SENATOR SONIA CHANG-DÍAZ

Departing Reps, Senators Deliver Traditional Farewell Remarks

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Massachusetts to take a quantum leap or two on some of the things that voters have been telling Beacon Hill for a long time that they want to see us do,” Chang-Díaz said.

Tackles Equity, Host Community Agreements, Cannabis Cafes

Long-awaited measure includes crackdown on local fees, funding for equity

"It’s going to be a game changer," Chang-Díaz said. "I know it's going to take time for the MCAD to fill the staffing shortages that they've been experiencing in recent years, but this is a huge step forward."

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz recently sponsored a budget amendment to increase the MCAD's funding by nearly two-thirds.

“Without a license, a routine traffic stop can have a lasting and traumatic set of repercussions: arrest, ICE detention, deportation. It can tear families apart, and that is a heavy, heavy burden to carry."

“It has been a long, long road for this bill,” Sen Chang-Díaz said. “This bill means trust and dignity for immigrants in our state who lack federal status.”

Cannabis cafes, crackdown on local fees among reforms headed to House

“The numbers here are lackluster, to put it lightly,” said state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, head of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Racial Equity. “But I think that equally, if not of greater concern, is the lack of transparency."

“The gap between the law’s stated commitment to equity and the on-the-ground reality of the industry shows just how much work we have left to do,” said Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, the other co-chair of the cannabis committee.

On Friday, January 28, the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy moved forward a sweeping bill to promote social equity in the cannabis industry.

“We need to come to terms with the fact that we are free-riding on the backs of women,” said state Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, a Boston Democrat.

The American Rescue Plan funds could help close the racial wealth divide and to put an end to the inequities this pandemic has exacerbated.

A coalition of advocacy groups plus a handful of lawmakers on Monday released a scorecard they’ll use to measure whether the American Rescue Plan Act spending plans prioritize racial justice.

Activists and elected officials marched the three miles in support of a moratorium on construction of a new women’s prison in Norfolk.

"Across the Commonwealth, far too many people — and let’s be real: it’s disproportionately Black and brown people — are incarcerated in toxic conditions that place their health, safety, and human dignity, and the safety of the communities to which they will return, at risk," said Sonia Chang-Díaz.

More local leaders are pressuring Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration to resume reporting the age, race, and sex of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Massachusetts, as concerns about the impact of the Delta variant heighten.

Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz is advancing legislation that would reinvest savings stemming from criminal justice reforms back into communities.

The new law, among other changes, set up a commission to certify and decertify police officers, banned the use of chokeholds by police and limited the use of no-knock warrants.

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz said that unemployment in Roxbury is “routinely double the unemployment rate in the rest of our commonwealth.”

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, D-Suffolk, and Atyia Martin, former chief resiliency officer for Boston, joined Jim Braude to talk about the key takeaways from the COVID Oversight Hearing.

A senior-level director in charge of COVID-19 vaccination equity and an allocation of $10 million to community organizations for outreach and engagement in communities of color are part of a list of five demands outlined Wednesday by a new coalition seeking to address what they say are serious racial injustices in the state's vaccine distribution plan.

Senator Chang-Díaz and the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition discuss Massachusetts' vaccine rollout

From pre-registration to a mobile vaccine program.

"At the end of the day, when I zoom out and I look at what this bill accomplishes... there is a ton in this bill that is really going to set a new standard for the national policy landscape on police accountability that could potentially ripple through the other forty-nine states."

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, who was one of the bills sponsors, said the law is a “mile-marker,” but not an end to an ongoing fight against racism in policing.

Gov. Charlie Baker signed sweeping police reform legislation on Thursday that will create a mandatory certification process for law enforcement and launch the nation’s first civilian-led police oversight board with subpoena power and decertification authority.

Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, a Jamaica Plain Democrat, lamented that many things “over-policed communities pleaded for” are not in the bill, including binding definitions of use of force. But she said there was much for advocates to celebrate.

"I'm really satisfied with the total product of this bill," Sen. Chang-Diaz said. "...It is a final package that strikes a lot of wins for accountability, for community voice at the table of power, for changing our vision for what public safety is and means from one of force and punishment to one of de-escalation and helping and prevention."

State Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, who served on the police reform conference committee, and state Representative Russell Holmes, who has long pushed for many of the changes included in the bill, join Jim Braude to discuss the long-awaited police reform bill.

Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz filed an amendment to create more guidelines for the Department of Corrections when working to reduce harm and depopulate facilities during an outbreak.

The lawmakers say the Department of Correction will expand testing and take steps to release prisoners to home confinement.

With immigrant communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, the debate about whether to allow unauthorized immigrants in the state to get driver’s licenses is heating up.

Holding signs saying "No service cuts" and "Save the Mission Hill trolley," protestors heard from state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Boston city councilors Kenzie Bok and Matt O'Malley.

Data collection and reporting, vaccine distribution and funding for COVID-19 response initiatives are identified as "critical priorities" for the state to pursue, in a preliminary report approved Wednesday by members of a state health equity task force.

Roxbury activists have voiced opposition to the plan from the beginning, citing what they said would be unsafe street crossings and the loss of trees that help mitigate pollution and reduce extreme temperatures.

Bill enacts reforms to raise police accountability standards, shift resources to communities and build equity, justice and fairness

Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz speaks after the second day of delaying debate on the Senate's Reform, Shift + Build Act

The Massachusetts Senate plans to vote Thursday on a wide-ranging bill that would create a process for certifying and de-certifying officers and impose new limits on use of force, including a ban on chokeholds and restrictions on the use of tear gas.

Bill enacts reforms to ban aggressive police tactics, significantly raise standards for accountability in law enforcement and reprioritize public safety resources

On behalf of their constituents and in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives, the legislators filed An Act to make Juneteenth a State Holiday.

Coalition unveils 10-point plan for policing reform and accountability.

Mobilized by the social unrest gripping the country, the state’s top political leaders of color gathered Tuesday to urge action across all levels of government, their words underwritten by a docket of resolutions, policies, and legislation they say are designed to transmute anger into change, increasing police accountability and chipping away at structural racism.

Legislation will study disparities in treatment among communities of color.

“Ensuring people have safe, reliable housing throughout this crisis is one of the most important things we can do to flatten the curve and save lives right now,” said state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz (D-2nd Suffolk).

The moratorium provides some of the strongest protections in the nation for renters, homeowners, and small business owners harmed by COVID-19.

If we’re waiting for consensus, we’re waiting too long. Consensus is a luxury for politicians that poor and minority residents can’t afford.

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz’s Twitter feed has been filled with information about local resources in both English and Spanish.

“This is both a critical and efficient step in delivering on the requirement that money from marijuana tax revenues be spent on restorative economic development for communities harmed by the War on Drugs,” said state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, the chair of the joint committee.