Did you know:

A handful of critical bills filed at the beginning of the 2023-2024 legislative session are currently in jeopardy of expiring. This critical legislation (sitting in limbo) was filed to prevent child sexual abuse in our schools, youth organizations and communities.

While one of these bills was successfully passed (An Act to Prevent Abuse and Exploitation)…the rest (6 House Bills) are currently held up or stalled in various committees. These bills, which were filed in February 2023 would:

• Require education about child sexual abuse prevention for all schools and youth organizations, and require them to adopt prevention policies;

• Strengthen the screening of applicants for positions in schools to identify any past sexual misconduct;

• Prohibit the aiding and abetting of a school employee engaged in sexual misconduct with a student to secure a position in another school;

• Close the “age of consent loophole” that has been providing legal protection for individuals engaged in sexual relations with youth 16-18 years of age;

• Increase penalties for educator-specific sexual misconduct and for persons in positions of authority over a child who commit child sexual abuse.

These bills and what they accomplish are absolutely no brainers, but I fully admit that since I am just a regular citizen, and not yet our state rep I don’t have a line of sight to why these are still held up…

However, it is probably safe to say that the fact that Massachusetts consistent ranks as the lease effective legislature and passes one of the lowest percentages of bills introduced…that could be contributing to the fact this priority legislation has not yet passed to protect the children of our state and bolster the prosecution of the offenders.

No matter the potential issues with the bills (which I truly cannot fathom what that would be), in my opinion there is NO excuse as to why these bills could not have been made a priority over the last 2 years and passed prior to the end of the formal session that just occurred in June 2024.

How is this not more of a priority for our elected officials?

Please check out https://enoughabuse.org/get-vocal/ma-laws/ to learn more about this must pass legislation. They have more info on the importance of these bills and ways you as a regular Mass resident can help move our painfully slow legislature forward.