Bogs and fields

“The work of the world is common as mud.”

— Marge Piercy, To be of use

Greetings all,

In To be of use, poet Marge Piercy writes a love letter to work that is real and to people who do not sit idle. They “strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward.”

In these urgent and strained times, mud and muck sound about right when it comes to legislating and just about everything else.

BIG NOTE: You’re currently reading my Senate newsletter about the work my team and I are doing on behalf of our district. To engage in campaign-related or electoral work please make sure you’re on my campaign list. To get added, please email jo@jocomerford.org.

Our team has spent October in cranberry bogs, sweet potato fields, and public libraries — pulling for water and sewer infrastructure, education funding, and more.

If you haven’t yet, please make a plan to VOTE.

Let’s get into it.

TL;DR (that's a "too long; didn't read" digest)

Passing omnibus clean energy legislation
Engaging on priorities for an environmental bond bill
Mobilizing against Healthy Incentive Program cuts
Advancing equitable and accessible higher education
State officials visiting the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district
Advocating for agriculture
Celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day
Stating support for restarting the Northern Tier Passenger Rail
Constituents weighing in on Firstlight relicensing
Minimum aid school districts band together
Fighting for healthcare in western Mass
Recognizing book awards for 12 incredible local authors
Encouraging you to register now for a November Town Hall and office hours both via Zoom
Welcoming new Constituent Services Director Jessie Cooley!
Our team is Out and About

Clean energy legislation

On October 24, the conference committee bill that reconciled the Senate and House’s versions of clean energy legislation passed the Senate. The bill now awaits final approval in the House, after which it will be sent to the Governor’s desk.

It includes wins that my team and I fought hard to secure, including:

A bill I filed with Representative Natalie Blais on solar canopies, to prioritize solar on the built environment.
A bill I filed to create an Embodied Carbon Coordinating Council. The Council will ensure we use materials in construction projects that reduce our CO2 emissions.
A provision to deploy grid-enhancing technologies, such as cables that can carry up to twice as much electricity as current designs, and can help avoid the need for new transmission lines.
Provisions giving municipalities additional time, tools, and resources for local permitting of energy infrastructure.
Language ensuring that energy siting decisions avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts to natural lands and ecosystems.
A provision making the ability to intervene in Department of Public Utilities and Energy Facilities Siting Board proceedings far more accessible to small municipalities.

However, the conference committee bill also includes policies that were not in the Senate’s original bill, which I oppose. I wrote about my concerns regarding nuclear and hydropower provisions here.

What I can promise is that I’ll remain a vigilant watchdog over this process because I know that’s what constituents demand.

Forecasting the future: environmental bond legislation

Early in the next legislative session, Governor Maura Healey plans to file an environmental bond bill. Our team has numerous priorities for inclusion in this bond bill, ranging from no net loss of forests and farmland, making trails accessible to all, payments for the ecosystem services that our natural and working lands provide, preparing the Connecticut River watershed for the impacts of climate change, repairing and replacing culverts, supporting municipalities with sludge disposal, and so much more.

I've had fruitful conversations with the team at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and with Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer.

The Environmental Bond can be a massive opportunity for environmental policy and long-term funding for our region. Our team is doing everything we can to influence the bill before it’s filed. You can read a letter detailing our priorities here.

What is going on with the Healthy Incentives Program?

Recently, the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) and the Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) announced that the benefit amount offered through the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) will be decreased, starting in December, to $20 per month for all households due to an administrative cut in the program.

I am pushing back. The funding in the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) budget for HIP was not as much as I advocated for, but the legislature has previously and consistently appropriated supplemental funding for HIP when needed in order to avoid this exact situation.

I promise that I will not rest until the full HIP benefit is restored.

Launching MassEducate and more in higher education

On October 2, I joined Governor Healey, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, Senate President Karen Spilka, Senate Ways & Means Chair Michael Rodrigues, Executive Office of Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler, Department of Higher Education Commissioner Noe Ortega, and many others to celebrate MassEducate, our state’s historic investment in the Commonwealth’s community college system and overall financial aid for students.

The Senate President tasked me with helping to lead and develop free community college policy, and then to work with my colleagues in the Senate to fund it in the FY25 budget. More on the launch of MassEducate here.

But we are not finished. I’ve been saying this so much that pundits have started to quote me on social media.

The same budget that established and funded MassEducate also launched two commissions to tackle quality and affordability across the entire public higher education system. One is focused on student debt and faculty pay, and the other on capital maintenance problems plaguing our campuses.

I’m serving on both commissions and will continue to report back on this work.

On October 10, I co-chaired a Joint Committee on Higher Education informational hearing to analyze the impact of recent state investments into the higher education ecosystem, the implementation of current initiatives (including MassEducate, streamlining financial aid, and strengthening student transfers between institutions), and the progress of the two commissions.

Watch the hearing recording here.

Then, on October 16, I joined Secretary Tutwiler, Commissioner Ortega, and others to announce the release of the Advisory Council for the Advancement of Representation in Education (ACARE) report and recommendations to prioritize equity and access to higher education, particularly for historically underrepresented students.

Governor Healey convened this Council in response to last year’s Supreme Court decision on the legality of race-based higher education admissions criteria.

State officials visit western Mass

A focus on food security and our farms

On September 30, I met Boston Mayor Michelle Wu at Joe Czajkowski's farm in Hadley. In the photo we're digging up sweet potatoes with Joe and Congressman Jim McGovern.

Why? Because Boston schools have contracted with Joe to provide tons (literally) of sweet potatoes, squash, beans, cherry tomatoes, and more for student lunches.

Mayor Wu acknowledged and celebrated the connection between strengthening food security and nutrition for Boston kids, while also strengthening western Massachusetts farms.

We can and should do the same across the state, especially in light of our state's commitment to universally-free school breakfast and lunch.

A focus on economic development

On October 11, Executive Office of Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao, Undersecretary Ashley Stolba, and their team spent eight hours touring the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district.

It was an incredible day that began at a ribbon cutting in Hatfield for the Route 5 Water & Sewer Infrastructure Project that was made possible by $3.8 million in state funding over three MassWorks grants.

Secretary Hao, Undersecretary Stolba, and their team were so instrumental in the success of this massive project that I made Olympic-style medals to celebrate their herculean support of rural communities and the grit of Hatfield and its residents.

We also stopped at Mike’s Maze at Warner Farm in Sunderland and Yankee Candle Village in South Deerfield to focus on the economic engine that is tourism, before heading to UMass Amherst to focus on the potential for investments in a new food science hub and medical simulation training.

Our team was able to help secure two bond authorizations — one for $30 million for a regional food science hub and one for $4 million for medical workforce training simulation in the pending economic development bond bill — and we wanted to make sure the Secretary and her team understood their potential.

We ended the day with three MassWorks-related stops around Amherst. For more on our stops (and more pictures), visit here.

Governor Healey in Greenfield celebrating Regional Transit Authority (RTA) investments

RTA buses are now fare free thanks to an appropriation of Fair Share funding from the Legislature and action by Governor Healey. In our Senate district, this means that riding FRTA, PVTA, and MART buses will cost nothing.

In a largely rural area, the options to access critical services such as healthcare, education, and employment without a personal vehicle or public transit are extremely limited or nonexistent.

Fare Free RTAs, along with increased funding for public transit to add routes and services, make sense. I'm pictured below with Rep. Blais, thanking our Governor for the collaboration.

Agriculture in Action: Cranberry edition

Did you know that Massachusetts is the second largest producer of cranberries in the nation and the third largest in the world?

On October 4, as Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, I got an up-close look at the work it takes to grow and produce cranberries, joining my colleagues on the Joint Committee on Agriculture to learn from growers, producers, and advocates about the cranberry industry’s opportunities and challenges.

Cranberry growers create more than 6,400 local jobs, generating over $1.7 billion in economic activity — all while maintaining 60,000 acres of open space.

The Indigenous Legislative Agenda

A new flag, seal, and motto

During the final day of the FY25 budget debate, the Senate adopted an amendment that I offered with Senator Jason Lewis to complete the work to change the seal and motto of the Commonwealth. I spoke in support of our amendment. You can watch my remarks here.

As you may remember, while the Special Commission on the Official Seal and Motto of the Commonwealth issued a thorough final report and recommended changing the flag, seal, and motto of the Commonwealth, it did not choose a new design.

The amendment allocated $100,000 to the Office of Travel and Tourism to establish an advisory commission including the Commission on Indian Affairs, the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, MassHumanities, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Secretary of Education, the Massachusetts Office on Disability, and others to recommend a new design for the flag and seal, as well as a new motto.

The advisory commission will work with a designer to create and propose three new designs and take public input before a final design is selected.

Sen. Lewis and I have also met with the Governor’s office and relevant Secretariats to urge this work forward. I will remain engaged until we have a new flag, seal, and motto that better represent the values of our Commonwealth.

Indigenous Peoples Day

I released a statement on October 11, in advance of the second Monday in October, calling on the Commonwealth to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. I have filed legislation that would do this as well.

According to the Pew Research Center, Massachusetts is one of only 16 remaining states to still singularly observe the second Monday in October as Columbus Day. Currently 34 states and territories recognize the day in a different way or not at all, with some observing Native American or Indigenous Peoples Day in addition to or in replacement of Columbus Day.

Italians and Italian Americans have contributed greatly to the world — not only the Commonwealth. We rightly celebrate their gifts to science, math, art, and culture during Italian American Heritage Month (which takes place every October).

My concern is the singular focus on Christopher Columbus. I have no doubt that it took a great deal of bravery to set sail and risk falling off the edge of the earth, but his actions in the Americas, we understand now, were brutal. To keep hold of a day solely in honor of Columbus does not grapple honestly with the legacies of colonization and genocide.

I know that we can do better. We can work with those who oppose this change and those who want it — and we can find a way forward that embraces a celebration of Italian heritage, Indigenous Peoples, and the best of our shared values.

Ban Native Mascots

Legislation to ban Native athletic mascots remains a top priority for the upcoming legislative session. It will be the fourth time I file the bill. All of these initiatives are priorities of the Indigenous Legislative Agenda, which you can find here.

Delegation-wide support for the Northern Tier Passenger Rail

In my last newsletter, I encouraged you to submit comments to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) in support of restarting passenger rail service along Route 2, also called the Northern Tier. Thank you for making your voices heard on this crucial project. MassDOT received a whopping 400 unique pieces of testimony.

On October 11, I joined colleagues who also represent communities along Route 2 to send a letter to Governor Healey, Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt, and other officials offering our strongest possible support for the restart of passenger rail service.

Read our letter here.

Constituents weigh in on FirstLight relicensing

On the evening of October 10, District Director Elena Cohen and I joined Rep. Blais, Western Mass Director for Governor Healey Kristen Elechko, and a great crowd of constituents and advocates at a public information session hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) on the 401 Water Quality Certificate (WQC) related to the possible relicensing of FirstLight Power’s Turners Falls Dam and Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Project.

Constituents showed up from across the region to listen, learn, and make their voices heard on an issue of massive environmental importance. This relicensing will affect nearly the entirety of the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts. It’s everyone’s business.

For more information about next steps in this process, see this blog post.

Minimum aid school districts band together

On October 8, I attended a convening by the Massachusetts Association of Regional Schools (MARS) of a new group they’re calling Project 211. Project 211 represents the 211 “minimum aid” school districts in Massachusetts, which are being shortchanged by our Chapter 70 education funding formula because they have declining enrollments.

Education funding is a top priority, and I look forward to continuing to engage with Project 211, western Massachusetts and statewide partners, local leaders, municipalities and school districts, teachers, students, and others in the coming months. Our focus at this moment is on Governor Healey and her upcoming FY26 budget proposal. Here’s an advocacy letter I sent recently to the Governor with Representatives Blais and Mindy Domb.

The future of western Mass healthcare

Rep. Domb and I began this week co-hosting the Second Annual Western Massachusetts Healthcare Summit led beautifully by the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing at UMass Amherst.

The goal of these gatherings is to help our region find common-ground solutions to some of our region’s most stubborn and difficult healthcare challenges. The combination of providers, government agencies, and state officials who attend allow for in-depth information-sharing and discussion which are the building blocks of sustained and successful collaboration.

In western Massachusetts, we struggle with significant workforce shortages and a lack of access to a range of healthcare — from primary care to care for elders. Our healthcare institutions and practices are struggling to make the finances of healthcare work. These critical realities demand our focus, partnership, and support. For these reasons, our team will be focusing deeply on primary care in the coming session.

Thank you to Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh and all of the state officials and frontline providers who participated. I’m glad to be with you.

Twelve local authors recognized at the Mass Book Awards

On October 8, I had the honor of offering the legislative welcome to the 24th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards, hosted by the Massachusetts Center for the Book.

In my welcome, I celebrated 12 award-winning authors from the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district, which I’m proud to call one of the most book-loving and author-dense corridors in the Commonwealth.

Read the full list of award-winners and my remarks from the ceremony here.

Upcoming office hours and a virtual town hall on November 21

District Director Elena Cohen and I will be holding office hours in November and December via Zoom. Please use the link here to register for the time that works best. If these dates and times don’t work for you, please reach out to Elena at elena.cohen@masenate.gov to set up a separate call.

Our team will also be hosting a town hall from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 21 via Zoom.

This event will highlight our work on behalf of the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district and look forward to what lies ahead. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions, share ideas, and/or offer feedback.

Registration is required for this free event — click here to register.

After registering, you will receive an email from Zoom with information on how to join. Please check your spam folder for this email. If you do not receive this email, please email katelyn.billings@masenate.gov.

The Town Hall will be recorded and shared online for those who are unable to attend live.

ICYMI

Cheers for 21 farms and nonprofits in the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district which have recently been awarded Food Security Infrastructure Grants (FSIG). FSIG is one of the strongest, most in-demand programs in state government. This latest round of grants will bring approximately $3.43 million to the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester district to support farmers and strengthen our food system. The continued funding for FSIG speaks to a shared commitment by the Administration and Legislature to fight food insecurity, tackle diet-related disease, and bolster constituents' ability to access locally-grown food — all at the same time.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) has agreed to pilot winter plowing along the Norwottuck Rail Trail from Northampton to UMass Amherst. Thank you to DCR and the many bike and trail advocates in our region. Interesting fact: we first engaged in this work because of constituent outreach in November 2019. We've remained engaged and connected over the years — also because of constituent advocacy. I've been glad to join you and am especially grateful to District Director Elena Cohen and our former (and amazing) colleague Sam Hopper for leading our team’s sustained advocacy.

Hallelujah: Jessie's on board

Join our team in welcoming Jessie Cooley — our team’s new Director of Constituent Services (who started Monday!) — to our Senate office.

Jessie's roots run deep in the Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester District. She was born in Greenfield and raised in Northfield, studied education at UMass Amherst, and worked for 14 years leading Big Brothers Big Sisters programs in Franklin and Hampshire Counties. You can read more about Jessie's background here. She is excited to get to work on behalf of the constituents.

Since taking office, our team has opened and successfully closed over 2,660 constituent cases. We’re proud of this work. When state government doesn’t work as it should, it’s our job to intervene and make it work. In Jessie’s honor, we updated a resource page for constituents featuring key state agencies. You can find it here.

You can reach Jessie directly at jessie.cooley@masenate.gov or 413-367-4656.

Out and about

As always, we’re only able to share a few highlights of the past month. But as you scroll through, please know that I’ve also met with the Leyden Select Board and joined Representatives Susannah Whipps and Blais at a Greenfield City Council meeting. I joined Rep. Domb to welcome Dr. Emily Reichert, the new Massachusetts Clean Energy Center executive director, to UMass Amherst. I marched in the Polish Heritage Month parade. I met with grandparents raising grandchildren and with communities fighting to maintain adequate fire service for their communities. And I’ve been canvassing and fundraising for candidates and causes (which I can’t discuss in this Senate office newsletter). And more.

On September 26, I joined Rep. Domb to present a citation on behalf of the Massachusetts State Senate to the Western Massachusetts Health Equity Network at its 10 year anniversary celebration.

I began Saturday, September 28 with Rep. Blais at the annual Source to Sea clean-up with Connecticut River Conservancy and the League of Women Voters Franklin County.

And I ended the day in Pelham at the Annual Howard D. Barnes Memorial Pie Auction and Harvest Supper. Representative Aaron Saunders and I made two pies, each inspired by the Legislature. I called my pie the Legislative Process Pie.

On September 29, District Director Elena Cohen attended the 26th Annual North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival in Orange. With close to 7,500 attendees at this year’s festival, it was a smashing success, supporting local artists and farmers in the North Quabbin and nearby towns.

On October 1, newly-retired Legislative Director Brian Rosman was back in the State House to receive a career recognition award from Dignity Alliance Massachusetts for his work on legislation to advance dignity and equity for older adults, people with disabilities, and their caregivers. Thank you Brian!

On October 3, I presented Senate and Gubernatorial citations to Pat Grover for her outstanding work as a volunteer with the Bernardston Senior Center for 23 years.

On October 11, I joined Rep. Blais at the Massachusetts Municipal Association Breakfast in Leyden (before joining Secretary Hao in Hatfield for our whirlwind day touring the district). Glad to be with so many town officials and discuss key initiatives for the forthcoming legislative session.

On October 18, the power of culture was on full display at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst where Massachusetts Cultural Council’s cultural facilities fund grantees from across Massachusetts came together to celebrate the latest round of awards.

I am deeply grateful to Mass Cultural Council and MassDevelopment for investing in western Massachusetts, with awards going to the Eric Carle, Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity, and the Northampton Community Arts Trust.

On Saturday, October 19, I began my day by cheering for LifePath’s Annual Walkathon as part of its 50th Anniversary celebration.

I then met with constituents at the Greenfield Public Library with District Director Elena Cohen.

I visited Baystate Franklin Medical Center on October 25 with Reps Whipps and Blais to learn more about the Baystate Franklin Family Medicine Residency Program which has made great strides to bring more primary care physicians to Franklin County (one of the stated goals of the program). The delegation has been able to secure a dedicated earmark for the practice and more is needed to support primary care physicians and practices like Family Medicine. (Thanks to Chris Larabee of The Greenfield Recorder for the photo.)

On Saturday, October 26, I traveled to Worcester to speak on a panel at this year’s Mass Trails statewide conference (https://www.masstrailsconference.com). I was delighted to cheer Craig Della Penna as he received recognition for his leadership and glad to join Congressman Jim McGovern and Representatives Michelle Ciccolo and David LeBoeuf for a conversation on the importance of trails for our health, communities, climate, economic development, and more.

I spoke about my Trails for All legislation and the fierce advocates who have propelled it forward. Massachusetts must make a plan to make the state's publicly-funded trails universally accessible.

Thanks to great state and advocacy partners at DCR, the Office of Outdoor Recreation, and MassBike.

I could go on, but we’ll end this newsletter here and send our love to you.

Please take a moment to read the full To be of use. The poem is a touchstone, helping me return again and again to what’s most important to me about public service.

Onward to the general election! Again, VOTE! It’s your greatest superpower.

Jo, Jessie, Elena, Jared, Rachel, and Katelyn

P.S. For timely updates, you can always follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Never hesitate to email jo.comerford@masenate.gov to let me know what matters most to you.

To be of use by Marge Piercy

The people I love the best

jump into work head first

without dallying in the shallows

and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.

They seem to become natives of that element,

the black sleek heads of seals

bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,

who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,

who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,

who do what has to be done, again and again.