Hearing DetailsJoint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities

Event Details

Status:

Completed

Event Date:

Monday, September 22, 2025

Start Time:

1:00 PM

Location:

A-1 and Virtual

Event Description

Accessibility

The Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities will hold a hybrid public hearing to solicit written and oral testimony in-person and remotely on the following bills that pertain to: Accessibility.

This hearing will be chaired by Senate Chair Robyn Kennedy. CART services and ASL interpretation will be available. All matters filed in the House that are listed above are required to be reported on by November 21, 2025, subject to extensions consistent with House Rule 27.

The public is invited to participate in this hearing. To sign up to provide oral testimony, please fill out this link. Sign-ups for oral testimony will close on Thursday, September 18^th at 2:00 PM, but same-day, in-person testimony will be accepted, time permitting. Please note, you will not be able to sign up for virtual testimony on the day of the hearing.

The Chairs will limit testimony to 3 minutes per speaker and 6 minutes for a panel. There is no limit to the number of people permitted to be on a panel, although the Chairs do not recommend panels that are larger than 3 people. Please note, to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to testify, each person is only permitted to testify once throughout the entirety of the hearing.

Written testimony may be submitted to the Joint Committee via email and will be accepted until the bill is acted upon. Written testimony on House bills should be sent to Audrey Herrman (Audrey.Herrmann@mahouse.gov) and written testimony on Senate bills should sent to Olivia Mathot (Olivia.mathot@masenate.gov).

Note: All written testimony received by the Committee will be made publicly available, provided however, the Chairs may limit and redact testimony that includes sensitive personal information or information that may jeopardize the health, wellness, or safety of the testifier or others.

If you have any questions regarding the hearing, legislation, format of the hearing, or reasonable accommodations required to ensure people with disabilities can participate fully in the committee process, please email: Olivia Mathot in Chair Kennedy’s Office, at (Olivia.mathot@masenate.gov) or Audrey Herrman in Chair Livingstone’s Office, at (Audrey.Herrmann@mahouse.gov).

The bills will be heard in the order displayed on the hearing notice with House and Senate companion bills heard together. Please be advised that the schedule and agenda are subject to change at the discretion of the Chairs.

If you have Accessibility needs, click here.

Item Name	Start Time	Duration	Webcast
Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities - 9-22-2025	9/22/2025 1:00 PM	01:14:54

Accessibility 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Bill	Bill Title	Sponsor
H.203	An Act establishing a designation of a state protection and advocacy system	Christine P. Barber
H.223	An Act relative to a livable wage for human services workers	Mindy Domb
H.224	An Act improving accessibility in the creative economy	Daniel M. Donahue
H.238	An Act to provide a pilot program for low interest loans to families with a child suffering from a terminal illness	Paul K. Frost
H.248	An Act ensuring the appropriate and timely payment and residential service placement for children deemed to be a safety risk	Steven S. Howitt
H.4180	An Act relative to intellectual disabilities for DDS services	Colleen M. Garry
S.101	An Act to require closed captioning in telecommunications in public areas	Michael J. Barrett
S.124	An Act establishing a designation of a state protection and advocacy system	James B. Eldridge
S.130	An Act relative to a livable wage for human services workers	Cindy F. Friedman
S.158	An Act increasing accessibility in restaurants for physically handicapped persons	Joan B. Lovely
S.160	An Act improving accessibility in the creative economy	Paul W. Mark

Present (7)

Jay D. Livingstone (HOU)

Kate Donaghue (HOU)

Lisa Field (HOU)

Judith A. Garcia (HOU)

David Henry Argosky LeBoeuf (HOU)

Thomas W. Moakley (HOU)

Aaron L. Saunders (HOU)

Hearing Conflicts (1)

John J. Marsi (HOU)
*Another committee hearing

No Reason Given (3)

Michelle M. DuBois (HOU)

Danillo A. Sena (HOU)

Alyson M. Sullivan-Almeida (HOU)

Hearing DetailsJoint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities

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