Author: Hilary Garivaltis

It was the week leading up to Martin Luther King Day at the State House. And HFAMA volunteers Clark Reddick, Deb Fox and Anne Fish turned to Martin Luther King for inspiration as they walked the halls to drum up support for S665/H3660 to achieve our dream of health freedom. Meeting with numerous representatives and senators, they universally met with strong support and achieved commitments from an additional 4 legislators to support the legislation.

The bill is due out of the Joint Committee for Public Health on February 5. From there it may move quickly to a floor vote.

Where our prior efforts have been focused on educating Public Health committee members about the act, our efforts now turn to legislators who may not be familiar with the legislation. With only a few weeks before the bill emerges from committee, our dedicated core of volunteers is redoubling its efforts to achieve our dream of making Massachusetts the 12th state in the union to pass health freedom.

If you haven’t already done so, please contact your state senator and representative today to ask them to support this bill when it is very likely to come up for a vote this spring. Find your legislators here:
https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator

Co-Chairs John Mahoney and Jo Comerford (pictured right) take notes as Kim Valeri Povey testifies.

On November 19, 2019 over 12 months of work culminated in a public hearing on H3660/S665, The Massachusetts Consumer Access and Right to Practice Complementary and Alternative Health Care Act, as reaction to the bill was heard by the Joint Committee on Public Health.

Rep. Donald Wong introduced the bill accompanied by two MDs and a chiropractor who all underscored the need for safe harbor for unlicensed holistic health practitioners.

An additional 34 individuals who had traveled from all corners of the state spoke out in support of the bill while not a single voice was raised in opposition.

The bill now moves into an executive session where we hope it will be favorably passed quickly out of the committee and sent to the floor for a vote.

S665/H3660 remains in the Joint Committee on Public Health, where it is expected to receive a hearing in the fall. We are preparing for this important date by collecting more testimony (see June 3 post below for details). If you have not yet sent in your testimony, please send it today to carol@spiritofchange.org.  To pass this bill, we urgently need first-person accounts of why health freedom matters.  Share your stories of how holistic health has helped you and your clients.  Implore your legislators to enact this bill to ensure this most basic freedom – the right to safeguard and access holistic health practitioners.

Currently, 26 legislators have signed on as sponsors of this bill, and we expect to add more as the hearing date approaches. Legislators continue to respond positively during all lobbying efforts, easily grasping the common sense, no-cost benefits to consumers and practitioners the bill provides, while preserving health freedom options for Massachusetts residents. Maine’s passage of a similar safe harbor practitioner exemption law last month serves as further confirmation to legislators about the rationale and need for the passage of the bill in this state.

Our Senate bill continues to attract new co-sponsors (House rules limit the co-sponsorship period of House bills to one week which closed in April).  Rep. Michael Soter signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill as we prepped for our Rally Day on April 11.  As activists for the bill made the rounds of the State House and met with their legislators, Rep. Patrick O’Connor was also persuaded to add his name as a co-sponsor.  But it was Rep. Sean Garballey who got the ball rolling in the early days of our bill when he became an endorser of the bill in January.

As a final spring push for our bill, April 25 was scheduled for our final rally day of the season.  It proved to be our third and most successful rally day.  Twenty-one activists joined three committee members gathered that day to gin up support for our health freedom bill.  While five groups spread out across the State House to meet with legislators from around the state, a small group broke off for a photo opportunity at the rostrum of the famous Senate Chambers with the latest co-signer of the bill, Sen. Patrick O’Connor.

April 11 marked our second rally day around our bill, An Act providing for consumer access to and the right to practice complementary and alternative health care services.  As supporters from across the state gathered to strategize prior to walking the halls of the State House, our spirits were buoyed by the announcement that Rep. Michael Soter would sign on as a co-sponsor of the Senate bill.  Energized by the news, the attendees split into groups to meet with legislators throughout the State House.  Also encouraging were the comments received from Senator Jo Comerford’s staff that they had received numerous letters on the issue.  Welcoming news indeed since she chairs the Joint Committee on Public Health where the bill is now being reviewed.  Thank you to everyone who continues to voice support for health freedom.  Your calls, letters and visits are making a difference.