SENATE DOCKET, NO. 631        FILED ON: 2/3/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2012

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Harriette L. Chandler

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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 requiring equality in state documents.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 631        FILED ON: 2/3/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2012

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 1805 OF 2019-2020.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act requiring equality in state documents.

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

SECTION 1. As used in this section the following words shall have the following meanings:-

“Agency”, a commonwealth authority, including a quasi-public independent entity performing a public function that does not receive direct appropriations from the commonwealth, board, bureau, commission, department, division, executive office, institution, institution of higher education, the secretary of state, the attorney general, the state treasurer, the state auditor, the administrative office of the trial courts, trial court departments, the supreme judicial court, the appeals court, the governor's office, lieutenant governor's office, the governor's council, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, the house of representatives and the senate.

No later than six months after the passage of this act, the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth shall produce guidelines, hereinafter referred to as “the guidelines”, regarding gender appropriate language to use to reference gender on Agency forms and documents. Such guidance shall include in the elimination of the terms “mother” and “father” on all state documentation, to be replaced with “parent 1” and “parent 2”. Such guidance shall require that language is gender neutral where possible.

No later than one year after the passage of this act, each Agency shall, subject to appropriation, review documentation and forms for which they have authority, and update said documentation and forms to conform with the guidelines.

SECTION 2. Section 16 of chapter 46 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting at the end, the following paragraph:-

“The state registrar shall ensure that any form or other materials approved by the registrar use gender appropriate language to reference gender and is gender neutral where possible. The registrar may utilize guidelines created by the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth or any other relevant guidelines in making such a determination.”