Looking ahead, 2021 is full of promise. The legislative session is underway. We took our first two votes this Wednesday. First was to extend the House emergency pandemic rules so we can conduct legislative business through 7/31/2021. Second was to vote to enact The Next Generation Roadmap. The bill is now on the Governor's desk. We continue to be busy working closely with our local municipalities to secure vaccines for our communities. As always, constituent services are our top priority. We continue to work remotely and our office is fully functioning. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance.

If you’re now eligible, you can visit www.mass.gov/COVIDVaccine to schedule an appointment.

Be sure to check with your local town, too. Cohasset, Hingham, and Hull have only line registration pages to administer the vaccine to local residents.

You can also use this link to the COVID-19 vaccine map to find the closest vaccination centers and schedule an appointment.

The Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism has opened the Travel and Tourism Recovery Grant Program. This program contains one million dollars, provided by the Tourism Trust Fund, dedicated to marketing projects that support the My Local MA campaign, enhance tourism recovery, and have the potential to increase non-resident visitation.

The Regional Pilot Project Grant Program promotes regional recovery from the economic impacts of the 2019 novel coronavirus through partnerships. Funded with the support of the FY21 Budget appropriation, the program is open to municipalities, public entities, or exempt 501(c) organizations. The goal of this program is for municipalities and organizations to work together to create solutions for recovery in their specific economies. 

The Festivals Program provides $500 awards to festivals taking place between March 1st and August 31st, 2021. These awards help festivals programmers meet the needs of producing, promoting, and developing festival audiences. In this round, festival producers may apply for a grant to support producing an on-line or in-person festival or for audience development and engagement activities. There will be an informational session held virtually for prospective applicants on February 4th. 

Residents who need to buy health insurance will now have until March 23 to get coverage through the Massachusetts Health Connector's open enrollment period. Open enrollment was originally scheduled to end last Saturday, January 23. The two-month extension will give people, particularly those harmed economically by the COVID-19 pandemic, extra time to make sure they are covered. Click here to begin the enrollment process.

On Monday, Massachusetts announced the launch of a pilot COVID-19 testing program dedicated to providing on-demand PCR testing to child care providers and the families they serve to ensure easy access to testing when there is suspected COVID-19 exposure. 

In addition, the Department of Early Education and Care is dedicating $8 million in state and federal funds to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) to distribute to child care providers at no cost. Child care providers will be able to order up to a one-month supply of PPE, including masks for children and adults, gloves, hand sanitizer, and other supplies.

We continue to hold office hours via Zoom! Please call the office at 617-722-2320 or email to reserve a time slot in the new year:

To learn more about our constituent services, please visit our website.