Legislative Agenda
I am committed to filing, co-sponsoring, and otherwise supporting legislation that advances our residents’ priorities in the Fourteenth Middlesex District. The bills I am working on span many subject areas that are critical to our community, including public education, green energy infrastructure, workforce development, water infrastructure, and more.
-
See below, or for more frequently-updated information, visit Rep. Cataldo’s page on the MA Legislative website.
-
-
Legislation Filed for the 194th General Court Session
I’m delighted to announce the slate of bills that I have filed or co-filed with colleagues for this legislative session. You can find the full language of these bills on my page of the Legislature’s website.
My bills this session touch on a diverse set of subject areas, from campaign finance law to literacy to retirement equity for teachers to energy infrastructure and more. I hope you’ll review these bill summaries and provide feedback.
Education 🍎
-
Co-filer: Rep. Danillo Sena of Acton
We’re seeing concerning trends in early literacy across the state and nationwide. This measure would ensure all Massachusetts public school students are taught to read using evidence-based strategies. This bill is supported by a broad coalition of literacy advocates, including Boston NAACP, DFER Massachusetts, EdTrust, ExcelinEd, National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), National Parents Union – Massachusetts, and Teach Plus Massachusetts.
-
Co-filed with Rep. Sean Garballey of Arlington
Companion Bill Filer: Sen. John Velis of Westfield
I wrote this bill with Concord-Carlisle High School teachers, and it has become priority legislation of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. The bill is highly technical but, simply put, provides fairness in retirement benefits for longtime teachers who went part-time while raising children and then returned to full time. The bill amends applicable statutes to allow teachers with at least 20 years of service to buy back retirement credit for up to five years of part-time service during child-rearing.
-
Companion Bill Filer: Sen. Pavel Payano
This bill received national attention last year and a number of colleges changed their admissions policies under public pressure to align more closely with what this bill seeks to accomplish. The legislation addresses unfair, discriminatory, and anti-meritocratic outcomes that are empirically proven to be heavily weighted in favor of admitting wealthy applicants. It establishes a regulatory scheme by which higher education institutions can voluntarily terminate (a) their preference for admitting legacy students, (b) their preference for admitting students related to donors to the institution, and (c) early decision policies, or instead pay a public service fee that is calculated based on the institution's endowment per students. The public service fee is then deposited into a trust whose funds are distributed to community colleges and state universities in the Commonwealth.
Energy & Environment 🌲
-
Co-filer: Rep. Sean Garballey of Arlington
Known as the “Dark Sky” bill, this measure promotes energy-efficient lighting practices throughout the Commonwealth by requiring municipal- and state-funded projects to use fully-shielded exterior lighting in new or replacement installations, requiring these installations to use lower correlated color temperatures, and establishing maximum illumination thresholds. The bill is strongly supported by a coalition of environmental and public safety advocates as well as astronomers seeking to decrease light pollution for scientific observation purposes.
Water Infrastructure 🚿
-
Co-filer: Rep. Sean Garballey
Through this bill, DEP, in consultation with the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, will create an initiative to specifically work with municipalities within economic target areas in addressing their water infrastructure needs. The initiative shall include direct outreach to municipalities for purposes of assisting with the development of strategies to coordinate and plan for the upgrading of water infrastructure resources.
Consumer Privacy 🏠
-
Co-filer: Rep. Andy Vargas of Haverhill
Do you want Tim Cook or Elon Musk to be able to read your thoughts without permission? Neither do I. Similar to measures recently passed in Colorado and California, this bill would enact –for the first time in Mass – consumer protections for neural data, i.e., information generated by the measurement of activity of an individual’s central or peripheral nervous systems and that can be processed by or with the assistance of a device, as technological advances promote the growing use of unregulated practices. We are on the precipice of seeing this technology become widely used.
Voting & Democracy ☑️
-
Co-filer: Rep. Carmine Gentile of Sudbury
Companion Bill Filer: Sen. Michael Barrett
This bill clarifies the description of governor’s councillor on the ballot so that people actually know what they’re voting for.
-
Co-filer: Rep. Thomas Moakley of Falmouth
Companion Bill Filer: Sen. Julian Cyr of Provincetown
This bill closes the loophole that creates a political contribution transparency gap between candidate elections and ballot initiatives at local town meetings. The bill updates state campaign finance laws to include political entities or expenditures established or made to influence the outcome of articles that appear on Town Meeting warrants.
Workforce Development 👷
-
Co-filer: Rep. Sean Garballey
Improves pay and benefits for workers who provide support and services for individuals with disabilities to be consistent with other positions in the Commonwealth with similar responsibilities.
-
Co-filer: Rep. Sean Garballey
Defines responsibilities of warehouse workers, such as quotas and work speeds, and requires that employers maintain and preserve records of these responsibilities. Allows employees to bring an action for injunctive relief to obtain compliance by the employer.
-
Co-filer: Rep. Kimberly Ferguson of Holden
Corrects an inconsistency in the Mass. General Laws to allow electricians employed by regional school districts, which are a separate entity from municipalities, to retire in the same group as electricians employed by municipalities as is the case in single municipality school districts.
Tax Relief 💲
-
I worked with a local small business owner to draft and file this bill, which aligns Massachusetts tax policy with federal policy by allowing deduction of contributions to 401(k)s by sole proprietors.
-
Co-filer: Rep. Adam Scanlon of North Attleborough
This bill allows any city or town to impose a cap on property taxes for low-income seniors. Cities and towns may choose to impose a property tax cap for homeowners aged 65+ as long as single filers income is $50,000 or less or married filers income is $60,000 or less and assets (not including primary residence and 1 motor vehicle) are $75,000 or less.
-
Co-filer: Rep. Adam Scanlon of North Attleborough
Exempts any citizen over the age of 65 and any veteran, whose annual income is at or below the federal poverty guideline, from the motor vehicle excise tax on one vehicle owned and registered for personal use.
Public Safety 🚒
-
Filed at the request of District Attorney Marian Ryan. Under current law, there is little room for prosecutorial discretion regarding sentencing for threats to use deadly weapons, explosives, and other substances. The statutory definition of these crimes include some fact patterns that are more appropriately handled in district court. This act would enable prosecutors to have flexibility and discretion in sentencing recommendations.
-
Co-filer: Rep. Sean Garballey of Arlington
Companion Bill Filer: Sen. Robyn Kennedy of Worcester
I serve as the House Speaker’s appointee on the Restorative Justice Advisory Committee, and am filing this bill on behalf of the Committee. Strongly supported by many law enforcement leaders in our district, this bill establishes Massachusetts’ first Office of Restorative Justice, to serve as a survivor and victim-centered knowledge-based resource that fosters community healing and accountability for harm in the Commonwealth by building restorative justice infrastructure and promoting effective restorative justice policy, education, research, practices, and programming within communities, schools, and public institutions (courts, correctional facilities and agencies).
Children & Families 👪
-
Many of us have “been there.” This bill requires that all public buildings have at least one baby changing station accessible to any caretaker with appropriate signage near the entrance. It only applies to buildings with new or newly renovated bathrooms.
-
Co-filer: Rep. Mindy Domb of Amherst
Creates a pilot program under which DPH would issue an RFP for diaper banks, food banks, and food pantries to provide diapers to low-income parents to address diaper need and diaper insufficiency.
-
Co-filer: Rep. Mindy Domb of Amherst
Creates a special commission to study diaper need and the feasibility of including a diaper allowance in the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, similar to the clothing allowance it already provides.
-
Co-filer: Rep. Sean Garballey of Arlington
Since Nicky’s Law passed, the abuser registry has been working as intended, fostering collaboration between agencies to protect persons with disabilities. This bill expands its reach by requiring MassHealth Day Habilitation (“Day Habs”) to check the abusers registry before hiring someone. The Disabled Person’s Protection Commission (DPPC) maintains the registry which allows employers to screen job applicants to ensure abusers don’t move from job to job. Expansion would strengthen DPPC’s operations as it would fully incorporate the abuser registry throughout the DDS system.
-
Co-filer: Rep. Adrianne Ramos of North Andover
Creates a statutory scheme for the arbitration of family law disputes. Arbitration is a private process that parties may use to resolve a dispute rather than going to court. During an arbitration, a neutral third party, the arbitrator, hears arguments from the parties, evaluates evidence, and makes a decision on their dispute. Although arbitration has long been used in the commercial context, it has recently begun to gain popularity in the family law sphere.
Home Rule Petitions 📜
-
Co-filer: Rep. Danillo Sena of Acton
-
Co-filer: Rep. Danillo Sena of Acton
-
Co-filer: Rep. Danillo Sena of Acton
-
Co-filer: Rep. Danillo Sena of Acton
-
Co-filer: Rep. Carmine Gentile of Sudbury
-
Co-filer: Rep. Carmine Gentile of Sudbury
-
Co-filer: Rep. Carmine Gentile of Sudbury