Good morning and Happy Summer Westfield! I hope everyone has a chance to get out there and enjoy this first weekend of the summer season. It’s set to be a gorgeous weekend in our wonderful city.
It was a busy week out in Boston. As session is drawing to a close, we have quite a few more bills to get through before finish up. This week the House took up a number of bills on topics ranging from infrastructure repair to elections and fundraising limits.
One of the bills the House passed on Wednesday was H4005, An Act to properly punish the solicitation of felony crimes. Solicitation to commit a crime is when an individual requests, encourages or demands another person to commit a crime. This bill, which passed unanimously, connects the the punishment for soliciting a felony crime to the penalty for actually committing the crime. The extent of the penalties will depend on the penalty for the crime being solicited.
The House also passed a number of bills addressing campaign financing. One of these bills will require political billboards and mailers to list the top five donors to the organization that paid for them, if these donations amount to more than $5,000. Additionally, changes were made to the amount of money a candidate running in a special election and general election in the same year can receive from an individual donor. The change allows a candidate to receive an individual contribution of up to $1,000 for each campaign, rather than $1,000 for the calendar year.
Before we wrap up for the week, I’d like to take a minute to talk about a bill filed by Governor Baker on Thursday. This bill, An Act relative to assault and battery on a police officer, would provide tougher penalties for those who attack police officers. It would elevate assault on a police officer from a misdemeanor to a felony, resulting in a minimum of one year in prison. Considering all that our police officers do to protect and serve our community, I applaud the Governor for taking this step and putting this legislation forward. It is imperative that we do all we can to support and protect the men and women who do so much to keep our communities safe.
That’s it for this week Westfield! Enjoy the rest of your weekend! As always, please feel free to contact me with your questions, issues, and concerns at [email protected] or district office phone number at 413-572-3920.
