HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3743        FILED ON: 1/18/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1440

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Russell E. Holmes

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act establishing a special commission on structural racism.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Russell E. Holmes

6th Suffolk

1/18/2019

Bud L. Williams

11th Hampden

1/23/2019

Michelle M. DuBois

10th Plymouth

1/30/2019

Chynah Tyler

7th Suffolk

2/1/2019


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3743        FILED ON: 1/18/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1440

By Mr. Holmes of Boston, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1440) of Russell E. Holmes and others for legislation to establish a special commission (including members of the General Court) to study the presence of institutional racism and structural racial inequality in the criminal justice system.  The Judiciary.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

_______________

 

An Act establishing a special commission on structural racism.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

There is hereby established a special commission on structural racism consisting of 11 members: 2 members of the house of representatives; 2 members of the senate; the commissioner of the department of correction, who shall be the chair the commission; a sheriff selected by the governor; the district attorney of Suffolk county and 4 persons who shall be appointed by the governor: 1 of whom shall be the president of the Boston chapter of the NAACP; 1 of whom shall be the police commissioner of the city of Boston; and 1 of whom shall be the president of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, Inc.

The commission shall study how the systemic presence of institutional racism has created a culture of structural racial inequality which has exacerbated disproportionate minority contact with the criminal justice system in Massachusetts.

The commission shall report to the general court with its findings and recommendations for legislation, if any, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry its recommendations into effect, by filing the same with the clerk of the senate and the clerk of the house of representatives on or before July 1, 2020. The findings will be utilized to effectively legislate measures that will profoundly curtail the discriminatory treatment which has crippled the development of entire communities of color in the commonwealth.