Access to Birth Records
This Senate bill clarifies and amends existing law to provide access to initial birth certificates for those adoptees born before July 17, 1974 and after January 1, 2008. This bill will allow for increased access to birth records by establishing a Registry of Vital Records. This registry will be located within the Department of Public Health and it will contain information voluntarily contributed by birth parents. (S.63)

Booster Seats
Current law requires a child car seat for children up to age 5 and children weighing less than 40 pounds, and children from 5 to 12 are required to wear a safety belt. Even though statistics show that children in booster seats are 58 percent less likely to be killed in a car crash to those in safety seats, there is no requirement in Massachusetts for booster seats. This Senate-passed initiative requires the use of booster seats through age 7 or up to 4'9" in height, whichever comes first. (S.2018)

Fiscal Year 2008 Budget
The $26.9 billion general appropriations act includes targeted investments to spur the Commonwealth's economy and to provide for the residents of Massachusetts. This budget included several Senate initiatives that focus on workforce investment, math and science education, and public and campus safety. It also provided additional funding for our communities through increases in local aid and Chapter 70 and public safety through Community Policing and Municipal Police Grants. (Ch. 54 of the Acts of 2007)

Constitutional Convention
On June 14, 2007, the Massachusetts Legislature convened joint session of the legislature for the purpose of a constitutional convention. During that session, the Legislature upheld its constitutional obligation and voted on item number 1 on the agenda, A Proposal for an Initiative Amendment to the Constitution to define marriage. The question was defeated 151-45.

Chapter 91
This bill passed by the Senate would restore the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's authority over tideland development and would grandfather projects that were approved during the last 17 years by authorizing DEP to exempt landlocked filled tidelands from Chapter 91 licensing requirements. The bill ensures that the legal titles of hundreds of parcels across the commonwealth that have been recognized as "landlocked" and exempt from further regulatory review and licensing are not clouded. At the same time, the bill ensures that the public trust doctrine is not compromised by the exemption of licenses for landlocked tidelands. (S.2306)

Emergency Capital Bond
This bill provided emergency funding for the state's capital program for the first half of the fiscal year 2008, and included a section requiring an evaluation of the progress of information technology projects supported by state capital dollars. (Ch. 27 of the Acts of 2007)

Film Tax Credit
In an effort to attract more filmmakers to Massachusetts, this law expands incentives of the highly successful law passed in 2005. In order to further entice filmmakers, the law increases the percentage of payroll that companies can apply for income tax credits from 20 percent to 25 percent and allows credits of up to 25 percent of other production expenses. (Ch. 63 of the Acts of 2007)

GIC
With the goal of potentially saving municipalities $120 million to $180 million a year in health costs, this local option for cities and towns would allow them to buy their health insurance through the state insurance plan commonly known as the Group Insurance Commission. GIC rates are expected to rise by just 5 percent in 2008 compared to 11.3 percent for all other Massachusetts employers. Decisions to join the GIC will require 70 percent approval from a municipality's union employees and retirees. (Ch. 67 of the Acts of 2007)

ID Theft
This Senate legislation provides Massachusetts' consumers with greater protections from identity theft. The bill increases requirements on companies and agencies to identify and report security breaches. It also gives consumers tools to protect their personal credit information by giving them the option to prevent credit reporting agencies from releasing their personal information without permission. (S.2138)

Public Libraries Fund
Acknowledging the importance of public libraries in our community, this Senate bill establishes a Public Libraries Fund that will provide 50 cents in state matching funds for each dollar privately raised. The money in the fund will be divided annually among public libraries which report eligible local matching funds. (S.1997)

Mortgage Foreclosure and Employer Assisted Housing
In order to prevent mortgage foreclosures and crack down on deceptive lending practices, the Senate-passed bill would make mortgage fraud a crime and require anyone arranging mortgage loans to be licensed. The bill also includes a section establishing a program that will encourage employers to assist employees in obtaining housing. Businesses would provide grants or loans to employees whose incomes do not exceed 120 percent of the area median income, with at least one-half of the funds going to employees whose incomes do not exceed 80 percent of the area median income. The funds could be used for down payments, closing costs, security deposits and first-month's rent. The Department of Housing and Community Development would provide matching grants to these programs, contributing $1 for every $2 expended by the business. The maximum matching contribution each business could receive would be $100,000. (S.2296)

Pensions
To produce a greater return on investments, this law directs the assets of underperforming local pension systems into the state's pension fund. The law will allow the state to review the investment performance of local pension funds. The assets of those funds will be rolled into the state system if their assets are less than 65 percent of their liabilities, and if the funds have an average 10-year rate of return at least two percent less than the state's current rate of 10.51 percent. (Ch. 68 of the Acts of2007)

Safe Placement of Newborns
This Senate-passed bill eliminates the sunset date for the 2004 law that established procedures for the safe placement of newborns. Since the passage of the original law, there have been no recorded instances of abandoned infants in the Commonwealth. As originally passed, this law was set to expire in 2008. (S.2177)

Sudan Divestment
Sending a strong message to the Sudanese Government that Massachusetts will not invest taxpayer money in countries or companies who turn a blind eye to genocide, this bill requires the Commonwealth's Pension Reserves Investment Management Board (PRIM) to divest in certain companies who conduct business within Sudan. This legislation is aimed at putting economic pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the genocide in the country's Darfur region with the withdrawal of Massachusetts investments. (S. 1474)

May 2007 Supplemental Budget
This $85.4 million spending bill reauthorized the extremely successful $10 million Shannon Grant program, which provides grants to communities that are developing innovative programs for troubled youth. The bill also commissioned a task force on dairy farming in the Commonwealth, while appropriating $3.6 million to enable the Department of Agricultural Resources to make grants to struggling dairy farmers that were dealing with record low prices for their products. (Ch. 42 of the Acts of 2007)

Tax Free Weekend
Continuing to build on the success of the past 2 years' sales tax holiday weekends, this bill designates August 11-12, 2007 as this year's tax-free shopping weekend. This is the third year for the tax-free weekend, and the fourth year a tax-free holiday has been passed. Last year, the tax-free weekend produced $500 million in sales. (R. 2876)

Welfare Reform
Facing a potential loss of more than $50 million in federal funding, this legislation reforms Massachusetts' welfare system for the first time in 10 years to comply with current federal guidelines. The legislation: defines work activities and those categories of individuals who are exempt from this requirement; updates requirements for recipients to have their children attend school; significantly changes the definition of work requirement to all activities permitted as countable activities under federal law; and establishes pilot programs to develop family wellbeing plans for those recipients who are exempt from the work requirement. (S.2295)