Guided by his unique perspective as the former chairman of the Lowell School Committee, Senator Kennedy has been a proponent of updating the Commonwealth’s education funding formula. One of the first bills that he co-sponsored was the Promise Act a bill aimed at updating the school education formula by addressing soaring costs for school districts. The Promise Act was later renamed The Student Opportunity Act and signed into law. It is the largest ever single investment in public education in Massachusetts’s history.
Recently, Senator Kennedy has worked with other Senators on updating the formula to better reflect the needs of smaller rural and suburban communities to raise the minimum per pupil amount to 366% of the amount required by law. Senator Kennedy is committed to fighting to further increase education funding in communities that have been impacted by inflation and have not benefited significantly from the Student Opportunity Act.
Senator Kennedy introduced legislation that was included in the FY24 budget to reimburse school districts hit with cost overruns due to post-pandemic supply chain challenges. This legislation resulted in additional funding of $38 million for Lowell High School, $4.1 million for the Tyngsborough Middle School, and $4.5 million for the Florence Roche Elementary School in Groton.
Another important issue facing smaller communities throughout the Commonwealth is regional school transportation. In recent years, the reimbursement percentage has increased but is still below 100 percent. Senator Kennedy supports regional school districts receiving 100 percent reimbursement on their school transportation costs as was originally promised to regional school districts.
Since his first day in the Senate, Senator Kennedy has made the funding and construction of a permanent four lane bridge across the Merrimack River his top transportation priority. In 2020, Senator Kennedy secured a $100 million bond authorization in the transportation bond bill for the construction of a new four lane Rourke Bridge to replace the temporary two-lane bridge built in 1983. That funding, which will be supplemented by additional federal funding, will allow the bridge project to finally go forward with an anticipated completion date in the fall of 2028.
Senator Kennedy has also been actively engaged in other transportation projects including the Route 110 repaving project that will affect residents in Lowell and Dracut.
Senator Kennedy is a long-time member of the Sierra Club and the Appalachian Mountain Club. He is also a member of the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
Senator Kennedy is the sponsor of legislation which would re-establish the Clean Environment Fund to create a funding source for municipalities to undertake recycling enhancement projects, promote urban forestry, protect water resources, and other important environmental efforts. He has also sponsored legislation which would authorize a study to improve recycling programs in the Commonwealth.
Another major environmental bill that Senator Kennedy has taken the lead on deals with mattress recycling. He introduced a bill which would make mattress recycling convenient and consumer friendly. This bill would reduce the illegal dumping of mattresses and ensure that recycling programs remain competitive.
The Merrimack River and Nashua River flow through the First Middlesex State Senate District. Senator Kennedy is committed to protecting our rivers and waterways. In recent months, Senator Kennedy has been working with Senator Bruce Tarr in a bi-partisan fashion to bring stakeholders together from both Massachusetts and New Hampshire with a goal of reducing combined sewage overflows.
Senator Kennedy has also co-sponsored legislation to address the threat of invasive species spreading throughout our waterways.
Throughout his time in the legislature, Senator Kennedy has supported measures that would improve the healthcare services in the Commonwealth. The senator believes that access to affordable, high-quality health care is a right and should be available to all. Senator Kennedy has voted for legislation that would control soaring prescription drug prices and premium costs. He is an advocate for transparency in health care transactions and was the sponsor of a bill that would prevent patients from being billed for unexpected medical expenses by out-of-network providers.
Senator Kennedy supported comprehensive maternal healthcare legislation which expands physical and mental health care options for all pregnant women.
Senator Kennedy was proud to join his colleagues in shaping and approving the HERO Act in 2024, the Commonwealth's largest ever investment in veteran services. This bipartisan legislation increases and simplifies benefits and opportunities, modernizes services, and promotes inclusivity for Massachusetts veterans while reaffirming the Commonwealth’s commitment to recognizing and serving all service members and their families. It increases benefits for disabled veterans and Gold Star family members, bolsters new and existing initiatives for municipalities and businesses to support veterans, creates comprehensive services for active-duty service members and military families, expands the scope of the Veterans Equality Review Board, updates the Chapter 115 definition of a veteran to expand eligibility, and codifies medical, behavioral health, and dental benefits.
Senator Kennedy believes the state legislature must pass policies that reflect our collective appreciation for all that seniors have contributed to our communities. This means protecting benefits older adults have worked their whole lives to earn, supporting the right of seniors to retire with dignity and remain in their communities long into retirement, ensuring access to high quality community resources, and preventing excessive increases to prescription drug costs./p>
Recently, the Massachusetts’s legislature passed an Act to improve quality and oversight of long-term care. This legislation is a step forward in improving the quality, efficiency, and equitability of long-term care; a goal that Senator Kennedy has advocated for as a member of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs. It will make significant improvements in nursing home oversight, anti-discrimination protection for LGBTQ residents, and allow Assisted Living Residences to offer basic health services.
Senator Kennedy has introduced legislation which would make it easier for seniors to remain in their homes, including a bill that would rein in interest-rate increases for seniors participating in a local property tax deferral program, and a bill that seeks to evaluate the feasibility of a program allowing eligible seniors to defer their state property taxes, an important step towards ensuring economic stability.
Senator Kennedy has worked with municipal officials throughout the First Middlesex State Senate District in support of local economic development initiatives. Senator Kennedy has secured funding for the Lowell Waterways Vitality Initiative as well as funds for the repair and revitalization of the Lowell's canal system.
In Tyngsborough, Senator Kennedy has secured local initiative funding of over $150,000 towards the Town Center improvement project, as well as an additional $200,000 towards improving the town's municipal facilities.
In Dracut, the senator successfully offered amendments totaling $125,000 of local initiatives during the 2023-2024 term.
Senator Kennedy also offered an amendment to provide $250,000 towards Dunstable's Joint Grass Brook Culvert reconstruction.
In Pepperell, Senator Kennedy secured funding for several local initiatives pertaining to economic development projects including renovations to the Peter Fitzpatrick School, the Pepperell Main Street Corridor, and a $500,000 fund for the town to support local agricultural business.
Senator Kennedy is committed to meeting with business owners across the First State Senate Middlesex District to understand challenges they are confronting and find ways for state government to support them in creating local job opportunities.
Senator Kennedy supports policies to augment affordable housing options in Massachusetts and is an advocate for programs that allow future generations of young adults to be able to afford to live in the community where they grew up. The importance of improving and expanding the Commonwealth's housing stock is evident in cities and towns across the Commonwealth. Senator Kennedy recently secured a bond authorization of $8 million for the Lowell Housing Authority in the Senate’s version of the Affordable Homes Act which will be used for an affordable housing project and housing units for veterans. Senator Kennedy has also secured funding for the first ever Affordable Housing Plan in the Town of Pepperell.
In this legislative session, Senator Kennedy has proposed legislation aimed at protecting the Commonwealth’s affordable housing stock from inadvertent or statutory scenarios where a property’s affordable housing restriction may not be honored. His bill would provide mechanisms to the holder of an affordable housing restriction to protect the public subsidies that make homes affordable. He is also the sponsor of legislation that would ensure fairness in foreclosure proceedings by establishing a Foreclosure Review Division within the court system, a measure experts believe would help revitalize our real estate markets and strengthen constitutional rights of homeowners.
While Massachusetts has made meaningful strides to combat the opioid epidemic that continues to devastate communities throughout our state, there is still much work to be done to ensure that residents are provided with the essential services that they need to seek treatment and maintain sobriety.
This session, Senator Kennedy has filed and/or co-sponsored critical pieces of legislation that, upon their passage, will provide the state with unique methods to ease the burden of this crisis by expanding access to treatment. Senator Kennedy is the lead sponsor of the Recover Act which would provide those in recovery with employment opportunities by creating a competitive grant program to support partnerships between treatment providers and vocational service providers.