Representative Cabral filed 42 bills in the 194th legislative session, some of which are highlighted below. For the latest updates on all of his legislation, please click here.
EDUCATION, YOUTH, & FAMILIES
H.519 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.520 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.525 An Act related to high school graduation
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.524 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.207 An Act establishing basic needs assistance 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.1599 An Act for the Youth Court 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.2574 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.522 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.3302 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
H.2575 An Act relative to administering state and local agreements
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.
H.3299 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.
H.3301 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.
GATEWAY CITIES, MUNICIPALITIES, & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
H.3039 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.
H.3631 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.
H.3038 An Act to establish a downtown vitality fund to strengthen local business districts and main streets
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.
H.1114 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.
H.297 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.
H.2252 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
H.115 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.
H.2072 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.
H.2071 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.
H.3454 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.
CONSUMER PROTECTION & CHOICE
H.1099 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.
H.1097 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.
H.3037 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.