Session DetailsSenate Session

The Senate will come to order. The chair will ask all members, guests and staff to please rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

The senate will be in a brief recess. Senate come to order. The Senator from Worcester and Middlesex, Mr. Tran has filed a communication, which the clerk will read.

Dear Clerk Welch, I unfortunately will not be able to attend formal session on February 14, 2018 due to a family obligation outside of the country. I apologize for any inconvenience my absence may cause. Thank you, Dean A. Tran, state senator Worcester and Middlesex district.

The senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr, moves that the communication be printed in a journal. All those in favor, say aye. Question, say aye. Opposed, no. The ayes have it. And the communication will be printed in the journal.

One matter comes before the Senate for it's final passage, an act increasing the exemption for residential property in the town of Provincetown. Question comes of passing the bill to be enacted. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. They ayes have it, bill will be passed, will be signed by President, laid before the governor for his approbation. Report of the committee.

The committee rules two branches have to concur to defer the Senate order of-- [INAUDIBLE] I got it right here.

Senate has a brief recess?

Off

Senate will come to order.

The committees are rules two branches have to concur to whom is referred, the senate petition of Cynthia S Creem and Kenneth I. Gordon for legislation to enhance investigations of sexual harassment and discrimination. Reports recommend that joint rule 12 be suspended with reference there to Mark C. Montigny for the committee.

The senator from Worcester, Mr. Moore, moves that the Senate rule, rule 36 be suspended so the matter be taken to forth with. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it. And the rule is suspended. Question now comes on suspension of joint rule 12. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The rules are suspended. And the rules and the petition will be referred to committee on Judiciary. Report of a committee-- actually you know what? Chair is in error.

Going to go to a different report of a committee. Report of the committee, I'm going to do that one last. [INAUDIBLE]

Committee rules two branches have to conclude concurrently to whom is referred the Senate order relative to granting the committee on municipalities and regional government until March 7, 2018, within which time to make its final report on a certain Senate document relative to housing and sustainable development. Senate number 2288 recommends that the same ought to be adopted Mark C. Montigny for the committee.

The Senator from Winchester, Mr. Lewis, moves that the rules be suspended so the matter may be conserved forthwith. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the rules are suspended. Question comes on adoption of the order. Chair will recognized the senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Why thank you, Mr. President. And good morning. It's nice to be here with you this morning and other colleagues who are present in the chamber. And Mr. President, the season of extension is upon us. Affectionately known oftentimes as joint rule 10 day, and hopefully, Mr. President, not known as indefinite postponement day. Mr. President, we have in front of us one of the first orders that is before the Senate for consideration.

And, Mr. President, certainly, I think over the last several years, we have done much better at making the legislative process efficient. We've had a change in the date of joint rule 10 so that bills will become released with much more time to be fully considered by the Senate and by the house for that matter. And, Mr. President, it is critical at this important juncture for the Senate on this day of joint rule 10, Mr. President, that we ensure that extension orders are used judiciously. And that they are not-- we do not have overzealous resort to them as a means to avoid consideration of particular matters that have been filed in a timely way.

And so, Mr. President, in order to maintain the integrity of that process that we've worked very hard to achieve, I'm hoping that throughout the day as we may see extension orders, that we will have explanations of them. And, Mr. President, the very first one calls on our senator from Worcester to be able to offer us an explanation. I look forward to it. I know he's worked very hard to minimize the number of extensions originating from his committees. And, Mr. President, I'm hoping that we can hear what the subjects of this extension order are to with how many bills, the date that's being sought for the extension and the reason that an extension is necessary for the particular subject matter of this order.

Mr. President, I appreciate his work on this. And I look forward to his explanation. This request for an extension order prior to the Senate considering granting such an order.

Chair recognizes the senator from Worcester Mr. Moore.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you to the minority leader for asking about this bill. I almost feel like this is like the Eagles versus Patriots, where I'm the Eagles and you're the Patriots today on the questioning. But as the Senate chair, the Joint Committee on municipalities and regional government, I rise to seek a support of this chamber in approving extension order for the legislation entitled, An act promoting housing and sustainable development. This is an omnibus bill filed by the Senate President Chandler, contains provisions approved by this chamber last session that would reform the provisions of the Cromwell zoning act and address many issues facing our constituents in communities and obviously affordable housing and access to affordable housing. The Joint Committee is seeking a one month, 30 day, extension.

The bill-- we're actually being-- trying to be very progressive with this bill. There's been one bill that was filed in the house that's been with the committee since the start of the session. We've been working trying to work out the issues surrounding that bill. But there's also been a bill that was in economic development that was Senator Chandler's bill, that was just recently discharged to our committee in the House. So that an omnibus bill consisting of both versions can be completed. So the goal is, within 30 days from this date, to have that bill, those two bills put together. And we'll have one bill put out for both branches to hopefully act upon.

Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President. I would disagree with the gentleman slightly in terms of his reference to the Eagles and the Patriots. Mr. President, I believe that we are all on the same team in this exercise. And he has just proven that by the work that he has done to engage the limited and reasonable use of an extension order to achieve the goals that he stated. And, Mr. President, I believe it's our task today to collectively not spike the ball, but to continue to advance the ball down the field.

And I think what he has done in this matter is reasonable. And I think it is the appropriate use of this type of tool. And as a result, I hope the extension order is adopted.

A question comes on adoption of the order. All those in favor, say aye, opposed no. The ayes have it and the order's adopted. Senator from Middlesex, Mr. Lewis, has presented an order which the clerk will read.

By Mr. Lewis, an order relative granting the Committee on Public health until March 7, 2018, within which to make its final report on certain Senate current document relative to public health.

Are the rules referred to a committee? Referred to a committee on rules, report of the committee.

There are rules to which acting concurrently to defer the Senate order relative to granting the Committee on Public health until March 7, 2018, within which to make its final report. Report recommend the same ought to pass, Mark C. Montigny for the committee.

Senator from Winchester, Mr. Lewis, moves that the rules be suspended so that the matter may be considered forthwith. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the rules are suspended. Question comes on adoption of the order, the chair will recognize the gentleman from, the senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President, and to you the members. I was hoping you might say the senator from the Patriots, because the way things are going, I might get added to the roster at any day. And I would note that I'm particularly good at playing both offense and defense. Mr. President, the gentleman that stands at majority microphone has certainly worked hard in the Committee on Public Health to try to ensure that we make judicious use of extension . Orders I know that he's worked very, very hard at that. And I want to commend him for the work that he has been doing to try to use extension orders for the purpose that they were intended and should be used.

This extension order before us I know has a limited number of bills. And, Mr. President, I'm hoping that we can understand that number, the subject matter and the date that's being sought, as well as the rationale for seeking an extension. Thank you, Mr. President.

Chair recognizes Senator from Winchester, Mr. Lewis.

Thank you Mr. President. And good, good morning, everyone. I want to thank the minority leader for his question. And I want to thank him for his efforts to ensure that we minimize the use of extension orders. It is important that the joint committee's understand that the work needs to be-- the work before them needs to be conducted in an expeditious manner and that we need to move legislation through the process. We owe that to the sponsors of these bills. We owe that to our constituents.

I strongly support the fact that joint rule 10 day was moved up earlier in this legislative session in order to, again, accelerate legislation moving through the legislative process. And I have worked very hard with my co-chair in the public health committee, representative Kate Hogan, to try as much as possible to finish our analysis and our review of the roughly 350 bills that are before the public health committee this session and to really minimize as much as possible the number of public health bills that we are seeking extensions on and then to minimize the length of those extensions as well. So again, I really appreciate where the minority leader is coming from. And I agree with him that we need to minimize the number of extensions in total and the length of those extensions as well.

So the public health bills that are included in the order, there are nine bills. They would be extended for one month, until March 7. And they cover four topic areas. Those are oral health, and specifically the work that we're doing around a dental therapist, which is like a mid-level provider. There's been a lot of discussion about that. And we're continuing to work hard to resolve some different issues there. The second area is around our stroke care, also a very challenging issue where we are trying to address how to have different tiering within our hospitals in terms of responding to stroke emergency care. Third is around flame retardants. And a little bit more work remaining there to iron out a few issues, although this is an area that the Senate has acted on previously. And I'm certainly hopeful we will be able to do so again this session.

And then the fourth area is a particularly challenging issue. It relates to the issue of medical aid in dying. It goes by different names. And that is an issue that many people have very strong feelings about, whether they support it or oppose it. The committee has been very diligent in taking testimony from literally hundreds if not thousands of individuals and organizations from around the state. And we just need a little more time to finish processing all of that and really analyze, literally, every detail in the bill to make sure that it has been carefully considered. So, that I think summarizes where we are. And I would appreciate the support of the body in approving this extension order.

Ah, yes. I'm sorry, the chair recognizes the senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President, through the members. I once again want to thank the gentleman for the work that he has done to bring us to this point and for his explanation of how extension orders should be properly used. The one before us is a prime example of that appropriate use. And I know that oftentimes these orders don't come about easily. And he has been conscientious. He has been diligent. And he has been very respectful of the citizens of the Commonwealth as well as his colleagues in getting us to this point.

So Mr. President, I want to applaud his work. It is exemplary. And, Mr. President, I also hope that this order is adopted.

Question comes in adoption of the order. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the order's adopt. The Senate will be in a brief recess.

Senate will come to order. Report of a Committee.

Committee on rules and the two branches acting concurrently to defer the Senate order relative to grant the Committee on Judiciary until March 24, 2018, within which time to make its final report on certain Senate documents relative to Senate bills before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. Senate number 2287 reports recommend the same ought to be adopted Mark C. Montigny, for the committee.

The senator from the Seventh Second Suffolk and Middlesex, Mr. Brownsberger, moves that the rules be suspended so the order may be considered forthwith. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the rules are suspended. The chair recognizes the gentleman from the first Essex and Middlesex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President, and through to the members. Mr. President, if there is a committee that has demonstrated the most progress on the use of extension orders, it is probably the Judiciary Committee. And that is due in no small part to the work of the gentleman who stands at majority microphone. I know that we have a couple of extension orders coming from the committee, one on motion of the Senate and one on the motion of the House. I'm hoping that in order to be economic with our use of time, that he will explain both of them. But I'm hoping that we can understand the same basic facts about what is in the order, what is the time proposed and what is the rationale for seeking an extension from the Senate.

And again, I want to, prior to his remarks, just thank the gentleman for his work on this front. I think he's done an extraordinary job, and I'm eager to hear what the product of that work is in the form of these extension orders. Thank you, Mr. President.

The chair recognizes the senator from the Seventh Second Suffolk and Middlesex, Mr. Brownsberger.

Thank you, Mr. President. And I wish to thank the minority leader for his focus on these issues in keeping us honest on this, in this category as in many other categories. It's a very important role. In the Judiciary Committee this year, we had approximately 581, 591 House bills and approximately 251 Senate bills. We have reached dispositions on 95% of the House bills and 96% of the Senate bills. Remaining are 27 House bills and 10 Senate bills as to which we are seeking an extension order. Those lists overlap. In fact, about half of those 10 Senate bills are also House bills which are being extended.

As to all but two of those Senate bills, the Senate side of the committee was ready to act, but the House just wanted a little more time to look at them. There is in addition, there is in terms of bills that we have not fully worked out on the Senate side, there is a Senator Chandler's act to protect fundamental freedoms and prohibit discriminatory registration programs. And there is also-- bear with me, one of these others is not quite worked out. The UCCJEA, Uniform Child custody jurisdiction and enforcement act, there are some issues that the house is aware of that we are working on. But otherwise, those are really the two bills that are in a state of not being fully resolved from my perspective. And we're just given the House some time to go through the rest of them.

And really the House has been very conservative as well disposing of most of their legislation leaving only 27 bills outstanding out of those 800 some that they had initially. This is an extension order being sought only to March 21.

All right, the chair thanks the gentleman. The chair recognizes the Senator from the first Essex and Middlesex.

Thank you, Mr. President. And again, I thank the gentleman, not only for his explanation, but for all the work that went into processing these bills in a timely fashion, the 95% or the 96% are very, very welcome. That's welcome news and good statistics. I may have missed it in terms of the House extension order. I'm not sure I-- the gentleman may have stated it and I may have missed it, in terms of the substance of what's in those bills.

If he could help explain that even thematically, it would be helpful as to what the nature of those bills are.

The chair recognizes the Senator from Seventh Second Suffolk.

Thank you, Mr. President. A little difficult to categorize them as one theme. They're in a variety of areas and I'm happy to share with the Senator from Essex the list of bills. But they are mostly bills that they just felt they wanted to get a little more attention to before reaching a decision, a couple of them being late filed bills.

We hear from first Essex and Middlesex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President, I appreciate the gentleman's diligence. Hopefully we can get a look at the list of the House matters at some time in the near future. But I do think that both of these requests are reasonable. They include a reasonable time, a limited number of bills and there is sound rationale for seeking them to be extended. And I appreciate the gentleman's work. And I hope that these orders I-- my understanding is we'll probably take them up sequentially rather than as one, but that being the case, I hope that they are both adopted.

OK, the question now comes on the adoption of the order. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the order is adopted. Right now? OK. The Senate will stand in recess subject to the call of the [MUTED]

Senate will come to order. Paper from the House.

The House order relative to extending until Wednesday, March 7, 2018, the time within which the committee or municipalities and regional government is authorized to report on a current House document, House number 4174 comes from the House with endorsement, that it has been approved by the Committees on rules of two branches acting concurrently and adopted in the House.

Question comes on adoption of the order. The Senator from Worcester, Mr. Moore, moves that the rules be suspended. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Question comes on adoption of the order. Chair recognizes the Senator from Essex, Mr.

Thank you, Mr. President, and through to the members. It's nice to be reconvened with everyone here this afternoon so that we can continue our work in the season of extension. Mr. President, I'm hoping that we can get an explanation of the current order that pends before the Senate, which I believe actually contains only a single bill. But I want to make sure that that's correct. And the gentleman from Worcester has certainly been very good today providing us with explanations.

He's back majority microphone, and I'm hoping that he can explain to us what the contents of this order are and the length of the order that's being sought and the reason for requesting an extension order. Thank you, Mr. President.

The chair recognizes the senator from Worcester, Mr. Moore.

Thank you, Mr. President. You had that down very well, banging the gavel. You look like you've been there a while. Thank you to our minority leader for asking about this extension order. This actually relates to the bill that we discussed earlier. This is the House version of the land zoning bill that we've requested an extension on until the 7th of next month, so a 30 day extension. And that's simply so that we can put this bill with the Senate bill and we can have a comprehensive bill and hopefully move this whole issue forward.

And also while I'm up here, I also have another extension that I'd like to seek your support for. And that's dealing with the Public Safety Committee. We have one extension that's consisting of five pieces of legislation. As you know, I assume this third committee four or five months into the legislative year. So we've been trying to work to expedite a lot of the bills. We've got five bills that four of them we're just trying to finalize language with with the stakeholders.

And the fifth bill that's part of this extension order is really, we're waiting for a-- it deals with stun guns-- and we're waiting for a court case to be resolved. So that we don't, obviously, pass some legislation and then have the courts overturn it. So those are the two extension orders and I'm seeking today. Thank you.

So at the moment, the subject before the body is the House extension order with the single bill in it. Chair recognizes the Senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President, through to the members. I'm hoping the gentleman from Worcester can just add one more detail. And that is on the second extension order that he mentioned, relative the Committee of Public Safety and Homeland Security, what is the duration of the order being sought?

The question comes on adoption of the order referring to the order with the House extension order with one bill in it. All those in favor, say aye, opposed no. The ayes have it and the order is adopted in concurrence. The Senator from Worcester, Mr. Moore, has presented an order, which the clerk will read.

Order that notwithstanding the provisions of joint will tend the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security shall be granted until April 15, 2018, within which time to make its final report on Senate documents number 1280, 1283, 1329, 1331 and 1361 relative to public safety in the Cornwall Senate, number 2290.

Are the rules? Refer to the Committee on the rules. Report to the committee.

These are rules, two branches have to concur to defer said order. Reports recommend the same ought to be adopted Mark C. Montigny for the committee.

The Senator from Worcester, Mr. Moore, moves that the rules be suspended so the matter may be considered forthwith. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the rules are suspended. The question now comes on adoption of the order. This is the second order the Senator from Worcester was referring to. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the order's adopted. Paper from the House.

The House order relative to extending until Monday, April 9, 2018, the time within which the committee and consumer protection and professional licensure is authorized to report on current House documents, House number 4188. Comes from the House with the endorsement that has been reported favorably by the committee on rules, two branches acting concurrently and adopted in the House.

The senator from the Second Essex and Middlesex, Ms. L'Italien moves that the rules be suspended. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Question comes on the adoption of the order. The chair recognizes the Senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President, and through the members. Mr. President, I know that the gentle lady from Andover has been working very diligently on trying to ensure that we have the judicious use of extension orders in her committees. I know that she is armed with a lot of valuable information about what is in those extension orders that are being sought and the time that is being sought and the reason that extension orders are being sought. And I'm hoping that she will share that information with us before we consider the adoption of these orders. But before we do that, I just do want to thank her, because I know that she has worked very, very diligently to make sure that we get to a point of having the most efficacious use of extension orders that we could have.

So hopefully she can share some information with us. And thank you, Mr. President.

Chair recognized Senator from Essex and Middlesex, Ms. L'Italien.

Thank you very much. And thank you for those kind words, Senator. We are looking to extend House 4068, which is a Brookline over quota alcohol bill. We heard this bill was filed late, heard in January and Brookline's requested a large number of over quota liquor licenses. We've been actively working with town leaders in Brookline to ensure that licenses are granted to planned areas of new development as has been the committee policy for this session and last. We expect to release this bill soon upon receiving additional information from Brookline.

We would also like to extend the auto franchise extension. There are three bills, Senate 146, and a similar note, House 175 and House 1976. And these three bills all concern the relationship between auto dealers and auto manufacturers and the impact of that relationship is on consumers seeking to purchase lease or service a vehicle. We've been working on both sides to draft a compromise piece of legislation. We were not able to come to consensus before a joint rule 10. But we're actively engaged in negotiating and drafting and hope we can produce a bill by April 9.

Senate 96 and its companion House 143 is digital right to repair. As many of you know, digital right to repair is a very complicated issue that concerns many different stakeholders of small and large items, from Apple and Samsung, to Philips and Medtronic. We're working with industry participants to pare down the scope of this issue to something tangible in order to further study the issue and its potential impact on the Massachusetts's innovation economy. We're confident we can produce a redrafted bill by the end of this extension.

Housing 1992 is telecom bill. Again, been working diligently on this issue this session, because the position of the new house chair has differed slightly from the position of the former house chair, several groups that stand to be impacted by this legislation are meeting on a consistent basis with us to discuss conflicts and compromise. And we hope to get a bill that we are all comfortable with by the end of the extension period.

Patent infringement, Senate 128 and Senate 153, there is also a similar bill, House 130, that we are asking extension on. This is a complex issue, but one that the committee would like to move forward by the end of the extension date. There are some provisions in the original bills that are problematic from a legal standpoint and particularly, exemptions section. So we're working with industry participants and patent attorney experts to ensure we're coming up with a comprehensive bill that addresses the problem of patent trolling, but also allows for innovation at our colleges and think tanks.

And lastly, these are two House bills that I have agreed to extend, House 1973 and House 3465. And this has to do with sexual assault education for hairdressers and others. This is something we've been working on with district attorney Marian Ryan. This is the first time these bills have been filed. We need a little bit more time to complete the research on this. But in a nutshell, these bills seek to train hairdressers and barbers, who are often folks who can observe signs of someone's domestic violence or assault to be trained so that they can come forward and both share resources with their clients, but also come forward and connect them with the proper authorities if need be.

So we're asking that we work on this-- continue to work on this one with DA Ryan. And we hope that we will have this done by April 9. Thank you.

Question comes, Senator of Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank the gentle lady who just spoke for those very succinct explanations. I would call to the attention of the members that each of the orders that she spoke to contains a very limited number of bills. I am a little bit concerned about April 9. It sounds like it's going to be a very exciting day in the Committee on consumer protection and professional licensure to finalize all of these bills. But I have every confidence that they're equal to the task.

I do appreciate the work that's been done to get us to this point. And I know that we'll take these up sequentially, Mr. President, but I'm hoping that each of the extension orders that were spoken to by the gentle lady from Andover will be adopted. And I thank her for her good work.

Question comes on adoption of the order. All those in favor, say, aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the order's adopted. Paper from the House.

The House order relative to extending until Monday, April 9, 2018, the time within which the committee on consumer protection and professional licensure is authorized to report on current Senate documents, House number 4189 comes from the House of endorsement that has been approved by the Committee on rules, two branches acting concurrently have been adopted in the House.

Senator from Essex and Middlesex, Ms. L'Italien, moves that the rules be suspended. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Question comes on adoption of the order. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it, the order is adopted. Paper from the House.

The House order relative to extending until Monday, April 9, 2018, the time within which the Committee on consumer protection and professional licensure is authorized to report on current Senate and House documents. House number 4190 comes from the House with the endorsement that it's been adopted by the committee of rules, two branches acting concurrently and adopted by the House.

Senator from Essex and Middlesex, Ms. L'Italien, moves that the rules be suspended. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Question comes on the adoption of the order. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the order is adopted. Paper from the House.

Order relative to extending until Monday, April 9, 2018, the time within which the committee of consumer protection and professional licensure is authorized to report on a current House document, House number 4191. Comes from the House with the endorsement that has been adopted by the committees of rules, two branches acting concurrently and adopted in the House.

Senator from Essex and Middlesex, Ms. L'Italien, moves that the rules be suspended. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Rules are suspended. Question comes on adoption of the order. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the order is adopted. Paper from the House.

The House order relative to the extending until Monday, April 9, 2018, the time within which the Committee on consumer protection of professional licensure is authorized to report on current Senate and House documents, House number 4192 comes from the House with the endorsement and has been approved by the committee on rules, two branches act concurrently and adopted in the house.

Senator from Essex and Middlesex, Ms. L'Italien, moves that the rules be suspended. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Question comes on adoption of the order. All those in favor, say, aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the order is adopted. Paper from the House.

The House order relative to extending until Monday, April 9, 2018, the time within which the Committee on consumer protection and professional licensure is authorized to report on current Senate and House documents. House number 4193 comes from the House with the endorsement that has been approved by the committee on rules, two branches acting concurrently and adopted in the house.

Senator from Essex and Middlesex, Ms. L'Italien, moves that the rules be suspended. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Question comes on adoption of the order. All those in favor, say, aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the order is adopted. Paper from the House.

The House order relative to extending until Monday, April 9, 2018, the time within which the Committee on consumer protection and professional licensure is authorized to report on a current House document, House number 4194 comes from the House with the endorsement and has been adopted by the committees on rules, two branches acting concurrently and adopted in the House.

Senator from Essex and Middlesex, Ms. L'Italien, moves that the rules be suspended. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Question comes on adoption on the order. All those in favor, say aye, opposed, no. The ayes have it and the order is adopted. Paper from the House.

The house order relative to extending until Tuesday, March 6, 2018, the time within which the Committee on community development and small businesses is authorized to report on a current Senate and House document, House number 4199 comes from the House with the endorsement that the Committee on rules, two branches acting concurrently has adopted it and it has been adopted in the House.

The Senator from Cape and Island, Mr. Cyr, moves [MUTED] Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Rules are suspended. Question comes on adoption of the order, and the chair will recognize the senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President, and through to the members. And how delightful it is to see the gentleman from the Cape and the Islands before us at majority microphone. He came in with an enormous briefcase. And I have to admit, Mr. President, I was fearful that that briefcase might contain literally hundreds of extension orders. But it appears that my fears were unwarranted and that we have a very limited request that the gentleman brings to us for an extension order. And I'm hoping that in his usual eloquence, he will explain to us what the nature of this request is, how much time is being sought and why the request is being sought. Thank you, Mr. President.

The chair recognizes the Senator from the Cape, Senator Cyr.

Thank you, Mr. President, and through you to the members. I appreciate the comments from the minority leader. I will note as well, that not only is this a very limited extension, but I am wearing a purple tie, which I am glad to bring to this chamber and the business that we have today. This is for the community development and small business committee. These are three bills that we are asking for a very limited extension on. Two of the bills relate. Senate 88 and House 1970 are the same bills, one in the Senate, the House version.

This deals with independent contractors and their interaction with small business. We're asking for this limited extension. And then the final bill, House 3543 is a bill proposing an infrastructure bank around community development. We just need a little more time to do some due diligence. But we've set a May 6 date, excuse me, a March 6 date. I'm hopeful we can address these bills before then. So thank you, Mr. President. I hope the extension is adopted.

Senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, I would be remiss in not congratulating the gentleman on his outstanding purple tie. It is a little deeper hue than some that we have seen during this session, but it complements the rest of his ensemble very nicely. Mr. President, I would also like to say that it is outstanding that the committee is carefully considering changes to our state's independent contractor law. They have needed revision for quite some time.

I know that the committee is considering this in earnest. And I think a bit more time to consider something so complex is certainly warranted. But I do hope that we will see from the committee some recommendations and that we can work on changing this law. But I am encouraged, as I know everyone over here in the minority side of the chamber is, that there's earnest work being done on that particular subject.

So, Mr. President, I would commend the gentleman, as I have others, for his tremendous work in limiting his requests before us to a reasonable one with a reasonable period of time and a limited number of bills. I thank him for that. And I do hope, Mr. President, that the order is adopted.

Question comes on the adoption of the order. All those in favor, say aye, oppose, no. The ayes have it, the order is adopted in concurrence. Papers from the House. Paper from the House.

The House order relative to extending until Wednesday, May 9, 2018, the time within which the Committee on children, families, and persons with disabilities authorized to report on current Senate and House documents, House number 4178 amended comes from the House with endorsement that it's been approved by the committees on rules of two branches acting concurrently and adopted in the House as amended.

The senator from Salem, Senator Lovely, moves that the rules be suspended so the matter may be considered-- excuse me-- rules be suspended. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Question comes on adoption of the order. The chair recognizes the Senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President, and again, how wonderful it is to see our colleague from Salem at the microphone, who I know, Mr. President, has a strong interest in the rules and the effective use of the rules and the judicious use of extension orders. Mr. President, I'm hoping that she can give us an explanation on the nature of the extension that's being sought, the subject matter, the time frame. Mr. President, I know that she's done, again, good work to make sure that the committee operates efficiently. And as a result of that good work, we have a very limited number of bills that are being sought to be extended here. And I would commend her for that, and hope that we can get a bit of a further explanation as to what's going on here. Thank you, Mr. [MUTED]

Senator from Salem, Ms. Lovely.

Thank Mr. President, to the esteemed minority leader. The Joint Committee on children, families, and persons with disabilities has been hard at work this session. As you know, I assumed the chair just a few months ago from former Senator Flanagan, who was the chair of the committee. We have actually reported out 145 bills, but nine remaining that need extension orders to May 9. Relative particularly to a couple of bills to foster care review and foster care review office and as well as mandated reporters.

Particularly to the foster care, the foster care review office, that's a particular bill. There's a House and Senate companion bill that we've been working very closely with both DCF and the office of the child advocate to see it that we may need to be able to move into an external review process within DCF. As you know, it's currently any of that review is currently within the DCF program itself, agency. But we are looking at perhaps making then an external review.

But in speaking with the Office of the child advocate, she feels very strongly that she'd be able to have an opportunity to be able to review that and put supports into place. We want to support her in that. But we also want to keep this bill alive for a couple more months while she puts that into place. Also, with regard to mandated reporting, several bills to expand mandated reporters. But we want to really get a good handle on what that looks like, especially with online training for mandated reporters. So we also want to continue to work on that as well.

Senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you. [MUTED] I appreciate the gentle lady's very succinct explanation. I'm hoping that you can just clarify that the date being sought here is until May 9? Is that correct and through you, Mr. President?

Thank you, Mr. President. That is correct. We are looking for May 9 deadline. Thank you. I would also thank the gentle lady once again for tremendous work in maintaining efficiency in this committee, processing the bills in a timely way, giving us a very reasonable request for extension. I thank her, and I hope the extension order is adopted.

Question comes on the adoption of the order. All those in favor say aye, opposed, no. Ayes have it and the order is adopted. Papers from the House.

The House order relative to extending until Tuesday, March 20, 2018, the time within which the Committee on mental health, substance use, and recovery is authorized to report on current Senate and House documents, House number 4173 comes from the House with the endorsement that has been approved by the committees on rules, two branches acting concurrently and adopted in the House.

The Senator from Arlington, Ms. Friedman moves that the rules be suspended so the matter may be considered forthwith. Is there an objection. Chair hears none. Rules are suspended. Question comes on adoption of the order. Chair recognizes Senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President. Once again, we have an extension order that is before us. Seems to be for a reasonable amount of time. I am concerned about the volume of the request. And I know, knowing her as I do, that the proponent of this extinction order probably has a reasonable reason for the volume that is contained in this. But I'm hoping that she can explain to us the subject matter of the bills that are before the committee that are the subject of this extension order and the rationale for seeking the extension. And I look forward to her explanation. Thank you, Mr. President.

Senator from Arlington, Ms. Friedman.

Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you to the minority leader for his faith in me. There are quite a number of bills. There are 41 bills. They all have to do with substance use disorder and behavioral health. These, we've held these bills because of the opioid bill H4033, that was filed by the governor. And what we've chosen to do is take all of the bills that have to do with substance use disorder and dual diagnosis and merge, put them together in extension order so that we would be able to look at all of this as a package and see what, if anything, we should move into the bill that the Governor has filed.

We want to make sure that we have as robust a bill as possible around this issue. So we want to do as much as we can in this time frame to move on addressing the substance use disorder crisis.

Senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

I knew the gentle lady would have a good explanation for the 42 bills that are in this extension order. Would it be fair to say that they are all somewhat interrelated in terms of the subject matter? That's what I think I'm hearing from her explanation. Thank you, Mr. President.

Senator from Arlington, Ms. Friedman.

Yes, thank you. I'm sorry that I wasn't clear. They are all directly related to the opioid bill that the Senate, the governor has filed or they are indirectly related in that they will deal with some part of mental illness and substance use disorder. So yes, they're all connected.

Question comes on adoption of the order. All those in favor, say I, opposed, no. The ayes have it, the order is adopted. Paper from the House.

It's the administration. The house order relative to extending until Tuesday--

Senate will be in order and the chair will yield to the senator from Milton, Mr. Timilty, to the recognition of the group.

Thank you, Mr. President, and through you to the members, it is the privilege of the chair to introduce Project Save from Canton High School. Project Save today, our students our guests of representative Galvin and the current occupant of the chair. And Project Save is doing wonderful work in the Canton community helping their peers combat substance abuse. So thank you very much for all you do.

[APPLAUSE]

Thank you.

Very good, thank you so much for all you're doing.

Senate will continue with its business now. Paper from the House.

The House order relative to extending until Tuesday, July-- Wednesday, May 9, 2018, the time within which the Committee on state administration and regulatory oversight is authorized to report on current Senate and House documents. House number 4200 amended comes from the House with the endorsement that the committee on rules two branches acting concurrently has adopted it. And it has been adopted in the house.

[INAUDIBLE]

The Senator from Milton, Mr. Timilty, moves that the rules be suspended so that matter may be considered forthwith. Is there an objection? Chair hears none. Question comes on adoption of the order. Chair recognizes the senator from Essex, Mr. Tarr.

Thank you, Mr. President. I see over by majority microphone two of the most distinguished chairs in the Senate consulting with each other. And I know they are discussing strategy for effective requests for extension orders. And I know they've both been pursuing that. The extension order that now pends before the Senate appears to be from state administration and regulatory oversight. If I am correct in that, then that means that the gentleman to the right is prepared to, I hope, offer an explanation.