THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, March 8, 2024 Page 17 Malden High coed swim team makes it two in a row at GBL Championship Meet ‘Get Those DUCKIES!’: Tornados Chou, Wang, Tran, Yip, Pham, Zeng and Santos pile up the wins at event GBL CHAMPS TEAM: Members of the GBL Championship Meet winners assemble after the big victory. GBL CHAMPS CHEER: Malden celebrates the GBL Championship Meet win with a team cheer. (All Photos Courtesy/Win Yin Lam) THE WINNERS! All of the event winners get together and display their big collection of winning “Duckies.” From left to right are Joyce Zhou, Yinje Wang, Kevin Lin, Sophie Tran, Kevin Yip, Hailey Tran, Tiffany Pham, Gordon Zeng and Joao Santos. Beacon Hill Roll Call By Bob Katzen GET A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO MASSTERLIST – Join more than 22,000 people, from movers and shakers to political junkies and interested citizens, who start their weekday morning with MASSterList—the popular newsletter that chronicles news and informed analysis about what’s going on up on Beacon Hill, in Massachusetts politics, policy, media and influence. The stories are drawn from major news organizations as well as specialized publications. MASSterlist will be e-mailed to you FREE every Monday through Friday morning and will give you a leg up on what’s happening in the blood sport of Bay State politics. For more information and to get your free subscription, go to: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/aPTLucK THE HOUSE AND SENATE: Beacon Hill Roll Call records local representatives’ votes on one roll call from the week of February 26-March 1. There were no roll calls in the Senate last week. USE INTEREST FROM STATE’S “RAIN DAY FUND” TO LEVERAGE FEDERAL FUNDS (H 4446) House 154-0, approved a bill that would leverage the interest from the state's Rainy Day Fund to better compete for federal dollars, to ensure the state receives the maximum possible share of federal funds and to pay down the state’s long term debt liabilities. The Rainy Day Fund currently has a historic balance of $8.2 billion. The Senate already approved a different version of the bill in January. A House-Senate conference committee will likely hammer out a compromise version. “This legislation expands our commonwealth’s competitive edge as we compete for federal funds and pay down our debt obligations,” said Rep. Jack Lewis (D-Framingham), chair of the House Committee on Federal Stimulus and Census Oversight Committee. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act, all contain time-sensitive opportunities for our commonwealth and our local communities -- opportunities that require us to have matching resources available. The passage of this bill today ensures that we can properly compete for all available federal funds. “Ensuring that the commonwealth is able to aggressively compete for the federal funding being made available to states is critical, especially given the challenging revenue conditions that we are facing here in Massachusetts this fiscal year,” said House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy). “It’s vital that Massachusetts does everything that it can to share in that prosperity.” (A “Yes” vote is for the bill.) Rep. Paul Donato Yes Rep. Steven Ultrino Yes ALSO UP ON BEACON HILL SEX EDUCATION (S 2686) - Senate approved, on a voice vote without a roll call, and sent to the House legislation that would require that all public schools offering a compreMORE ‘DUCKIES’: Joao Santos and Joyce Chou celebrate with more event win “Duckies.” hensive sexual health education curriculum “provide medically accurate, age-appropriate sexual health education.” The Senate has approved the bill four times in the past including a 38-1 vote by which it passed in 2023. Each time the measure died from inaction by the House. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) in September adopted updated revisions to local sex education rules that are in line with the changes sought under the Senate bill. Sen. Sal DiDomenico, the sponsor of the bill, said he supports the revisions adopted by the board, with the backing of Gov. Maura Healey, but noted they are “guidelines and suggestions only." "The [bill] turns them into a minimum standard," said DiDomenico. "It gives teeth to frameworks, and ensures kids aren't receiving inaccurate and harmful information.This prevents bad stuff from being taught in our schools." The bill’s prospects for passage in the House do not look promising this year, given the remarks by House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy) last week. "Given that it has been less than a year since BESE adopted the new guidelines, it is important that we give school districts adequate time to implement them, rather than rush to potentially amend or codify them into law," said Mariano. Under current law, public schools are not required to teach sex education and the bill does not change that but rather mandates that any schools that choose to teach sex education are required to follow a curriculum, based on age, that includes human anatomy, reproduction and sexual development; the benefits of abstinence and delaying sexual activity; the importance of effectively using contraceptives to prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDS; ways to effectively discuss safe sexual activity; relationship and communication skills to form healthy, respectful relationships free of violence, coercion and intimidation; and information about gender identity and BHRC| SEE PAGE 18
18 Publizr Home