By Readers First. January 23, 2023

On Friday January 20th, Ruth Balser of the 12th Middlesex district filed “An Act empowering library access to electronic books and digital audiobooks.”

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By Anne Sandoli, Newton Patch. November 18, 2022

NEWTON, MA — The $3.76 billion Massachusetts Economic Development Bill that was approved last week includes a total of $2,095,000 for Newton projects, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said Thursday.

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by Paula Moura, WBUR. November 18, 2022

“It is a tool for meeting the climate crisis. We need open space to mitigate against flooding. We need it to absorb carbon,” said representative Ruth Balser, a Democrat from Newton and co-sponsor of the bill.

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By Martina Jackson, Fig City News. November 15, 2022

On November 10th, the Massachusetts Legislature voted to pass the Public Lands Preservation Act (PLPA, H.5381), designed to preserve open space in the Commonwealth. For Rep. Ruth Balser (D, Newton) it was the successful culmination of a twenty-four-year legislative journey, with roots in her service on the Newton Board of Alderman. PLPA adds protections for open space protected by the state constitution under Article 97, enacted in 1972.

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New law mandates detailed reporting of COVID-19 cases but governor is moving to scale it back

By Todd Wallack and Robert Weisman Globe Staff,Updated June 23, 2020, 11:52 a.m.

State public health officials say they need more time to comply with a new law requiring them to provide the precise number of COVID-19 deaths and cases at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other senior residences throughout Massachusetts.

The Department of Public Health has so far provided limited data about outbreaks at the facilities, following pressure from the news media, lawmakers, and advocates.

A bill sponsored by Representative Ruth Balser, Democrat of Newton, mandating that the state significantly ramp up reporting about long-term-care sites, was passed by the Legislature late last month and signed by Governor Charlie Baker early this month.

The agency said it hopes to provide additional data in “coming weeks,” but did not provide a date.

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Commonwealth Magazine: More information sought on race, individual nursing homes

SHIRA SCHOENBERG Jun 8, 2020

THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH will need to publish more transparent data about the number of COVID-19 cases in individual long-term care facilities, and will also need to publish new racial and occupational data about coronavirus cases, under a bill Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law Sunday.

“For a month and a half now we’ve been asking for this information…in order to better prepare for how we’re going to address the most affected communities,” said Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, a Springfield Democrat who chairs the Black and Latino legislative caucus.

As the coronavirus pandemic has swept the state, the Department of Public Health has been regularly changing the way it reports COVID-19 data, with daily and weekly updates. But advocates for racial minorities and those focusing on nursing home outbreaks have been pushing for more specific data.

Rep. Ruth Balser, a Newton Democrat who chairs the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs and sponsored an early version of the bill, said since seniors in group living facilities are the most vulnerable population to the virus, the public and policymakers need accurate, preciseand comprehensive information by facility.

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If the Baker administration won’t publicize nursing home COVID-19 information, it falls to the Legislature to step in.

By The Editorial BoardUpdated May 21, 2020, 11:11 a.m.

As public policy goes, it’s pretty simple. Families with loved ones in nursing homes and other senior living settings deserve to know the whole truth about COVID-19 testing results and the actual death count in any specific facility.

And so does the public. After all, Governor Charlie Baker just announced the state will give nursing homes — which are already taxpayer-subsidized — another $130 million to bolster their response to the coronavirus. It’s only fair to expect transparency in exchange for that money.

But right now, there’s no way for the public to get that information. The state’s official coronavirus dashboard reports “confirmed cases” of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities, not COVID-19 deaths in each facility. And even with confirmed cases, there’s no precise tally, just three broad reporting categories: more than 30, 10 to 30 and fewer than 10. Nor does the dashboard report how many residents have recovered from the virus, or provide any breakdown of employee versus resident statistics.Get Today in Opinion in your inboxGlobe Opinion’s must-reads, delivered to you every Sunday-Friday.Sign Up

If the Baker administration won’t publicize that data, it falls to the Legislature to step in. Simple transparency was the goal of legislation proposed by state Representative Ruth Balser of Newton.  Click here to read more.

By Katie Lannan / State House News ServicePosted Apr 15, 2020 at 3:05 PMUpdated Apr 15, 2020 at 3:05 PM   

A virtual hearing is planned for Thursday on legislation that would require assisted living residences, elderly housing facilities and long-term care facilities to file daily reports with public health officials on their numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Under Rep. Ruth Balser’s bill (H 4635), the Department of Public Health would also be required to report to lawmakers each week the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in assisted living, elderly housing or long-term care facilities, plus demographic data. Click here to read more.

TAUNTON DAILY GAZETTE – BOSTON – March 21, 2019 – Advocates on Thursday marked Purim by delivering hamantaschen — the Jewish holiday’s traditional baked good — to state lawmakers, asking them to honor the spirit of the occasion by passing a bill restricting state and local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

“Ultimately, Purim is a holiday about justice and protecting the vulnerable, and that is why we are all here today,” said Cindy Rowe, the executive director of the Jewish Alliance for Social Action, which sponsored the event. “Immigrants in our state and throughout the country are under threat from the federal government.”

Purim, Rowe said, is a holiday about remembering “the lives of the Jewish people that were threatened by a powerful king and his cruel advisor, Haman.” She said the heroine of the story is Queen Esther, who “speaks truth to power in order to protect her people from bigotry.”

The so-called Safe Communities Act (H 3573, S 1401), filed this session by Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Rep. Ruth Balser, would bar local police and court officers from inquiring about someone’s immigration status, and would stop them from notifying federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement about someone’s impending release from custody unless they were finishing a criminal sentence.

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Commonwealth Magazine, February 27, 2019

LOOKING AT RECENT HEADLINES, one sees that climate change—and the call for pioneering solutions to combat it—are now front and center in the public consciousness.

We are at the forefront of an opportunity to truly modernize the Commonwealth’s energy economy, improve the health of its communities and become a producer and exporter of renewable power rather than an importer of fossil fuels.

The majority of the newly elected Massachusetts state representatives – 14 freshman lawmakers — are united in their vision to build a renewable energy economy that will rein in greenhouse gas emissions and grow the 21^st century green-tech job sector. Informally dubbed “GreenTeamMA,” this ambitious crop of legislators wants to reform the way that energy is made and used in the Bay State. Like many of the new faces in Congress who are working to educate voters on the benefits of a renewable energy economy for the country through the Green New Deal, GreenTeamMA supporters understand the economic, environmental, and human health imperative of swiftly shifting to a renewably-powered Bay State.

Last month, state Sen. Marc Pacheco and state Rep. Ruth Balser jointly filed An Act to Secure a Clean Energy Future. This powerfully bold, visionary piece of legislation is something like a Green New Deal for Massachusetts; but rather than a broad resolution to be hammered out later, the bill presents specific prescriptions and timelines designed to guide businesses, municipalities, manufacturers, and electricity producers in transforming the way that energy is produced, stored, distributed and used. It considers where Massachusetts stands now with respect to climate change preparedness and fills in the gaps to get us where we need to be by 2050.

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