MASSACHUSETTS COALITION OF POLICE
“The Only Union for Police Officers and 911 Dispatchers”
Scott A. Hovsepian, President sah@masscop.org
John E. Nelson, First Vice-President jen@masscop.org
Robert W. Murphy, Secretary/Treasurer rwm@masscop.org
(508) 581-9336 fax (508) 581-9564
March 31, 2025
Dear Members:
The Massachusetts Coalition of Police Legislative Team is at the Massachusetts State House advocating on your behalf daily. We just started a new session in January and the new legislature is slowly getting underway. They have recently completed their rules, assigned committees, and it will be time for hearings on bills very soon. You will find below a list of bills that we are working on for our membership and ALL of law enforcement across the Commonwealth.
Since the inception of POST, MassCOP has been determined to ensure that police officers across the Commonwealth have due process in retaining their certification.
Key Police Legislation We’re Focused On:
HB1828/SB1039/SB1235 Rep. Law, Sen. Collins, and Sen. Oliveira filed An Act Relative to Due Process. These bills create a de novo appeals process in the Superior Court if someone’s certification is suspended for more than two weeks or decertified by POST. This process allows a judge to hear the facts of the case to make a determination on those facts, as opposed to the current process of just determining whether or not POST followed their own rules. This is an important piece of legislation and has been a priority bill for MassCOP for three sessions. This bill is currently in the Joint Committee on the Judiciary.
While we are on the topic of POST, we have a couple of other bills that were filed to assist in making things more equitable. HB2717 Rep. Turco An Act Relative to Membership on the POST Commission names MassCOP to a seat on the commission. When the initial POST bill was created, it included MassCOP on the commission. In the eleventh hour, we were removed. It is time we are placed back on the commission and have a voice for our members. HB2718 Rep. Turco An Act Relative to Labor Participation on the POST Commission would name two law enforcement labor organizations to this commission. MassCOP filed both bills, and we are looking forward to some changes on this board soon.
One of the bills that continues to be inquired about daily by our members is SB1102 An Act Providing for a COVID-19 Retirement Credit to Essential Public Health and Safety Employees Sen. Collins. This bill would add fourteen months credit to any police, fire, EMS, and public sector nurse’s retirement. This fourteen-month period is equivalent to the pendency of the pandemic. We continue to lobby hard for this bill as it is only fair to credit those who gave so much during this difficult time in our history. Another bill filed on this same topic is HB3003 Rep. Zlotnik An Act Relative to Covid-19 Retirement Credit Study. This would create a study commission for this subject to determine whether it is feasible.
Rep. Giannino and Sen. Lovely filed HB2850/SB1877 An Act Relative to Cancer Presumption for Police Officers. These bills simply add us to the cancer presumption law that firefighters currently utilize. It creates a presumption for certain types of cancer that they are work related. This is an important bill for anyone who has stood by a fire scene or investigated arson scenes. In addition, those who work road details where harmful chemicals are used in the process, such as the application of asphalt.
Detective John D. Songy was a police officer in the Town of Rutland. He succumbed to Covid-19 and is currently the only Massachusetts police officer on the National Law Enforcement Memorial Wall in DC and on the Massachusetts Law Enforcement Memorial. HB2823/SB1831 Rep. Ferguson and Sen. Durant have filed An Act Providing Killed in the Line of Duty Benefits to Joanne Songy, Surviving Spouse of Detective John D. Songy, a Police Officer in the Town of Rutland in the hopes of securing these benefits for Mrs. Songy. It is only fair to provide her and her young children with the benefits of those who lost their lives working for their community.
Rep. Giannino has filed a number of bills for us this session and we appreciate her support of law enforcement. HB2845 An Act Relative to Accrued Leave while Awaiting a Determination of 111F provides automatic restoration of accrued time that was used pending 111F determinations. This is an important bill because many departments feel it is okay to make you use accrued time and then when a determination is made that you are 111F eligible, they make you fight for your time back. We have had to litigate a number of cases for something that should be automatic. HB2621 An Act Relative to “Critical Incident Leave” makes it mandatory that after any critical incident where the officer is placed on leave, which has traditionally been referred to as administrative leave, that the department now carries them out on critical incident leave. This terminology would also have to be included in any release of information regarding the incident by the department.
MassCOP files a large number of bills each session, a few of which you have likely come across when reading past legislative reports or heard about them at the convention. Four such pieces of police legislation are: HB3811/SB2449 An Act Establishing a Blue Star Family License Plate Rep. Walsh and Sen. Tarr, HB2993/SB1910 An Act Providing the Next of Kin of a Police Officer or Firefighter Killed in the Line of Duty with the Flags of the Commonwealth and the United States Rep. Walsh and Sen. Tarr, HB2728/SB1934 An Act Establishing the Massachusetts Law Enforcement Memorial
Fund Rep. Walsh and Sen. Collins and HB2729/SB1772 An Act Relative to Implementing a Blue Alert System in the Commonwealth Rep. Walsh and Sen. Tarr. We have been talking with some other law enforcement groups who are also interested in partnering with us to get these bills over the finish line. All three of these bills come with minimal cost to government. We welcome the assistance and cooperation of these other groups in lobbying these bills with a united voice.
We have been very active over the past few sessions advocating for our public safety dispatch groups on Beacon Hill. HB2885/SB1827 Rep. Kilcoyne and Sen. Driscoll filed An Act Relative to Public Safety Dispatchers, which will put all dispatchers into Group Two for retirement purposes. We have also filed HB2629/HB2662 An Act Relative to Critical Incident Intervention by Emergency Service Providers Rep. Hawkins and Rep. MacGregor, which adds public safety dispatchers to the peer support critical incident confidentiality law. Dispatchers are an integral part of the system and to think they should not be afforded the same benefits relating to peer support as police officers is ludicrous.
We are working diligently to try to get the legislature to implement this technical correction. We have also been working with Sen. Feeney to add public safety dispatchers to the Heart Law via SB1845 An Act Relative to 911 Emergency Telecommunicators Inclusion in the Heart Bill. Public safety dispatchers are subjected to huge amounts of stress, which takes its toll on their heart and circulatory systems. They, again, should be afforded the same benefit as other public safety personnel in these circumstances.
The above is a short list of the things we have been working on and are priority bills for the organization.
Additional Police Legislation We’re Involved With:
We have also been following, supporting, lobbying, and tracking a number of other pieces of police legislation at the State House relating to law enforcement. Here are a few examples:
- HB1998 Rep. Thomas Stanley – An Act Establishing Penalties for Filing False Reports Against Police Officers
- HB2909/SB1821 Rep. McGonagle and Sen. DiDomenico – An Act Relative to Disability or Death Caused by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- HB2846/SB17197 Rep. Giannino and Sen. Collins – An Act Relative to Disability or Death Caused by Contagious Disease; Presumption
- HB2853/SB1788 Rep. Gordon and Sen. Brady – An Act Relative to PTSD and Accidental Disability
- HB2628/SB1760 Rep. Hawkins and Sen. Rush – An Act Relative to Arson Investigators
- HB2533 Rep. Scanlon – An Act Relative to the Safety of the Fire, Police, and Emergency Medical Technicians from Contagious Diseases
- HB2332 Rep. Scanlon – An Act Relative to Covid-19 Complications for Public Employees
- HB2515 Rep. Plouffe – An Act Relative to the Exposure of Public Safety Officials to HIV
- HB2564 Rep. Arciero – An Act Relative to Emergency Hazard Health Duty
- HB2941 Rep. Puppolo – An Act Providing for Special Death Benefits to Fallen Public Safety Officers
- HB2966 Rep. Silvia – An Act Relative to Capping Earnings in Retirement
- HB2654/SB1730 Rep. LaNatra and Sen. Montigny – An Act to Strengthen Critical Incident Stress Management for Emergency Service Providers
- HB2057 Rep. Xiarhos and Rep. Wells – An Act Ensuring the Safety and Dignity of First Responders (HALO Act)
- HB3816/SB1719 Rep. Xiarhos, Rep. Giannino and Sen. Marks – An Act Relative to the Move Over Law/Enhancing the Safety of First Responders
- HB2738 Rep. Xiarhos – An Act Relative to Providing Advanced Life Support to Police Dogs Injured in the Line of Duty
- HB2663/SB1761 Rep. MacGregor and Sen. Rush – An Act Relative to Internal Benefits of Public Safety Telecommunicators
- HB2818/HB2968/SB1856/SB1906 Rep. Elliot, Rep. Smola, Sen. Feeney, and Sen. Rush – An Act Relative to Massachusetts Certified Emergency Telecommunicators
- HB2971 Rep. Soter – An Act to Provide Public Safety Telecommunicators with the Same Internal Benefits as First Responders
- HB2807/HB2905/SB1819 Rep. Diggs, Rep. Luddy, and Sen. Cyr – An Act to Protect the Retirement Classification of Barnstable County Dispatchers and Dispatch Retirees
If you have any questions about any of these bills, or anything else realted to police legislations, please email our Legislative Chairperson John Nelson at jen@masscop.org.
