BOSTON – A measure ensuring access to restrooms and other public facilities for transgender people, known to some as the Bathroom Bill, won the backing of Speaker Robert DeLeo Tuesday, although the leader of the House of Representatives said a vote on the bill may not occur until 2016, if at all.
The measure would bar discrimination against transgender people's access to restrooms and school locker rooms based on their sexual identification rather than their physical makeup. Both bills would expand a 2011 anti-discrimination law. DeLeo (D-Winthrop) told reporters most lawmakers want more information on the proposal before they will feel ready to vote on it, according to the State House News Service.
BOSTON – Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday took the first steps toward reforming the troubled Department of Children and Families with measures to improve client-tracking procedures and to ensure that social workers don't miss warning signs of abuse or neglect.
Baker's actions came several months after the body of Bella Bond, a toddler, was found on Deer Island in Boston Harbor. An independent probe later faulted the child welfare agency for failing to help the little girl in 2013.
