Rep. Roy joined Sen. Becca Rausch at the Franklin Town Council to deliver a report on legislative activity for the past year. It also included a discussion of earmarks for Franklin and legislation that has a direct impact on the community. You can watch the video of the presentation by clicking on the image below.

A summary of Rep. Roy’s presentation is below:

BUDGET

The Legislature enacted a $58 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25). The FY25 conference committee report maintains fiscal responsibility while delivering historic levels of investment in every level of education, transportation regional equity, workforce development and health care, reflecting the Legislature’s ongoing commitment to delivering on affordability for residents and economic competitiveness for the Commonwealth.

The budget included a number of items spearheaded by Franklin’s legislative delegation as highlighted in the box below:

For more information on the FY25 budget, click here.

Revenge porn and sexting

The Governor signed into law An Act to prevent abuse and exploitation, which seeks to prevent abuse and exploitation, strengthen protections for survivors, and enhance education for young people about the dangers of sexting and deepfakes.

The law adds Massachusetts to the states that have acted to prohibit image-based sexual assault – sometimes referred to as “revenge porn,” which is the non-consensual sharing of explicit images. The law extends to “computer-generated images,” such as “deepfakes,” which have recently caused alarm. It will also expand the criminal harassment statute to prohibit the distribution of sexual images without consent and increase the maximum fines for criminal harassment convictions.

The new law also addresses teen sexting provisions from a bill filed by State Representative Jeffrey N. Roy (D-Franklin). Rep. Roy worked with Franklin Police Lt. Jason Reilly for several years to make these changes to the law. The work began with a conversation and memo from Lt. Reilly in April 2014 and led to years of collaboration, research, and testimony. 

For more information on this bill, click here.

BEN FRANKLIN AT STATE HOUSE

We had some very special visitors in the State House this month. The House took a momentary break from its blitz of legislative business to stand and applaud its honored guests: Ben Franklin and Ellie Dalton.

Beacon Hill was abuzz for the visit from Ben Franklin, a 5-year-old golden retriever who works as the community service dog in the Franklin Police Department. Eleven year old Ellie from Franklin is Ben’s child trainer and she was recognized for her service with our furry friend and her top placement in dog shows around the nation. Shortly after the House recognized Ellie and Ben, representatives streamed out of the chamber to pose for selfies or award Ben Franklin some much-deserved pats on the head.

Ellie’s journey was featured in an article in the American Kennel Club (AKC) journal.

FREE TREES

We partnered with Franklin’s TruGreen to get 100 trees donated to the Town of Franklin. The donation of the trees will help support the Commonwealth’s and town’s initiatives in combating climate change. 

The donation is part of a partnership between TruGreen and the National Arbor Day Foundation. These trees will also provide monetary savings for Franklin residents adding up to $43,614.87.

MASSCEC

Rep. Roy was excited to bring Emily Reichert, Chief Executive Officer for the Mass Clean Energy Center, to Tri County Regional Vocational Technical High School in Franklin to meet with school officials. Building a new school or renovating an existing one is an exciting process for an entire community. It’s also an opportunity to transition to clean energy, build with sustainable materials, and design with the health of students and teachers in mind.

Tri-County is in the early stages of planning the new school building, and we had a great conversation about how the new facility can be built as sustainably as possible. We discussed the opportunities available with solar energy and geothermal wells and how state and federal grants can help make it happen.

OFFSHORE WIND

Rep. Roy joined his colleagues for a tour of the Marine Commerce Terminal and Foss Marine Terminal in New Bedford.

They did a land and boat tour to get an up close view of the efforts to support the construction, assembly, and deployment of offshore wind turbines.

The New Bedford Port Authority team let us know that the economic activity today is the strongest it has been in over 50 years. The port remains one if the USA’s most profitable fishing ports, and now it is also the center for offshore wind in America. That’s great news for Massachusetts.

HOUSING

The Massachusetts Legislature has passed the Affordable Homes Act, the largest housing investment in Massachusetts history and a powerful first step in tackling the state’s housing affordability crisis.

The legislation authorizes $5.16 billion in bond authorizations and tax credits to spur housing production in Massachusetts, while implementing sweeping policy initiatives to facilitate the development of affordable housing and preserve public housing in Massachusetts.

The new housing law includes $2 billion for the rehabilitation, repair and modernization of more than 40,000 public housing units across the state. It also includes an extra $1 million for the Franklin Housing Authority and $3 million for the Franklin Ridge Senior Housing project.

The law allows accessory dwelling units as-of-right in single-family zones.

It also includes preferences for affordable housing to low- or moderate-income veterans, and a veterans supportive housing program to assist qualified nonprofit organizations to develop and preserve supportive housing for eligible veterans. The qualified nonprofit organization shall provide wrap around services to meet the needs of eligible veterans.

Housing vulnerable populations

• $200 million to support innovative and alternative forms of rental housing, including single person occupancy (SPO) units, transitional and permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness, housing for seniors and veterans, and transitional units for persons recovering from substance use disorder. 25 per cent of funds must be used to fund projects which preserve housing for those with incomes below 30 per cent AMI.
• $70 million to support the development of appropriate community-based housing for Department of Mental Health (DMH) and Department of Developmental Services (DDS) clients
• $60 million to modify homes of individuals or families with disabilities or seniors so that they may maintain residency or return home from institutional settings.
• $55 million to support appropriate housing for people with disabilities who are not DMH or DDS clients.

For more information on the housing bill, click here.

VETERANS

Rep. Roy was happy to contribute an OP-ED piece to the Franklin Observer on veterans’ homelessness. Current data for Massachusetts shows that there are 545 homeless veterans, and of these veterans 274 are in transitional housing, and only 33 are unsheltered.

The legislature has taken a number of steps to address the issue and our veteran homelessness numbers here are much lower than the national figures. Our goal has always been is to not simply provide a bed for them, but rather address their fundamental needs, break down barriers and provide them with permanent housing.

The Massachusetts Legislature has passed An Act Honoring, Empowering and Recognizing Our Service Members and Veterans (HERO Act), legislation designed to boost support for hundreds of thousands of individuals across the state who have served in the United States military, including nearly 30,000 women veterans and thousands of LGBTQ+ veterans.

This compromise legislation increases and simplifies benefits and opportunities, modernizes services, and promotes inclusivity for Massachusetts veterans while reaffirming the Commonwealth’s commitment to recognizing and serving all service members and their families.

It increases benefits for disabled veterans and Gold Star family members, bolsters new and existing initiatives for municipalities and businesses to support veterans, creates comprehensive services for active-duty service members and military families, expands the scope of the Veterans Equality Review Board, updates the Chapter 115 definition of a veteran to expand eligibility, and codifies medical, behavioral health, and dental benefits.

Further, it establishes new recognitions for military service in the Commonwealth and requires several working groups to review post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans, mental health treatments for veterans, and overall quality of life for veterans in Massachusetts.

For more information on this bill, click here.

FIREFIGHTERS

Massachusetts is about to get a new law to shield firefighters from toxic chemicals contained in their protective equipment and eventually phase out the use of PFAS that’s been linked to cancer.

Gov. Maura Healey announced Wednesday that she plans to sign legislation shipped to her on Aug. 5, following momentum during the all-night session that started July 31.

Legislature Passes the FutureTech Act

The Massachusetts Legislature enacted the FutureTech Act, taking action on a $1.26 billion bond authorization to modernize the Commonwealth’s digital infrastructure and create safer and more accessible experiences for residents and employees alike.

Funding and projects included in H.4889, An Act to provide for the future information technology needs of Massachusetts, would allow state agencies to deliver services more efficiently to residents, enhance cybersecurity on statewide platforms, and broaden access to services used by hundreds of thousands of residents statewide. The bill would also invest in emerging technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) and create a fund to secure anticipated federal funding to bolster health and human services-related projects.

Legislature Passes Wage Equity Legislation

The Massachusetts Legislature took a strong step towards closing the gender and racial wage gap in the Commonwealth by passing An Act relative to salary range transparency. The legislation requires employers with 25 or more employees to disclose a salary range when posting a position and protects an employee’s right to ask their employer for the salary range for their position when applying for a job or seeking a promotion.

When signed into law H.4890 would make Massachusetts the eleventh state to mandate pay transparency by requiring employers to disclose salary ranges, according to the National Women’s Law Center.  H.4890 builds on the Legislature’s 2016 passage of the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act, which prohibited wage discrimination based on gender and brought long-sought fairness and equality to workplaces in the state.