Hearing DetailsJoint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development

Event Details

Status:

Completed

Event Date:

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Start Time:

1:00 PM

Location:

B-2 and Virtual

Event Description

Please be advised that the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development will hold a hybrid public hearing on Tuesday, July 22nd starting at 1pm in Room B-2 on the matters listed below. Instructions for providing oral and written testimony are below. Subject matter: Access to library materials.

IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL TESTIMONY: For both in-person and virtual testimony, you must fill out the following form: https://forms.office.com/g/8XNWZkyVmN

WRITTEN TESTIMONY: Written testimony may be submitted to the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development by emailing the Committee’s House Research Director and the Senate Chair’s Legislative Director at JointCommittee.Tourism&CulturalDevelopment@malegislature.gov. Please use the subject line “Written Testimony – TACD 7/22/25”.

DEADLINE TO PRE-REGISTER: For both in-person and virtual testimony, the deadline to register to testify is 1pm Monday, July 21^st, 2025. Individuals registered for virtual testimony will receive an email the day before the hearing with a link to join the hearing on Microsoft Teams. Individuals who miss the deadline to pre-register for testimony may appear on the day of the hearing and sign up to speak in person on forms provided by committee staff. Time permitting, when all pre-registered individuals have been called to testify the Chairs will then call any individuals who sign up in-person on the day of the hearing.

LEGISLATOR AND PUBLIC OFFICIAL TESTIMONY: Due to the technical requirements of conducting hybrid hearings, legislators and public officials are also requested to pre-register to testify. The Chairs may take legislators and public officials out of turn.

TIME LIMIT & PARTICIPATING AS A PANEL: Each individual registered to testify shall be afforded 3 minutes to speak. Individuals offering testimony on multiple bills must do so within the 3-minute time limit. The Chairs, at their discretion, may further limit the time for testimony. Individuals who wish to participate as part of a panel must fill out the pre-registration form separately and completely and then email the House Research Director. The Chairs will permit either fully in-person panels or fully virtual panels only. Questions related to the registration of panels should be directed to the House Research Director at Derek.Dunlea@mahouse.gov.

DEADLINE TO REQUEST ADA ACCOMODATIONS: ADA accommodations shall be provided upon request. The services are provided by staff from the appropriate state agencies. Agency policies require 3 business days to process any request for services. Therefore, the deadline to submit a request for ADA accommodations is 1pm Thursday, July 17th, 2025. Requests for services should be made by email to the House Research Director at Derek.Dunlea@mahouse.gov. Please note, closed captioning will be enabled for this hearing.

Please be advised that the schedule and agenda are subject to change at the agreement of the Chairs. The Chairs, at their discretion, will determine the order of testimony. It is the responsibility of the individuals registered to testify to be prepared to speak when called upon by the Chairs. In the event that an individual is called by the Chairs and that person is not logged into the Teams platform, the Chairs will move on and call the next individual or panel.

At the discretion of the Chairs and per committee rules, written testimony received by the committee will be made publicly available. The committee may limit availability or redact testimony that includes sensitive personal information, information about minors, or information that may jeopardize the health, wellness or safety of the testifier or others.

All matters filed in the House that are listed above are required to be reported on by September 20^th, 2025, subject to extensions consistent with House Rule 27.

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Item Name	Start Time	Duration	Webcast
Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development -- 7-22-2025	7/22/2025 1:00 PM	03:38:54

Access to Library Materials 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Bill	Bill Title	Sponsor
H.3591	An Act ensuring our freedom to read in the Commonwealth	James K. Hawkins
H.3594	An Act regarding free expression	John Francis Moran
H.3595	An Act addressing challenges facing public libraries and digital resource collections	Brian W. Murray
H.3598	An Act protecting against attempts to ban, remove, or restrict library access to materials	Aaron L. Saunders
S.2328	An Act regarding free expression	Julian Cyr
S.2330	An Act addressing challenges facing public libraries and digital resource collections	Paul R. Feeney

Present (9)

Sean Garballey (HOU)

Bruce J. Ayers (HOU)

Mike Connolly (HOU)

Mary S. Keefe (HOU)

David Paul Linsky (HOU)

Hadley Luddy (HOU)

Thomas W. Moakley (HOU)

Steven Owens (HOU)

Donald H. Wong (HOU)

Absent (2)

Brian M. Ashe (HOU) *

David T. Vieira (HOU) *

Hearing DetailsJoint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development

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