Representative Cabral filed 41 bills in the 193rd legislative session, some of which are highlighted below. For the latest updates on all of his legislation, please click here.

EDUCATION, YOUTH, & FAMILIES

H.440 An Act for equitable workforce development

This bill redefines students eligible for admission to a vocational-technical high school to any student who meets the requirements to be promoted to the next grade. It creates a weighted lottery system for admission with preference towards protected classes including, but not limited to, students of color, special needs students, economically disadvantaged, and English Language Learners. School systems will be required to fill vacancies from the lottery waitlist. The Commissioner of Education will collect application, admission, and enrollment data and file this report with the House and Senate Clerks and the Joint Committee on Education annually.

H.437 An Act relative to the training, assessment, and assignment of qualified school interpreters in educational settings

This bill would direct the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to create standards and competencies for the training, hiring and use of interpreters in educational settings in order to provide limited English proficient (LEP) students and parents with competent interpretation services, as required by federal and state law.

H.438 An Act to reduce barriers to education and career opportunities

This bill would remove the requirement that high school students must pass the MCAS to receive their high school diploma if they have met all other requirements for graduation by creating two state-recognized pathways towards a high school diploma: a Commonwealth Diploma for students who met the MCAS requirements and a Horace Mann Diploma, issued by the local school committee, for students who satisfied all other graduation requirements.

H.3811 An Act to require school attendance up to age 18 or until graduation

This bill would require attendance for students between the ages of 6 and 18, unless the student has completed at least the twelfth grade or completed the high school equivalency test, whichever comes first. The mandatory attendance age is currently established by the Board of Education. This bill would also establish a Commission to Study Barriers to High School Graduation that would produce a report on student populations who are at the highest risk of dropping out, mechanisms to identify students who are at risk of dropping out, barriers to high school graduation and evidence-based services that reduce and eliminate barriers to high school graduation.

H.135 An Act establishing basic needs assistance for Massachusetts immigrant residents

This bill would authorize the department of transitional assistance to provide for basic needs to persons residing in the Commonwealth who are lawfully admitted for permanent residence or are otherwise permanently residing in the United States under color of law. Examples of assistance includes cash assistance and related benefits to children, pregnant women, and caretaker adults; as well as nutritional assistance benefits to persons who qualify for SNAP. Ultimately, this bill would negate the immigration status/citizenship requirements for the benefits provided through SNAP.

H.1402 An Act for the Youth Restorative Justice Fund

Currently, drug forfeiture funds are split evenly between police departments and District Attorney Offices to use at their discretion with few reporting requirements. This amendment would create a Youth Restorative Justice Fund by committing 34% of drug forfeiture funding to support and expand Youth Courts and restorative justice-based juvenile diversion programs in Massachusetts through a grant program administered by the Executive Office of Public Safety & Security. It would also require District Attorneys and police departments to publicly report drug forfeiture fund expenditures.

H.2295 An Act to require seat belts on school buses

This bill would update the current law in Massachusetts to require the use of seatbelts on school busses transporting to or from a public, charter or vocational school.

H.435 An Act relative to compulsory full-day kindergarten

This bill would make full-day kindergarten available at all public schools and would make kindergarten attendance compulsory.

H.189 An Act to establish a Massachusetts children’s cabinet

Co-filed with Rep. Kay Kahn, this bill would establish within the Executive Office of the Governor a Children’s Cabinet to ensure that the public policy of the Commonwealth relating to children and youth is developed to promote interdepartmental collaboration and program implementation.

GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY

HD3940 An Act relative to transparency in clerk magistrate hearings

This bill would shift the current paradigm regarding closed clerk magistrate hearings by presuming all to be open to the public unless the court determines that the defendant’s private interest outweighs the public’s right of access. Any such finding shall state with specificity the reason for closing the hearing and shall be narrowly tailored to said reason. All hearings held pursuant to this section shall be taken stenographically or recorded and transcribed.

HD3896 An Act to modernize participation in public meetings

This bill would modernize participation in public meetings to better meet the needs and expectations of the post-pandemic public. It would create a permanent hybrid model for access and participation in local, regional, county, and state public bodies, requiring both a physical meeting space and a mandatory remote access option, making permanent the flexibility permitted during the Covid-19 State of Emergency while safeguarding transparency, convenience, and access by the public.

HD2211 An Act further regulating access to public records

This bill establishes a “commission of public records” to govern the division of public records that would be within the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth and gives the division stronger adjudicatory and enforcement power.

HD3647 An Act relative to enforcing federal law

This bill prohibits the use of MA state taxpayer dollars from being spent on 287g agreements with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in which local, county, or state public safety personnel are deputized as ICE agents. Currently, the state bears the expense of this federal immigration enforcement policy.

HD3902 An Act relative to Massachusetts state sovereignty

This bill would bar the Commonwealth and any law enforcement agencies, municipalities, or other subdivisions from entering into a new agreement to arrest or detain any person for civil immigration detention (AKA 287g agreements), to extend, modify or renew an existing agreement, or to remain in an existing agreement longer than ninety days from the date on which this act takes effect. This bill authorizes the Attorney General to bring action against such person or entity found in violation

HD2250 An Act relative to polling place security and integrity

Co-filed with Rep. Straus, this bill would make clear the responsibility of maintaining the safety of voters at polling locations rests with the local police department unless assistance from the state police or county sheriff department is requested by the Chief or chair of the board of the local police department and approved by the secretary of the executive office of public safety and security.

GATEWAY CITIES, MUNICIPALITIES, & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

HD3644 An Act relative to the housing development incentive program

Aimed to help address market-rate housing development in Gateway Cities, this bill would raise the individual project cap for HDIP approved projects from $2 million to $5 million. It also expands the overall HDIP cap from $10 million per year to $57 million in FY24 and $30 million per year thereafter.

HD3910 An Act to Build Future-Forward Parking Structures to Promote EV Equity and Walkable Downtowns

This bill would establish a financing program for the construction, reconstruction, and renovation of municipal parking facilities to provide electric vehicle charging stations. To qualify for reimbursement, a city must meet performance standards such as facilitating the reduction and redevelopment of surface parking in downtown areas; supporting additional housing production and transit-oriented growth; and incorporating context-sensitive urban design that encourages walking.

HD3803 An Act to promote downtown vitality

This bill would create a separate Downtown Vitality Fund to provide grants for district management entities to support small business districts in Gateway Cities and other low-income areas; expand entrepreneurship opportunities among underrepresented communities; strengthen cultural identity and prevent cultural displacement; provide multi-year operating funding where appropriate; and encourage a local match set at a level commensurate with the strength of the local market economy.

HD3891 An Act relative to public procurement and inclusive entrepreneurship

This bill requires the administration’s 4-year strategic economic development policy plan includes an assessment of racial and ethnic disparities in employment and business ownership and analyze how the plan contributes to reducing these disparities; requires the Division of Banks to collect small business lending data from all lenders on an annual basis and to analyze the impacts that all lenders, including online lenders, have on minority borrowers in the Commonwealth, and file a report each year; require all public boards and commission in the Commonwealth adopt policies and practices to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of their membership; and modify municipal procurement regulations to allow local authorities more flexibility to support minority-owned businesses.

HD3728 An Act relative to neighborhood stabilization and economic development

This bill uses a three-fold approach to streamline neighborhood stabilization. Firstly, it would modify the eminent domain statute (Chapter 121A) by streamlining the process municipalities must use to return abandoned properties in their communities to the market by making it more cost-effective and timely; secondly, it will create a commission to review the state’s building code; and thirdly, it modifies the enabling statute of the MA School Building Authority (MSBA) to consider a neighborhood stabilization framework in the design and build of new schools.

HD2833 An Act to fund public transit expansion

This bill would establish an innovative financing plan to fund both RTAs and the expansion of commuter rail projects. These projects would be funded by an array of environmentally conscious options, including a green fee based on a vehicle’s carbon emissions, a new per-mile emissions fee, and a toll on large commercial trucks. This bill would create the Transportation and Environmental Equity Fund, which will use new and existing revenue sources and prioritize construction of transportation projects that bring new transit options to unserved and underserved locales. This bill authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to rank proposed rail projects annually using a list of environmental and ridership criteria, with priority given to projects that provide service to areas not currently served by rail.

HD2677 An Act to establish a Massachusetts public bank

Co-filed with Rep. Mike Connolly, this bill would create a public bank, owned by the Commonwealth, overseen by the MA Division of Banks, to provide financing in cooperation with community banks, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and the state’s quasi-public lenders, to address unmet capital gaps in underserved communities, women and minority-owned small businesses, municipalities experiencing underinvestment, housing and worker cooperatives, and community-scale climate investments.

HD2177 An Act to protect historic buildings from fire

This bill would establish a historic building fire prevention tax credit to be used toward the cost of the installation of a fire protection sprinkler system in a qualified historic structure. The credit allowed under this section shall be equal to 50 per cent of the costs incurred installing said system.

HD1697 An Act to establish a commission to study the distribution of unrestricted local aid

Co-filed with Rep. Vargas, this bill would establish a commission to study the ongoing equity problems with local aid distribution.

LABOR & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

HD1904 An Act relative to minimum wage for municipal employees

This bill would subject municipal contracts to the state minimum wage law, thereby ensuring that municipal workers cannot be paid at a rate lower than the Commonwealth’s minimum wage as is current practice in certain cities and towns.

HD3886 An Act relative to time and a half wages

This bill would bring back the premium employees are paid when they work on Sunday to one and one half.

HD4059 An Act relative to offshore wind

This bill would increase megawatts produced by offshore wind from 5,600 to 8,000 by 2026. It would also establish that 20% of an offshore wind proposal’s score must create and foster employment and economic development in the Commonwealth.

HD1918 An Act to create the department of marine fisheries resources

This bill would create a separate Department of Marine Fisheries Resources to provide greater focus on the experience of the commercial fishing industry including analyzing workforce conditions for fishermen, fish processors, and other shoreside industries; improving data collection; and advising the Governor of the potential impact of regulation on the fishing industry.

HD3879 An Act reforming labor rates paid by insurance companies to auto repairers in the Commonwealth

This bill would create within the Division of Insurance an auto body labor rate advisory board to address any issues related to auto body labor rates. The advisory board shall be responsible for compiling data pertaining to contracted hourly labor rates, posted hourly labor rates and prevailing hourly labor rates and any additional information the advisory board deems relevant, and the board shall make a recommendation for a fair and equitable labor rate. 

HD3990 An Act relative to commercial driver licensing

This bill would require that Commercial Driver Licensing tests be administered in Portuguese and Spanish as reasonable accommodation for limited-English speaking applicants for licenses to operate commercial motor vehicles, however this request shall not exempt an applicant from the requirement that the applicant demonstrate sufficient English language proficiency to converse with the general public, understand highway and traffic signs, respond to official inquiries and make reports and records.

CONSUMER PROTECTION & CHOICE

HD4043 Resolve Establishing a Commission to Better Protect Consumers in Massachusetts

This resolve would create a special commission to better protect consumers by studying and analyzing title insurance practices in Massachusetts, for the purpose of making recommendations for changes to State laws relating to title insurance practices and rates to better protect consumers in Massachusetts.

HD3947 An Act to reform title insurance

This bill would create a framework to regulate the business of title insurance; would create a commission to study the extent to which the business of title insurance requires reform; reviews the title insurance business in Iowa, where such products are sold through a state-owned entity. This bill would require title insurers to post their rates with the Division of Insurance; require written disclosure to consumers; and entitle consumers to a “basic rate” or a “re-issue rate” if it’s refinance.

HD2848 An Act relative to homeowners’ insurance

This bill would protect the consumer by making the insurance underwriting process more transparent and fair, and by requiring the use of hurricane models for Massachusetts, not models based on Florida’s weather history, through establishing a Center for Hurricane Research to develop hurricane models specific to our region. This bill would also increase installment payment options from six to ten.

HD3292 An Act to allow individual donations to countries vulnerable to climate change

This bill would create a voluntary donation box on a Massachusetts State Income Tax Form for individuals to contribute to the MA Vulnerable Countries Fund.

As a direct result of his advocacy, Rep. Cabral secured $430,000 in the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget for these local New Bedford programs:

  • $80,000 for youth programs at the Dennison Memorial Community Center
  • $75,000 for outreach and educational programming at AHA! Arts, History, & Architecture of New Bedford
  • $75,000 for citizenship education and workforce readiness programming at the Immigrants’ Assistance Center
  • $50,000 for opioid abuse treatment at the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center
  • $50,000 for programming at the Frederick Douglass House
  • $50,000 for the support of productions and programming at the Zeiterion, Inc.
  • $25,000 for the youth apprenticeship program at the New Bedford Festival Theatre
  • $25,000 for cultural educational programming at the Cape Verdean Association of New Bedford

As a cosponsor, Rep. Cabral also helped secure funding for these other local organizations:

  • $150,000 for water quality and natural resource monitoring for the Buzzards Bay Coalition
  • $100,000 for the peer-led juvenile diversion program Youth Court of New Bedford and Fall River
  • $50,000 for New Bedford Coastal Foodshed to address food insecurity and quality in our neighborhoods
  • $50,000 for the Greater New Bedford Opioid Task Force to continue efforts to support those fighting addiction

Rep. Cabral again secured $550,000 for UMass Dartmouth’s SMAST for groundfish fisheries research, an increase of $100,000 from FY22. Also, working with Senate colleagues, Rep. Cabral helped deliver $250,000 for the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture at UMass Dartmouth.

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