SENATOR SONIA CHANG-DÍAZ

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After years of debate, Mass. Senate passes bill to allow driver’s licenses for undocumented people

By Samantha Gross | May 05, 2022

“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.”

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With Senate passage and veto-proof margins, immigrant licensing bill takes major step toward becoming law

By Chris Lisinski | May 05, 2022

“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."

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Legalization 2.0: Massachusetts Senate approves overhaul of marijuana laws

By Dan Adams | Apr 07, 2022

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

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Infrastructure bills are kicking off billions in construction projects. Will workers of color get the jobs?

By Chris Burrell | Feb 08, 2022

“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."

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With Speaker Mariano’s backing, Mass. Legislature poised to advance marijuana reforms

By Dan Adams | Jan 30, 2022

“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.

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Advocates urge legislators to establish early education, child care system

By Stephanie Ebbert | Nov 24, 2021

“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.

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Racial Equity Scorecard Will Grade ARPA Spending

By Katie Lannan | Oct 18, 2021

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.

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Activists march against prison

By Anna Lamb | Sep 15, 2021

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

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Legislators, advocates call for Mass. prison reforms after Spotlight investigation into excessive force allegations

By Mark Arsenault | Aug 16, 2021

"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.

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More local leaders call on Charlie Baker’s administration to reverse change to COVID-19 data reporting

By Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com | Jul 28, 2021

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.

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Sen. Chang-Diaz sees progress with justice reinvestment bill

By Morgan C. Mullings | Jun 02, 2021

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

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How George Floyd's death sparked major changes in Massachusetts

By Sharman Sacchetti | May 25, 2021

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.

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Sen. Ed Markey: Proposed 1.5 million-member Civilian Climate Corps invests in planet-saving jobs in communities like Roxbury, Dorchester

By Benjamin Kail | May 03, 2021

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

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State Hearing Focuses On Racial Inequities, Among Other Issues With Vaccine Rollout

By Greater Boston Staff | Feb 26, 2021

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.

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Vaccine equity czar among new coalition's demands

By Chris Van Buskirk | Feb 19, 2021

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.

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State Lawmakers, Community Organizations Push For Vaccine Equity

By Paris Alston and Callum Borchers | Feb 18, 2021

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

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4 proposals to improve the Massachusetts vaccine rollout

By Nik DeCosta-Klipa | Feb 09, 2021

From pre-registration to a mobile vaccine program.

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Massachusetts Creates New Police Accountability System

By Colin A. Young | Jan 06, 2021

"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."

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Reform Advocates Cautiously Praise New Police Oversight Bill, Say More Changes Needed To Dismantle Systematic Racism

By Tori Bedford | Jan 01, 2021

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.

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Baker signs police reform bill into law

By Sarah Betancourt | Jan 01, 2021

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.