The state Legislature labored via the night time to push out a number of main items of laws Sunday into Monday morning, leaving as a lot on the desk as they pushed out.
In addition to passing new legal guidelines on sports activities betting and hashish reform, lawmakers additionally got here collectively on long-awaited psychological healthcare laws that has been a precedence of each House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka.
“One moment, many years ago, I made the split-second decision to share the story of my family’s struggle with mental illness — a moment of vulnerability and honesty that has become a movement, as more and more people stand up and speak up for accessible, high-quality mental health care,” Spilka stated in a launch with the passage of The Mental Health ABC Act, which can mandate protection for yearly psychological wellness exams.
Lawmakers additionally reached an settlement on a judiciary bond invoice aimed toward upgrading IT infrastructure for that department, however that additionally contains provisions that may change the state’s gun legal guidelines to carry the commonwealth extra according to a current U.S. Supreme Court ruling loosening restrictions of firearm’s licenses.
Lawmakers despatched Gov. Charlie Baker an extension on the state’s horse racing and simulcast betting legal guidelines, which embody a sundown provision that lawmakers prolong every year.
Baker signed the legislation Monday morning, preserving bets on horse races authorized within the state for one more yr.
Lawmakers nonetheless haven’t completed with the governor’s amended model of the state finances, to which he amended a dangerousness invoice he spent a lot of the yr touting earlier than members of the joint judiciary committee despatched it to review, successfully killing it.
The Senate added a number of provisions from that invoice to the finances Monday, simply two days after the House rejected Baker’s modification.
Sunday marked the tip of the House and Senate’s formal periods for the yr. Laws can nonetheless transfer via the legislature, however not with out unanimous consent.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”