Legislative Updates

Earlier today, Governor Baker was joined by members of the black and Latino caucus and released his bill on police licensing/certification. We have put together a summary and highlights of the legislation. Establish a police officer standards and accreditation committee (POSAC) made up of 7 police officers and 7 civilians. They would serve for three […]

We were informed late last night that Governor Baker will release his version of police reforms on Wednesday. We expect to receive a draft this morning and will have more comments.

Yesterday, the SCOTUS chose not to review cases regarding qualified immunity. This principle protects government employees acting in an official capacity from lawsuit unless their actions violate ” clearly established” federal law or constitutional rights. It takes four justices to take up a case. In the past, Justice Sotomayor, the most liberal on the court and

We are tracking this Bill closely as it is in the early stages of development. As of yesterday, it did not have a filing number yet. We look forward to an open dialogue and having a voice in any future reform discussions. Stay tuned as we will keep you posted to any updates. The bill

Yesterday Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership released the Justice in Policing Act which calls for reforms in policing that include a ban on chokeholds, an end no knock warrants in drug cases and makes lynching a federal hate crime. It goes on to require local departments submit their uses of force to the feds

Today the SJC gave us a partial victory in their ruling concerning the release of prisoners in Massachusetts jails. They ruled that only pre-trial detainees being held on bail for non violent offenses could be eligible for release. There would be a hearing to decide on a case by case basis. The ACLU said the

Brother and Sister Retirees,Over the weekend Governor Baker signed into law Chapter 53 of the Acts of 2020 which states that retiree earnings earned during the declared state of emergency would be exempt from earnings restrictions for the calendar year 2020. The state of emergency began on March 10th so any earnings received from that