The Arc of Massachusetts is celebrating two of our priority bills that have passed through the FY23 budget: Higher Education Opportunities for people with IDD and autism (MAICEI) and the Disability Commission to study the history of state institutions.
Thank you to The Arc community for helping to advocate for these bills and then for their amendments to the FY23 budget. These amendments were accepted and funded appropriately through the Conference Committee. This means these major policy initiatives have essentially passed, and we are just waiting the Governor’s signature.
The Arc is grateful to our sponsors of the Higher Education bill, Representative Sean Garballey, Representative Pat Haddad, and Senator Joan Lovely.
These champions have been dedicated for many sessions to supporting the legislation which brings higher education opportunities to anyone with an intellectual or developmental disability.
This session, Representative Garballey also took on the mission of supporting the Disability Commission bill as a sponsor. Senator Mike Barrett is our Senate sponsor and a strong advocate for the need to create a first of its kind, disability led commission to tell the history of the era of institutionalization in Massachusetts.
Senator Barrett filed the Disability Commission bill as an amendment to the budget. Because of your help and the work of The Arc team and the coalition led by Alex Green, this important commission will come to fruition.
To learn more about these important, soon to be laws, please contact Maura Sullivan at sullivan@arcmass.org.
