aim in supporting this Bill. Mike is a diverse network of youth with diverse experiences with air quality.
I have seen organizations and EJ partners pouring hours into advocating for this Bill, sharing their air quality stories, and skipping school or work to come here and lobby for this Bill. I'm lucky enough to live in an environment with access to clean air and to take a day off school to come here. The same cannot be said for many members of Mike and our EJ partners who cannot make it today. Let their voices and experiences not go unseen. I implore you to not forget the lived experiences that shaped Mike's desire to see this Bill passed. It's easy to take clean air for granted if you can go home to a well-filtered home clean of mold. For our EJ partners who have worked tirelessly to support this Bill. This is not their reality, and you now have the opportunity to change this. The Indoor Outdoor Air Quality Act has the full backing of Mike as our EJ policy priority. I urge you to pass this original language through the committee. Thank you for listening.
CYR - Thank you so much for being with us this morning and sharing your testimony. As someone who got my start in politics when I was2643 16, I hope that you2645 will find actually that, the experience of being here and doing this work, not that that's more valuable than physics, but in my experience. The good trouble I got into when I was 16 and 17 years old, that might have involved, missing my class or two actually, I think, has been much more meaningful, in the work I do now. I know I don't look it, but I'm still among, the younger members of the senate really want to thank you for being here.
I want to know, you know, this was a Bill that the committee exec moved favorably last session, is something I think we both care, a lot about. I think want to, you know, not only make sure that we, get it out of committee, but make sure that this Bill is in a position so that it can move and and and get enacted into law. Right? We don't want to sometimes when a committee just moves hastily on a topic, it gets it can then allow it to be waylaid in a further committee and not reach the floor. This is a crucial issue, you know, one that, you know, we've both spent a bunch of work on. I used to work in the Department of Public Health and worked on indoor air quality and outdoor air quality issues. So just really want to thank you for your time this morning. And, you know, just that I hope that this is a rewarding, meaningful experience and, hopefully, you know, physics grades aren't, impacted. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
chair decker.
DECKER - Yes. I'm actually really happy to see you here again. I'm sorry if it feels frustrating that you have to be here again. Your voices are needed, and the committee did report that we did our job last session. In fact, just because we have a teachable moment here and you have missed school, I want to make sure you're getting all that you out of this. So committees are signed Bills. They come from the clerk's office. We don't get to decide where the Bills go. This one came to public health. Public health and Judiciary are two of the committees that have the highest number of legislative Bills more than any other committee. Same number of staff, though. Our committee out of the 400 Bills that came to us prioritized this Bill. We did a lot of work on this Bill. Filing a Bill is often never enough just to get a Bill over the hump. It's a really complicated process of making sure that all the regulations, the laws, the departments, the agencies, as the filer of the Bill who really is doing a good job in trying to shepherd this Representative Barber and Senator Jalen.
They work with us when we prioritize a Bill to say, what we need to do to make sure that the work that has to be done in this Bill isn't the reason it gets delayed down the road. We don't get to do that with every bill that comes before public health. Often, if a Bill is not written in a way that is going to allow it to go all the way through, it often gets sent to study, because it really is a bandwidth issue, which is why legislatures around the country don't pass hundreds or even thousands of new laws every year. As you know, I've shared it with you. I also grew up in public housing in Cambridge. I had asthma as an adult that I had as a kid, be directly related to the environment that I grew up in. There's no question about that. Just now, I'm dealing with trying to advocate for a loved one who lives in public housing and who's dealing with mold in which the Cambridge Housing Authority has failed to take proper protocols and even having an influential person in their life who chairs public health is still meant a lot of hours and time of advocating.
That's just the reality of what it means to live in a democracy. So I'm grateful that you guys actually are taking your time. I was probably or 16 as a student in Cambridge one, July, and in which I also missed school, and I came up to these halls and advocated. I never take physics, so I didn't miss a course. But physics is important because there's a lot of science that also goes behind how we actually help people improve2862 their lives and stay safe. So I appreciate that you are trying to balance the academic demands on your time, and I also appreciate your advocacy. And I hope some of what I've shared might be a little bit more helpful, are goal is not to get it out of his committee because that's, pretty often when a Bill has been reported out favorably and the same chairs are2880 there, hard press to believe that might not be the continued path. The goal isn't just to get our IRF committee, but to support the legislators who are taking the lead on this Bill and helping them get it through the thousands of Bills that are seeking important attention and would have important outcomes, but we need to figure out how to make sure this one actually gets over finish line. So thank you for being here. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Are there further questions further questions from the committee? We'll be careful what you get into because you might hopefully, you will be in in the chairs that we're sitting in today. Thank you so much. Really appreciate your time. We now have a panel with Jonathan, Lan, Rishi Vad Rishi Vadi and Thomas Lee.
And, hopefully, you 2 are also not well, maybe you are missing physics. Good morning. For being with us.
SPEAKER11 - Loafers. I just press this. Press them down.
THOMAS LEE - CONCERNED CITIZEN - Dear members of the committee, my name is Thomas Lee, and I would like to share some of my experiences with air quality throughout my life as a 16-year-old student. When I was four, I lived in one of the largest and most heavily polluted cities in the world, Beijing China. Because of the high percentage of pollutants, I had an acute asthma attack, which caused me to be hospitalized for a large amount of my childhood. I remember being stuck in a taxi car in the middle of traffic, experiencing a sudden spout of panting and feeling as if I had a rope around my lungs, wanting to frustratingly snatch a rock fight through my lungs. As I look around the marginalized communities around the state, I see that my experiences with asthma are becoming more and more commonplace. Sudden spikes and AQI have already shown us what could happen if we don't knock better Bills for air quality control.
Just this past July, we saw the drift from the Canadian wildfires completely block the skies and increase the air quality index up to the hundreds. Looking up at the dark red sky, I was reminded of that time I had in China. I remembered looking up at the sky and wondering what it would have been like if I had been in the United States, where I heard that stars could be3015 seen in the night sky, and the air was actually breathable. Now the beautiful country and this beautiful state are drifting further and further from that ideal. Although this bad part of my history has passed me, the experience of struggling with air quality is the reality of many environmental justice communities around the state. This is why we show strong support for the indoor and outdoor air quality Bill.
This Bill helps us monitor and reduce particulate matter in the most endangered environmental justice communities, specifically places like Chelsea and Springfield. By enacting this Bill, we would help our EJ communities, potentially saving the health of 100 children. Further, this is an important step for us in the fight against climate change. As the future of our environment and climate comes increasingly under attack, follows more and more onto the shoulders of me and my fellow students to protect this home that we all love. Because of the fact that air quality Bill will protect the health and skies of the marginalized environment with justice communities around Massachusetts. It will help us combat one of the largest consequences of climate change. As a part of the Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition, Western Students for Mental Action, urges this community to seize this opportunity and find resilience in the face of one of climate change's greatest impacts. Thank you for your time.
RISHI VADI - CONCERNED CITIZEN - Hi, committee members. My name is Rishi Vadi, and I'm a current freshman at Western High School. I have dealt with the effects of air pollution, and I want to tell you a story about that. I grew up in New Delhi for the majority of my younger childhood years. A lot of you may know, New Delhi is polluted very polluted with a lot of carbon emissions created due to the use of fossil fuels. School in Delhi was not normal compared to schools in the US. There were days I had to wear masks to school because of how polluted it was. We couldn't have the risk of developing a disease just because the air outside was so dirty and so filthy. Some days, we couldn't even go to school due to the AQI being so high that there would be risks in going outside. The worst part is my family and my school community. We were informed enough to wear masks and have protection while others were.
The unfortunate result of pollution is that there were people who had to go outside and have to work without masks and without missing a day off because they couldn't afford it themselves. They still had to go out and about even though there were certain risks involved with doing so, disproportionately affecting lower-income individuals and individuals with families who needed that money. So, how does this relate to Massachusetts and air quality? The reason it relates to Massachusetts is because of what Massachusetts can become if it doesn't implement plans and policies to reduce air pollution and combat climate change in our area. We can't be living in a filthy environment where people are risking their lives just to go outside and live and breathe air. It is unfortunate that this is happening. So we have to do everything in our power to prevent air pollution from drastically affecting our lives, not just nationally, but globally. But supporting these policies was one step closer to a clean future. Thank you.
CYR - Thank you so much for, being with us again this morning and, luckily not being able classes were supposed to be. If you need, if you had any of y'all need a letter, this morning, we're we're glad to pen you one. Also telling both of your personal experiences, right, which really show, I think both, you know, the reason why, we don't have conditions like that at least you know, now in the United States is actually because of a really robust environmental movement, which I think has made a number of strides, but it's also evident of the work that's left to do, and and and particularly disproportionately in environmental justice communities, and the communities were disease burden. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
So really thank you for being here this morning. To your decker. Yeah.
DECKER - I just want to say thank you for being here. Your voices and your story are really important. What they do is add more dimension to an issue that we're trying to get people to pay attention to. So, thank you for being here. Just when I see you and your peers up here, it makes me feel really hopeful because we've seen that while we've had a robust environmental movement that has a lot of our national policies.3272 We've also seen them threatened and eroded over the last several years, and that's3276 not going away anytime soon. So we are, really needing young people to continue doing what you're doing, and I'm just happy to have you here. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Well, I'll send share, Doctor. I think please stay engaged, you know, please consider running yourself, when when when you're sort of able to do so. You know, I I think we really need need the voices of this generation, you know, here's shaking things up, not only on Beacon Hill, but but really across our country. You know, you just look at the dire situation that we've been put in related to our climate. We can also talk about that related to housing related to a number of other issues. And we need youth voices. I can you having young voices in the room. Both of us can as as people who were elected to these positions, when we were young, when we were still relatively young, the legislator. You know, we we we we need this desperately. Our society needs this desperately. So, maybe hustle back to school and then, cook, instead of running for office yourself when the time is right. Any other questions from the committee? Alright. Thank you so much. We we have had about 30 minutes of testimony on these bills. We're gonna go to several other bills and then come back, to these. So so much for being here. We're now gonna hear a testimony on, house 2231 and senate 1395, an act required disclosure of lead and water pipe is Vincent Lawrence Dixon with us this morning.
Good morning.
SPEAKER17 - Nice to see you.
VINCENT LAWRENCE DIXON - CONCERNED CITIZEN - SB 1395 - My name is Vincent Dixon 60 Lake Street, Unidan Winchester, Mass 01890. This Bill by requiring essentially full disclosure of act role and or potential lead risks in property in essence creates something of what might be called in law an implied warranty. Since Massachusetts has what in our postmodern age a large installed base of housing of all kinds built in many cases on locations that were perhaps at least partially manufacturing sites and housing that was treated and or installed with lead paint fixtures It is simply a good idea that there'd be an effort to suggest full or full disclosure of lead risks, which we know are simply dangerous which resolution of is often problematic.
While Senator Lewis is my state senator and a hardworking one at that, this idea nicely intersects with the fact that I am a member of the Environmental Justice Committee of the Mystic Valley Area branch of the NAACP. We have been vigorously active together with clean water organizations on these issues. We have a forum on Get the Led Out at Metric City Hall on Saturday, October 28 from 11 AM to 1 PM that will further address some of these very important concerns. I think that anything that we can do to further focus on these issues and the risks, is a good thing.3460 I do ask you to3462 consider, reporting out favorably as 1395. I recognize that probably of some property issues, that some people might be concerned with. But I think it's, something that could help, in the journal picture of cleaning things up. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. Other questions from the committee? Thank you.
SPEAKER17 - Thank you. We're
SPEAKER1 - not gonna hear a testimony on house 3627 Senate 1328. And that to restrict the use of polystyrene. I wanna start with, Jessica, Nadian.
Oh, good morning. Nice to see you.
SPEAKER7 - Yes.
SPEAKER1 - Or Jess. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Yeah. Good to see you Jess.
JESS NAHIGIAN - SIERRA CLUB MA - SB 1328 - HB 3627 - Thank you. Good morning. My name is Jess Nahigian, Political director for the Massachusetts Sierra Club and I'm here on behalf of our nearly 100,000 members and supporters to speak on, S 1328 and H 3627, an altruistic, use of polystyrene, and I'm sorry for sneaking this one in there, but I'm also going to talk about S 1382 and H 2131 as well. I'll keep it to three minutes. So speaking about, an Act to improve indoor and outdoor air quality first, you know, COVID-19 taught us what many of us took for granted, which is that we have clean air to breathe. Right? This Bill would build on the legacy of the next-generation roadmap, and it addresses the disproportionate impacts on environmental justice communities in relation to unregulated, and ultra-fine particulate matter. The Sierra Club just issued a report, on appliance pollution, and it was co-authored with We Act for Environmental Justice and Physicians for Social Responsibility and it was on, which found, that there are, huge disproportionate impacts on indoor air pollution specifically on communities of color, environmental justice communities, children, elderly people, and renters. You've heard a lot about the impact of exposure to these problems, and so I won't go on about them. But, while this Bill will not necessarily address the root cause of these problems, it will certainly provide a necessary reduction to harm.
As you've heard today, this is supported by a wide variety of stakeholders, including legal organizations, advocacy groups, and public health leaders. This is a priority of all of them. I'll just close, article 97 guarantees us the right to clean air and water, and I hope you'll move this Bill favorably. S 1328, H3627, the act to restrict the use of polystyrene was first introduced in 2013. After four Townsend in Massachusetts introduced bans, on polystyrene at the local level. There was an opportunity for us to be the first state, to do something statewide. Now we're 10 years later, 14 states have now passed some sort of, a ban on polystyrene and are in the process of implementing that ban. So we've not been able to be the first state. But 60 cities and towns in Massachusetts have already moved on this as well. It's no wonder that we had an article, last week in the Globe from a BU professor pointing out that Massachusetts is lagging in banning plastic. In comparison to other states. Polystyrene is unsustainable. It is toxic, it3672 is a synthetic petrochemical that doesn't3674 degrade. It creates microplastics that we find in our air, our water, our soil, our bodies, shellfish, etcetera. It can't be recycled, and it is the only common plastic that is a direct building block of carcinogenic, materials. So strong and proven, and I hope you'll move it favorably. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Jess, are there any questions from the committee? Appreciate your time. Nice to see you. We're gonna now have a hear from a panel, with Lydia Churchill and Janet, Domino's.
Alright. Margaret Moody? Of course.
MARGARET MOODY - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3627 - Good morning. So is my first time being in a hearing, so I understand there's some protocol I'd like to say. Thank you for having me. To the Senator and to the Representative. I understand this is, Representative Marjorie Decker's Bill. So, so I feel I am probably singing to the choir but I think it's pretty clear that this is an important issue. I come from the generation before Tupperware, So I do know it's possible. I have also, the Sierra Club PDF, which I will not read to you, but perhaps has already been submitted to you in some way. So It's not news. But in addition to the states, just had mentioned, I just in my little, googling, I found out that the EU, the UK, and the Vatican have also passed limitations on the use of Polystyrene. So that's my testimony. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. And thank you for for joining us. Hopefully, we'll we'll we'll see you again soon. This is, not not not as daunting as folks may initially think. Yeah. Okay. We're gonna return to, Lydia Churchill and Janet Dominoitz.
You're welcome. Of course.
JANET DOMENITZ - MASSPIRG - HB 3627 - SB 1328 - Good morning Chair Decker, Chair Cyr. My name is Janet Domenitz. I'm the director of MassPIRG, and we are here in support of H 3627 and S 1328. A Bill to, reduce the use of polystyrene. Rep Decker is the chief sponsor. So I know there is familiarity on the committee with the Bill. So I will be very brief, with three bullet points. Good news, bad news. The first is 11 States in America all plus Washington, DC have already passed similar Bills. 60 of the 351 Cities in Towns in Massachusetts have also passed similar regulations. So the bad news here is the commonwealth with a state law is behind. Secondly, the good news is there is a burgeoning movement led by the government businesses universities, activists and more to promote reducing and reusing, just a quick example earlier this year, a Choose to Reuse program that was launched at Boston University has already saved thousands of pounds of plastic garbage.
There's a new company called Deliver Zero working with restaurants and other food establishments to provide reusable containers. The bad news is COVID has put a dent in progress here, although the original claims about needing styrene and styrofoam to protect our public health were, of course, promoted by the plastics industry and did not stand up to science. The third point of good news is that a recent poll by the National Conservation Group Oceana that more than 80% of the public is concerned about single-use plastics and wants to reduce their use. So the effort to3943 reduce plastic use as this bill would do is widely supported here and around the country. The bad news is we still get opposition from big industries like the American Chemistry Council showing up to block efforts at the local state and national levels. So in sum, I hope we can pass this Bill out of committee with a favorable report, get it over the finish line, and3965 reduce the use of plastics in Massachusetts.
LYDIA CHURCHILL - ENVIRONMENT MASSACHUSETTS - HB 3027 - SB 1328 - Thank you. Good morning, members of the committee, Chair, decker, and Chair, Cyr. Thank you for allowing me to testify today. I'm Lydia Rochelle campaign associate with, Environment, Massachusetts. We are a statewide environmental advocacy organization working to protect clean air, clean water, and a livable climate. I'm also here in support of House Bill 3027 and Senate Bill 1328. For decades, we've known that polystyrene is one of the worst forms of plastic pollution. It cannot be recycled. Instead, it persists in the environment in tiny particles, as was mentioned in microplastics. It continues to threaten wildlife for hundreds of years to come. Fragments of plastic have been found in hundreds of species, which can block their digestive tracts and lead to starvation. Nothing we use in a few minutes should continue to pollute our oceans for centuries especially when we don't need it. Rhode Island, Maine, New York, and Vermont have all passed legislation to name a to restrict or ban, so use of polystyrene takeout as have a number of cities in the Commonwealth. It's time we take action at the state level here in Massachusetts. It's time we put our planet on public health first. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. Questions from the Committee Chair dotcom.
DECKER - Yes. I just thank you for your testimony.4059 I think it's also important to remember that people who are posing this are corporations that also profit from mandating or allowing these chemicals to be used. American Chemistry Council, as we know, it's always a little light. I think the name of it's a little, deceptive. Right? It's a trade industry lobbying group, and we challenged them when it came to flame retardants. Took us many years, but we won. In Cambridge. As Janet, you know, I was the person who led for three years, the ban on plastic bags in Cambridge. We were in the first cities to do that, when I was on council. We're going to keep moving this forward. I'm I'm really the work of my colleague, Senator, and, the speaker pro tem, Kate Hogan have done really amazing work over the last two years and looking at the issues of forever chemicals and the industry. So I'm really hopeful about where we are, but, you know, thank you. It's important to remember there's nothing healthy about these4117 chemicals. Nothing. These products actually have a direct correlation to killing us. So, thank you for all of your advocacy and your work. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank thank you so much.
SPEAKER5 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - We're gonna return now to house bill 2131 and set about 1382. Is Wiggs Zamora with us? Come on down. -
WIG ZAMORE - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 2131 - SB 1382 - My apologies. I'm Wig Zamore from Somerville. Apologies for being late. Sometimes my computers and printers don't talk to each other. So I had to run to a copy shop. I have just pages here, and I'd like to read the testimony. But as you can see from all of it, I'm highly in favor of H 2131 and S 1382. I'm a co-founder of three entities in Somerville, Mystic View Task Force focused on, dense transitory, and its mixed-use at Assembly Square when Veltra thought they could only do parking lots in big boxes. Step focused on GLX, which is now open and actually speedier than the globalist reporting. Also the regional path network. Most recently, about 15 years ago, we started a CAFE, which, with the research universities focuses on basically the first hundred meters, next to highways and other similarly scaled pollution sources. We focus on primary ultrafine particles, meaning they're created within two minutes of exhaust. They have nothing to do with PM 2.5, which is a regional pollutant and not a local pollutant. We in the other advanced research groups in the US find no variation in PM 2.5 from upwind to highway to downwind of the highway. None at low scale, which we do in research.
I'm going to talk briefly about global regional and local scales, which I think are the the relevant scales for air pollutants. So global, people are pretty familiar, with the IPCC, which I think, has nailed the science. I don't think there's debate about that now. It's almost all focused on greenhouse gases, but it's also true that some particles have a climate. In fact, those like black carbon, which are absorptive tend to be, driving climate change, and those which are reflective depending on their altitude can drive it or retard it. At regional scale, well, first, let me distinguish, black carbon from organic carbon. So black carbon is almost pure carbon with a few impurities of other elements. If you see a black cloud coming out of an old diesel tractor-trailer or construction equipment, that's black carbon. It's not pure carbon. It's got some impurities it's mostly just carbon. Organic carbon organic carbon dominates, the particulate matter in the atmosphere. Black carbon does not. But it is mostly organic carbon. It's mostly a result of photochemical processing. So afternoon smog. That's all organic carbon. We have nailed PM 2.5 in part because it's easy. The Harvard Six City study of 1993, surprising showed extraordinary cardiovascular debt from PM2.5 by using just a single annual read in some of the six cities and, that just changed EPA's whole focus. I just want to talk a little bit about, SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
Yeah.
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SPEAKER1 - Can you sum can you summarize it, sir, the last comment or 2? Thank you. Okay. Also, because the we're we're the rent testimony. Be able to read the red4354 test place, though. Sure.
ZAMORE - Ultrafine particles have ten times the relative effect of regional fine particles. In other words, the mortality differences are about 50% for cardiovascular, lung cancer, and other diseases, and childhood asthma differences are 50% for people living next to a highway or just half a mile away. So those concentration-response functions are ten times as great as regional PM 2.5. There is zero regulation in the United States. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you so much. For your time. The testimony. Is Reverend Vernon Walker with us? Nope. Okay. Aaron Toffler.4391 Morning.
AARON MICHAEL TOFFLER - MASSPORT CAC - HB 2131 - Morning, Chairs Cyr, Chair Decker and committee members. My name is Aaron Toffler, and I am the executive director of the Massport Community Advisory Committee or MCAC. The MCAC is a the United States. Braintree to Chelsea, Rivera, Quincy, Concord, and all of the neighborhoods of Boston. Our mission is to serve as the voice of these communities in trying to mitigate the impacts that they experience and to provide oversight to the Massachusetts Port Authority. Although the MCAC has not taken an official position on H 2131 yet, there is consensus among our communities that air quality and the impacts of all aspects of transportation thereon, including surface and aviation are crucial and must be addressed more fully by the state. Massport's operations impose air quality impacts on all of our member communities, particularly those4470 near Logan Airport, like Revere,4472 Winthrop, Chelsea, Somerville, and East Boston, who experienced not only aircraft emissions at low altitudes but also congestion from roadways that bring upwards of 40,000,000 passengers to Logan each year. To date, we have not fully measured these impacts.
Ultrafine particles and black carbon are perhaps the most problematic unmeasured pollutants. Evidence suggests that because of their small size, they easily enter the body and are linked to a variety of health problems. Including childhood asthma, slowed lung function, and children and teenagers, worsening of COPD in adults, greater likelihood of getting lung cancer. Health data from communities close to Logan bear this out. In order to make progress on these and other health issues affecting communities impacted by aviation operations, we must measure electrifying particulate matter in other pollutants and develop measures to mitigate their negative health effects. This Bill takes the first step in achieving this goal. It is a step towards environmental justice for these nearing communities who have borne the brunt of transportation health impacts for decades. The right to a clean and healthy environment is enshrined in our state's constitution and our environmental justice policies. We should live up to this promise on behalf of all citizens of the4554 Commonwealth. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this important Bill, and particularly to each of the sponsors of this legislation in addressing air quality in our communities. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank so much. For your testimony questions from the committee, thank you on a recognized committee member, Kay Khan, who's joined us. And now I wanna call Tatiana Chicks.
TATIANA CHEEKS - CONCERNED CITIZEN - A community member of Springfield, a parent, and the president committee out of advice for social justice. In 2015, my son, you know, cute little six-month-old baby, you want to take a lot of pictures and stuff, but his nose was always running and his eyes were always watery. So to the doctor and loaded the hole, my son has a mold part, allergic to mold, but I don't even see mold going in my home. Right? And then, like, maybe two months later, it actually started to come through the ceiling. Because I'm from New York City, I knew what proper remediation was. I knew that I wasn't receiving that. So in fighting for proper remediation, I got evicted. So after being homeless for nine4635 months, I got another apartment. My neighbors flooded our joint basement, and we had another move problem. My landlord was actually on top of this one, and he did it, but he reached out to a scam company. I was given and he was given an ozone oxidation machine that was portrayed as an air purifier. That was put in my home, and it started to make me really ill. So doing research on it, I contacted another mode or, remediation company, explained the device I issued, and he instantly told me to stop using said device because it was going to kill me.
I stopped using the device, but I had to go back to court where my landlord fought for me to use the device, and the judge then ordered me to put this device in my home. This voice was an ozone oxidation machine. Now I have cognition of brain decline that is irreparable and is going to deteriorate as I get older, or because I use this device in my home, that this me and portrayed as an air purifier. This4702 man is still selling these devices in Springfield because as my work the mold lady. I have had two consultants done with him to get him proof that he is still advertising these devices as air purifiers. But because there are no more guidelines, it is perfectly legal for him to do it in Springfield. So I come to ask that we actually support this Bill so we can get more guidelines so that no parent has to be evicted or end up with bring conditions fighting for their children to have safe air in their home. So I and also in this work, I have given out over 300 air purifiers to tenants in Springfield because there's no recourse in the courts or anything now. The standard quarterly code has been changed, but the changes haven't been updated. Or acknowledged, and they still have no guidelines. Move remediation guidelines are imperative. I would not I went from being a very vibrant, educated person who could read a book in 20 minutes. Like, and now I can't read a book in five days. Because of my point condition. So please support this Bill on the remediation aspect. I thank4775 you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank thank you for for traveling to the state house, especially from Springfield. And I think explaining why pretty good the mode standards are are are are pretty critical. I think specific to your this incident with this individual, in Springfield, I wanna refer to the state attorney general's office or, or another super appropriate person.
SPEAKER23 - Into that, but what I said, I can show it to anybody. It's in my
SPEAKER1 - Well, let's connect with the hub connect with our staff afterwards just to make sure that we can thread a referral there.
SPEAKER17 - Yeah.
DECKER - I just want to say thank you. You're clearly still vibrant and and still educating, the community on this. So thank you for your work. Your story is important. People need to understand what retaliation looks like when, renters, in particular, are asking for, their landlords to be accountable. I'm working through this right now with the Cambridge Housing Authority and learning that it's not just about the standards. It's also about what accountability looks like and what enforcement looks like, and it's really really complicated. Often what we see is that tenants are scapegoated and demonized, as a way of extracting. This is a big, big important issue. It affects a lot of people, but it disproportionately affects people who what we keep referring to as environmental justice communities. For those who don't know what it means or people who are often marginalized and systemically not as powerful, due to a number of racist and economic standards. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
So thank you for traveling all the way here. And, we appreciate your testimony.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you Benton. Thank you. So at this time, I I don't have anyone else who has signed up to testify on legislation this morning. Is there anyone else here, who's here testify on on a bill who wasn't called. Alright. I don't see anyone. So I'm gonna move I'm gonna adjourn the hearing. Thank you all for being wanna thank,4888 our staff, wanna thank LIS, quote officer, Scott, my wonderful4894 co chair, and we will4896 see you at our next hearing. Meetings returned.
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