Helping Our Seniors

Helping Our Seniors

Together with Representative Aaron Vega (D) of Holyoke, I presented H630, An Act relative to home care. This bipartisan bill with 62 co-sponsors would raise the modest hourly wages of home care workers who enable many seniors and younger people with disabilities to remain at home rather than having to move to a rest home or nursing home. To attract sufficient numbers of people to do this work, we need to pay them a livable wage. They are literally lifesavers for those they serve. This bill is before the committee on Elder Affairs, which I serve on, and its reporting date has been extended to July 1, 2020.

In the last session of the legislature, a bill I filed to afford seniors property tax relief was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives. The Senate passed it with one amendment on New Year’s Eve 2018. On January 1, 2019, I appeared with a small number of Representatives in the House Chamber, but was unable to secure its passage with the Senate’s amendment. I refiled it in the current session a few weeks later as H2477, An Act relative to the establishment of a means tested senior citizen property tax exemption, together with representative David DeCoste (R) of Norwell and a bi-partisan group of 20 co-sponsors. It has been reported favorably by the Joint Committee on Revenue and awaits further action.

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