Hearing DetailsJoint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery

Event Details

Status:

Completed

Event Date:

Monday, September 15, 2025

Start Time:

11:00 AM

Location:

Gardner Auditorium and Virtual

Event Description

Harm Reduction

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Date of Hearing: Monday, September 15, 2025

Time: 11AM - 5PM

Location: Hybrid Hearing - Gardner Auditorium and Virtual via Microsoft Teams

Chair: Representative Mindy Domb

The Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery will conduct a hybrid public hearing on September 15th from 11AM to 5PM in Gardner Auditorium on bills relating to the following topic: Harm Reduction

This hearing will be chaired by House Chair Domb. The Committee will accept written and in-person testimony submitted on the matters listed on the docket.

*Please be advised that the schedule and agenda are subject to change at the discretion of the chairs per Committee rules.

**Further be advised that all House bills considered during this hearing must be reported on by November 14, 2025 subject to extensions consistent with House Rule 27.

Questions regarding House bills on the docket should be directed to House Chair Domb’s office by contacting Staff Director Lily Stowe-Alekman via email at Lily.Stowe-Alekman@mahouse.gov.

Questions regarding Senate bills on the docket should be directed to Senate Chair Velis’ office by contacting Legislative Director and General Counsel Jocelyn Schafer, Esq. via email at Jocelyn.Schafer@masenate.gov.

***INSTRUCTIONS FOR REGISTRATION / TESTIMONY***

The public is invited to participate in this hybrid hearing, which will be streamed live and archived on the General Court website, https://malegislature.gov/.

All persons who wish to testify are strongly encouraged to sign up in advance by completing this form: https://forms.office.com/g/R4c41GQtvv. Persons who wish to testify virtually must register in advance using this form no later than 5:00pm on Thursday, September 11, 2025. Further instructions will be sent to those who register to testify virtually. The Committee will provide a link to join the public hearing to those who sign up to testify virtually via 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 outside of the hearing room. When all pre-registered individuals have been called to testify, the presiding Chair will then call any individuals who sign up on the day of the hearing.

LEGISLATOR AND PUBLIC OFFICIAL TESTIMONY: Legislators and public officials are also required to pre-register to testify virtually. The presiding Chair, at their discretion, may take legislators and public officials out of turn. The Committee will extend this courtesy to legislators and public officials only, and it will not be expanded to include other individuals or panels.

ORAL TESTIMONY - TIME LIMIT: 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 presiding Chair, at their discretion, may further limit the time for testimony.

ORAL TESTIMONY – PARTICIPATING AS A PANEL: Each individual participating as part of a panel must fill out the pre-registration form separately and completely. Each member of a panel must fill out the appropriate section of the pre-registration form indicating that they will be participating as part of a panel. The presiding Chair will permit either fully in-person panels or fully remote panels only. Questions related to the registration of panels should be directed to the presiding Chair’s staff via email at Lily.Stowe-Alekman@mahouse.gov.

ORDER OF TESTIMONY: The presiding Chair, at their discretion, will determine the order of testimony during the course of the hearing. It is the responsibility of the individuals registered to testify to be prepared to speak when called upon by the presiding Chair. In the event that an individual testifying is called by the presiding Chair and that person is not logged into the Teams platform or present in the hearing room, the presiding Chair will move on and call the next individual or panel.

Hearings will be recorded and posted publicly, archived on the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery webpage for the duration of the 194th Legislative Session.

For questions regarding hearing logistics, please contact the presiding Chair’s staff via email at Lily.Stowe-Alekman@mahouse.gov.

WRITTEN TESTIMONY – DO NOT FILL OUT THE FORM: For individuals wishing to provide written testimony ONLY, please do not fill out this form. Written testimony is encouraged and will continue to be accepted after the hearing until the relevant bill is acted upon. Written testimony may be submitted electronically via email to the following: jointcmte-mentalhealth@malegislature.gov. For testimony submitted by email, please include the bill number and “TESTIMONY” in the subject line of the email, as well as your name, address, phone number, and organization, if any, on the submitted testimony. Registration is not required to submit written testimony.

Written testimony may be physically mailed to the House and Senate Chairs at the below addresses:

CHAIR MINDY DOMB

JOINT COMMITTEE ON MENTAL HEALTH, SUBSTANCE USE AND RECOVERY

ATTN: LILY STOWE-ALEKMAN

24 BEACON STREET, ROOM 33

BOSTON MA, 02133

CHAIR JOHN C. VELIS

JOINT COMMITTEE ON MENTAL HEALTH, SUBSTANCE USE AND RECOVERY

ATTN: JOCELYN SCHAFER

24 BEACON STREET, ROOM 513

BOSTON MA, 02133

Please be advised that all written testimony submitted will be read by Committee Members and staff and may be made publicly available at the discretion of the Chairs and per Committee rules. The Committee may limit or redact testimony that includes sensitive personal information or information that may jeopardize the health, wellness or safety of the testifier or others.

Persons submitting written testimony containing sensitive personal information or information intended only for the Committee should prominently indicate whether such written testimony should be made public availability or if the person desires the public availability of all or part of such written testimony to be limited by the Committee.

Those who do not plan to testify but want to watch the public hearing may view the live stream under the Hearings & Events section of the legislative website.

ACCESSIBILITY ACCOMMODATIONS: The Committee will work to coordinate reasonable accommodations required to ensure that people with disabilities are able to participate fully in the hearing process. Timely requests for accessibility accommodations, such as assistive listening devices and systems, sign language interpreting services, closed captioning and transcription services, will be provided upon request. Requests for services should be submitted by completing the state house accessibility form, https://malegislature.gov/StateHouse/AccessibilityForm/. If you have any questions regarding a submitted request for accessibility accommodations, please email the presiding Chair’s staff at Lily.Stowe-Alekman@mahouse.gov.

If you have Accessibility needs, click here.

Item Name	Start Time	Duration	Webcast
Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery - 9-15-2025	9/15/2025 11:00 AM	06:00:08

Harm Reduction 11:00am - 5:00pm

Bill	Bill Title	Sponsor
H.2235	An Act ensuring safe disposal of hypodermic needles and lancets in the Commonwealth	Priscila S. Sousa
S.1410	An Act helping overdosing persons in emergencies	Joan B. Lovely
H.2225	An Act relative to harm reduction and racial justice	Samantha Montaño
S.1391	An Act relative to harm reduction and racial justice	Julian Cyr
H.2196	An Act relative to preventing overdose deaths and increasing access to treatment	Marjorie C. Decker
S.1393	An Act relative to preventing overdose deaths and increasing access to treatment	Julian Cyr

Present (11)

Mindy Domb (HOU)

Kate Donaghue (HOU)

Michelle M. DuBois (HOU)

Colleen M. Garry (HOU)

Russell E. Holmes (HOU)

Steven S. Howitt (HOU)

Christopher M. Markey (HOU)

John Francis Moran (HOU)

Sean Reid (HOU)

Susannah M. Whipps (HOU)

Steven George Xiarhos (HOU)

Absent (2)

Mary S. Keefe (HOU) *

David K. Muradian, Jr. (HOU) *

Hearing DetailsJoint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery

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