Exciting news! A critical bill to shore up local public health infrastructure is on the move in the legislature. If you have 5 minutes, it would be great if you could participate in this state advocacy action to strengthen public health in Massachusetts - see contact information and draft script below. Please be sure to take action by Tuesday, May 21, on your own time, using your own personal email address, and your personal computer or device.

The Statewide Accelerated Public Health for Every Community Act (SAPHE) was first signed into law in 2020 after a report found that many local boards of health in Massachusetts were unable to meet the state's statutory and regulatory requirements. The bill established voluntary minimum standards of public health and offered grants to municipalities to achieve compliance.

 

SAPHE 2.0 aims to enforce the minimum public health standards and expand sustainable state funding so all municipalities can achieve the standards. There are also grants to encourage collaboration, as MA has 351 local boards of health–the largest number within any state. Encouraging local partnerships to share services and data collection is really important!

 

Sen. Cyr filed SAPHE 2.0 as amendment #516 to the Senate budget, bringing us one step closer to potentially passing SAPHE 2.0. To make that happen, we need to make sure Senators cosponsor the amendment AND ask them to vocally advocate for the amendment in behind-the-scenes meetings/negotiations during the Senate budget debate.

 

More information linked here.

 

Step 1: Find your State Senator and their contact information here: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator 

 

Step 2: Send Email or make a phone call (phone calls are powerful!)

 

 

Dear Senator [NAME], 

 

[add your intro – who you are, live in their district, relevant public health expertise etc.] I’m writing to ask you to cosponsor and vocally support Amendment #516, filed by Public Health Committee Chair Cyr, to add the SAPHE 2.0 bill as an outside section to the Senate budget. The bill has been passed by the Senate twice and was reported favorably by the Public Health and Health Care Financing Committees earlier this session (H.4101).  

 

SAPHE 2.0 (Statewide Accelerated Public Health for Every Community Act), sponsored by Sen. Comerford, strengthens our local and regional public health system in areas where the state is currently falling short, including public health workforce training and development, minimum public health standards, data collection, and shared services. SAPHE 2.0 is the next step of a long-term local public health system transformation undertaken by the administration, the legislature, municipal leaders, public health officials, and other key stakeholders. Amendment #516/SAPHE 2.0 implements the unanimous recommendations of the Special Commission on Local and Regional Public Health, serves as the blueprint for the legislature’s 2021 $200 million ARPA investment in local and regional public health, and implements a key recommendation of the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management’s June 2022 report.   

 

[ADD ANYTHING SPECIFIC ABOUT YOUR TOWN/DEPT. AND WHAT SAPHE 2.0 WOULD MEAN- for example, "Because viruses do not respect municipal borders, the extreme variability of protections provided across municipal health departments increases exposure & harm to all communities, & puts the entire state at risk."]. It is essential that we pass SAPHE 2.0 this session. I ask you to cosponsor Amendment #516 and advocate for its adoption with your colleagues and Senate leadership.  

 

Best,

Your Name