By: Rep. Ryan Hamilton – 2-25
The start of this legislative session has been fast, and I look forward to working with my colleagues and all of you to make it a successful two years. With Bill filing finally behind us, I am proud to say I currently have 14 bills in progress and many co-sponsorships ahead of me; my priorities continue to be on education, mental health, childcare, and other areas.
I put forward some critical pieces of legislation for this upcoming session, which included many important issues.
Representative Andy Vargas and I collaborated on bill HD2900, An act expanding licensure opportunities for school counselors. This bill would make it easier for School Councilors to become licensed mental health professionals.
In talking with some of our School Counselors in Methuen and Haverhill, I have found the requirements for attaining a mental health certification to be, in ways, redundant compared to some of the certifications required to become a counselor. This bill would eliminate that redundancy and make it easier for us to get licensed mental health professionals in our schools to help our children.
Other bills include:
“An act providing opportunities for apprentices to complete their training and for ensuring a skilled workforce in the Commonwealth,”
“An act to amend the insurance law, about protecting certain retirees from pension de-risking transactions.”
These are two union-centered bills that have made headway on Beacon Hill before, and I am honored to be able to champion them in the chamber myself. I believe that with our workforce here in Merrimack Valley, it is essential that we offer more apprenticeship opportunities.
College was the right choice for me, but it isn’t the right choice for everyone. Ensuring that we have opportunities for those to learn a skill and then practice and hone their skills with an apprenticeship is imperative to have a diverse workforce in the Merrimack Valley and Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Then, there are the home rule petitions specific to my district of Haverhill and Methuen. Although not as flashing as some of the legislation listed, I enjoy home rule petitions because they allow me to work closely with my partners in local government. Last year, we passed three home rules pertaining to the Methuen Police Department. This year, we have filed two home rules: one for the Methuen Police Department and another for the Haverhill Fire Department.
My major bill for this session is on financial literacy: “An act relative to personal financial literacy.” Massachusetts is often a model state when it comes to education nationwide, yet we get an F when it comes to Financial Literacy.
We are behind states like Alabama and Mississippi in terms of financial education in our schools. We are not teaching students about loans and interest or late payments and the impacts of credit card debt. We are not teaching them about the stock market cryptocurrency or investing in real estate. L financial literacy is a course that every student in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should be required to take.
They desperately need to be taught these life skills to navigate complex financial choices. This bill would set up the Financial Literacy Trust Fund, administered by the elementary and secondary education commissioner. This fund would support every high school student before graduation, taking one standalone personal financial literacy course and providing them with tools for healthy financial habits.
I am currently co-sponsoring many of my colleagues’ bills for this upcoming session. If you have a bill that you are passionate about, please get in touch with my office. I’d be happy to discuss it with you to see if I can help move it through the legislative process.
I look forward to collaborating with colleagues, including my delegation partners and friends in the Senate. If anyone wants to stay updated on Beacon Hill, go to malegislature.gov to look up any bills, legislators, or anything else we have going on. ◊
