Shield Law update: Mass. Senate set to make first move against Trump in 2025

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5 days ago

Good Monday morning, everyone.
In April, Democrats who control the Massachusetts Senate announced what they described as an aggressive legislative effort to fight back against the Trump White House's attacks on the Bay State.
They dubbed the effort 'Response 2025.' But three months later, that response was starting to look more like a regular glance in President Donald Trump's direction, punctuated by the obligatory rhetorical broadsides.
This week, however, Senate Democrats say they'll bring the first of those bills intended to check Trump to the floor for a vote: It's an update to the 2022 state law that shields reproductive and transgender care from out-of-state legal action.
That news came courtesy of Senate President Karen E. Spilka, who outlined some of the upper chamber's legislative priorities with the end of the current budget year (and Pride Month) just days away on June 30.
" We will protect our residents, defend Massachusetts values, and help lead us out of these dark times," Spilka said, adding that the effort took on some new urgency after last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
The shield law update set to come before the Senate this week would, among other things, bolster privacy protections and guarantee that Massachusetts emergency rooms provide care to people seeking emergency reproductive treatment, according to GBH News.
Friedman, who has been leading the Senate's response to Trump's efforts to pull billions of dollars in federal funding for the commonwealth and to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ residents, called the legislation the " next step in ensuring that people who provide that legal care and who need that legal care get access to it."
'In Massachusetts, when you have an emergency, we're going to make sure that we take care of you,' the Arlington Democrat said.
Asked how many Trump-related bills she thought the Senate could act on before the end of the year, Friedman said the Senate is " looking at a list of issues," that have been brought up by lawmakers.
'There's the Shield Law, there's book banning, there's what's happening with veterans ... there's data privacy,' she said, ticking off some of those issues. 'And what we are doing is trying to take something from those buckets, figuring out how ready they are, and then push them out.'
'But these are big issues. So, how much do we expect to put out? Well, if we have our way, we'd put out one [bill] a month. Right? But ... we can't promise that.'
Chalk that up to the complexity of the legislation and a president who sets policy on a dime, and then pivots in the other direction just as quickly.
'As you know, one day [Trump] says one thing and [he] was going to institute something, not even the next day, the next hour, he reverses it,' Spilka said. 'And he's doing this on purpose to make it harder for any one state, any one country, anyone, anybody to respond.'
The Healey administration has spent nearly $830 million on Massachusetts' emergency shelter system so far this year, according to recently released state data.
Total costs for the system, which houses mainly state residents and a smaller number of migrant new arrivals, are expected to soar past $1 billion by the end of the current budget year, which wraps up on June 30, according to a report the administration regularly sends to budget writers in the state House and Senate.
Some other big numbers from that report:
$679 million: The amount the administration had spent on 'direct shelter costs' in the 2025 budget year.
$149 million: The amount the state has spent on such services as HomeBase, National Guard payroll, education, work programs and other initiatives.
$3,496: The average amount that state taxpayers are spending weekly for each family in the shelter system.
1,583: The number of families who entered the shelter system as migrants, refugees or asylum-seekers.
4,088: The total number of families, as of June 18, that were enrolled in the state's emergency shelter system, according to a state dashboard.
1,143: The total number of families who were in emergency shelter spaces in Boston.
240: The total number of families who were in emergency shelter spaces in Springfield.
208: The total number of families who were in emergency shelter spaces in Worcester.
'As a pastor whose church was burned down, if we don't look at the rhetoric that caused such racism and hatred, we won't get anywhere.'
― Dr. Terrylyn Curry Avery, pastor of MLK Community Presbyterian Church and interim executive director of the Healing Racism Institute.
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Democracy fans, this one's for you: U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-4th District, is holding a virtual town hall and Q&A at 7 p.m. on Monday. His guest: Justin Florence, the managing director and co-founder of Protect Democracy.
On its website, the advocacy organization describes itself as 'a cross-ideological nonprofit group dedicated to defeating the authoritarian threat, building more resilient democratic institutions, and protecting our freedom and liberal democracy.
The event runs from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m. You can RSVP for the Zoom link here.
Singer-songwriter Hozier opens up a two-night stand at Fenway Park, with shows on Monday and Tuesday nights. Start time for both is 8 p.m. (tickets and more info here). You have probably heard his mega-smash 'Too Sweet' a billion times by now. But here it is for the billionth and one.
We've been reading a lot over the last week about the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Iran — now with the added wrinkle of President Donald Trump launching an attack over the weekend.
But what we haven't heard a lot of are the voices of the Iranian people who are living through the bombing campaign, and whose lives have been upended by it. Writing for The Observer, Rana Rahimpour brings you the sights, the sounds and smells of what appears to be the latest war in the Middle East.
Here's the germane bit:
Tehran has a smell now – a thick, metallic haze that clings to your clothes, your breath, your memory. 'I've just come to understand the smell of war,' writes Nazanin, a journalist who fled the city earlier this week. 'Air defences have a smell. So do the missiles … It's been imprinted in my olfactory memory. Now, forever, I know the smell of war.'
The scent lingers longer than the explosions. It weaves itself into the emptiness of a once-bustling metropolis – 10 million people now adrift. Abandoned pets. Taped windows. Shuttered shops. Petrol queues stretching for miles. Tehran is holding its breath.
So is the rest of the world. 'I may do it, I may not,' said U.S. President Donald Trump when asked on Wednesday about the potential of U.S. strikes on Iran. The threat of intensification is looming. Already, more than 500 people are estimated to have been killed.
On Monday, I fought with time — and with my 80-year-old parents. My deeply spiritual father dismissed any urgency to leave their flat in District 3, saying he was not afraid of death. He had seen bombs before, during the Iran -Iraq war. Fear is not new. When Israel later announced strikes on their district, I called again. My dad, fresh from a shower, laughed: 'Let me put on a shirt to greet Mr Netanyahu.' How typically Iranian to meet an imminent threat with humour.
That's it for today. As always, tips, comments and questions can be sent to [e-mail]. Have a good week, friends.
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