Lowering higher education costs, supporting K-12 public education, confronting climate change, creating more housing and protecting and expanding health care and reproductive care are among the priorities this year for the legislative delegation representing Hampshire County.

As a new legislative session gets underway, though, the Jan. 17 deadline to file bills comes just before a new presidential administration begins in Washington, D.C. and the possibility that legislators will need to react to White House administrative orders and other federal actions.

State Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, said that housing, increasing education funding to rural communities, and protecting natural and working lands would be top priorities, with the state having codified the right of both providers and residents to supply and seek gender-affirming and reproductive health care.

“Donald Trump has told us who he may target. We have to see what his actions are, and whether or not he follows through on those threats,” Comerford said. “We know that we have to be vigilant around reproductive freedom, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights.”

Comerford is also supporting the Safer Communities Act, which, if passed, would prohibit local police cooperation with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Representing Amherst and half of Granby in the 3rd Hampshire District, Democratic Rep. Mindy Domb said her intent is to focus on climate bills, such as one promoting climate science and education for young people and decarbonizing public pension funds. She also wants to help local school districts with their budgets and reduce the burden of the costs of higher education.

“Students need to have the ability to have an affordable education,” Domb said, pointing to legislation for making open educational resources more available, and saving students money by not having to buy textbooks.

Domb is also supporting a livable wage for health and human services providers, increasing the number of primary care providers, and examining the continued impacts of long COVID, with bills focused on data collection and patient navigation services. As always, there is an interconnectedness between food and income security, public health and transportation, as when people can access diapers and menstrual products they also can be ensured better nutrition.

“My priorities include bills that respond to the climate crisis, reduce food security/income inequality, increase college affordability and protect higher education, support the rights of transgender individuals, improve programs for people with disabilities, and increase access to primary care in western Mass.,” Domb said.

She is also aiming to get behind existing bills to get more done. “I’m trying hard not to file duplicate bills and will be seeking out collaborative opportunities,” Domb said.

Reproductive rights

Reproductive rights, such as a bill to protect consumer health data and expand the gestational limit for when abortion can legally be performed in Massachusetts, is a focus for state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, who represents the city and hilltowns such as Chesterfield, Williamsburg and Goshen. The gestational limit is currently set at 24 weeks, with some medical exceptions for when the patient’s life is at stake or there is a grave fetal diagnosis.

Regarding protecting consumer health data, Sabadosa told the Gazette that “it absolutely affects reproductive health care, but it also affects mental health and people who are in recovery. Sometimes you’ll be on social media and ads will pop up for things, and part of the reason is because your data is being sold when you’re looking up information about your health. So we want to put up some guardrails up about who can have that information.”

Sabadosa also said that expanding abortion access in Massachusetts is vital due to increasing restrictions on abortions in other states.

“My goal is to make sure that no one has to leave the state of Massachusetts for health care, particularly given that many states are trying to restrict travel, were trying to prosecute abortion seekers,” Sabadosa said. “We’re going to be looking at filing legislation around the question of gestational limits and making sure that no one ever has to leave.”

Housing, education funding

For Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, the Legislature needs to focus on housing and to enhance what is in the $5.1 billion Affordable Homes Act, signed into law in 2024 by Gov. Maura Healey, that would produce, rehabilitate or preserve 65,000 homes over the next five years.

“We are perilously close to a point where Massachusetts has a really serious affordability crisis,” Velis said. “We can’t get to where people just can’t afford Massachusetts.”

And while Velis acknowledges education and health care are crucial to the state’s residents, not enough workers are going into those fields because they can’t afford to remain in Massachusetts.

“We need to acknowledge that and not run from that,” Velis said, or else people who are 20 to 40 years old will continue to leave the state.

Other legislators aim to keep the momentum going from the busy previous session. With the rollout of MassEducate. which covers the cost of community college tuition for all students, Sen. Jacob Oliveira, D-Ludlow, plans to build on access to higher education by alleviating the costs of wraparound services for students, such as housing, tutoring and transportation. Student success, he said, also involves staff compensation and capital improvements on campuses, both of which he will advocate for in the next session.

“The other side is looking at our K-12 schools,” Oliveira said. “To ensure that school districts and communities that are getting the minimum aid, which are most of the communities in my district outside of Springfield in Chicopee, that we rework the funding formula to bolster that funding for school districts, regardless of where it’s located.”

Comerford also voiced support for the funding formula that provides state aid to schools, known as Chapter 70.

“The Chapter 70 funding formula is not working for western Massachusetts,” she said. “There’s two sides to the formula, what we get and what we contribute, and I’m heartened that both the senate president and minority leader talked about this in their speeches on opening day. That’s the result of sustained advocacy.”

Like Oliveira and Comerford, Rep. Aaron Saunders, D-Ludlow, said his goals revolve around regional equity for the western half of the state, whether that’s ensuring his communities receive a fair share of the funds from the economic development and housing bond bills passed in the previous session or protecting the area’s natural resources. Saunders adds that he and Comerford will continue to push the Quabbin Reservoir Bill filed last session that keeps the National Rural Water Association accountable to its responsibility to western Massachusett’s residents.

“The hard work of making sure that those funds are distributed equitably is another big lift,” Saunders said, “And we have a great team in western Massachusetts delegation that will be working every day, myself included, to ensure western Mass. gets a fair share of those resources.”

Oliveira will be focused on the rollout of the PACT Act, which lowers the cost of prescription drugs, and developing the health care workforce. Not only does Oliveira want to invest in more primary care physicians, which will eliminate wait times as long as six months for patients and high patient loads for health care providers, but maintain current health care jobs. Baystate Medicial Center is the biggest employer in Oliveria’s district, with over 5,000 employees, and decreases in federal health care funding could jeoparadize those jobs and the families who depend on them.

Many of the objectives are in alignment with Rep. Homar Gomez, D-Easthampton, the only new member of the delegation, whose district also includes South Hadley, Hadley and half of Granby. Gomez has said he will focus on expanding social services and programs to address food insecurity, and is also concerned about environmental initiatives and assisting small communities looking to transition to more sustainable infrastructure.

Confronting national GOP

Whether Republicans at the national level controlling the White House, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives will potentially impact the ability of legislators to maintain their priorities is uncertain, though Domb said she is ready to confront any policies or orders that undermine the safety and well-being of residents. Comerford offered a similar message, saying she would defend and protect the rights already established in the region and commonwealth.

“I think our first charge is protecting and defending those most vulnerable in our midst,” she said. “The legislation on that will be filed very soon, and I’ve already talked to leadership about my budget priorities, so that work is well underway.”

Domb said the Legislature will be ready to protect Massachusetts and its residents and rebuff any heinous actions the Trump administration might implement, as was done during his first term. “One of the responsibilities in the new session is to remain flexible and nimble, to respond quickly to the federal government’s action,” Domb said.

Domb, like Comerford, began her first tenure in 2019, so has experience in supporting two critical actions at the time. The hallmark response, Domb said, was to set aside money to support reproductive health clinics at risk of losing federal support for critical health services, through a so-called gag order that prohibited their workers from mentioning abortion. The other action was to ensure money was available for those who faced having their heat turned off in the winter months.

Sabadosa said she would also work to add protections regarding transgender and worker rights in the state, such as allowing alterations of a child’s birth certificate if one of the parents has transitioned.

“The parent’s name on the birth certificate is actually a challenge. It requires going to court, and there is not a facilitated process,” Sabadosa said. “It is actually critically important, because if the names don’t match, it could hold up Social Security payments if the parent were to die — it can cause all kinds of questions, particularly looking at how those records are used and how families interact with the federal government in the coming years.”

For workers’ rights, Sabadosa said striking workers need to be assured they will have a right to access unemployment insurance.

“It was upsetting at how anti-labor the incoming administration was, like openly mocking unions,” she said. “We’re going to go back to the bill around unemployment compensation during labor disputes and really try to push that forward in Massachusetts.”

Velis said he is less supportive of being proactive if it means pitting Massachusetts against the federal government. Taking such action, he said, isn’t in the best interest of his constituents. There was a significant rightward shift in the Massachusetts electorate that he is paying attention to, he said, and “kitchen table” issues, which include the need for housing and addressing inflation, has put pressure on people’s wallets and pocketbooks.

“When the time comes when we need to oppose something coming from Washington, let’s do that,” Velis said. “But let’s not pick fights beforehand.

“I want to see what the policy is, and will respond accordingly if the need arises,” Velis said.

Saunders predicts the state will struggle with funding in the coming session. Not only did Saunders see the state’s revenue growth begin to plateau at a consensus revenue hearing in December, but he doubts that the incoming Trump administration will cooperate with the commonwealth on issues like climate mitigation and health care, especially not to the same extent as the Biden administration.

“We are in that watch and respond mode to see if any attempts Washington takes to erode our investments in health care, education and protections of civil rights,” Saunders said. “I’m confident that the House is ready to respond as needed.”

Focusing more on matters controlled entirely by the commonwealth, rather than systems that require federal funds and reform, is one way to respond to the changes at the federal level, Saunders said. He plans to continue development of the West-East Rail, in part because a huge chunk of federal funds have already been awarded.

“Our priorities have changed, and they will evolve even more as the new administration takes hold,” Oliveira said. “We need to see what they might be doing and find ways to insulate ourselves from any changes that could impact the citizens of Massachusetts, but also budgetary constraints as a lot of dollars coming from the Biden administration will be drying up.”