OCTOBER 31, 2025 Senator Bill Driscoll Jr. (D-Milton)  joined 150+ legislative colleagues in a letter to President Trump urging that he reverse course and continue critical food assistance that many families depend on. Lawmakers are advocating for the use of available federal funds to continue SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) through the duration of the government shutdown. As defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, SNAP pro

OCTOBER 30, 2025 As part of Senate debate over the FY25 Supplemental Closeout Budget, Senator Bill Driscoll (D-Milton)  offered amendment #33 , which expands eligibility for Gateway Municipality status. The intention is to allow similarly situated communities to gain access to critical funding sources.  Currently for a municipality to be eligible for Gateway Municipality status it must: Have a population greater than 35,000 but less than 250,000 Have a median education attain

By Hallie Claflin at Commonwealth Beacon & Chris Lisinski A new bill would open the designation to more communities, including Boston and a town of less than 5,000 on Martha’s Vineyard IN 2017, the town of Randolph met two of the three criteria set in state law to qualify as a  Gateway City , a designation that comes with state funding opportunities. The community was just shy of the population requirement but had a median household income below the Commonwealth’s average an

OCTOBER 29, 2025 Through the Senate’s October 23, 2025 floor debate on the FY25 closeout budget, Senator Bill Driscoll Jr.’s (D-Milton) amendment #34  was included. The amendment instructs the MBTA, in consultation with the MBTA Advisory Board, to examine and offer recommendations to update the local MBTA Assessments on Cities and Towns. MBTA Assessments on Cities and Towns are the amount of money that local municipalities pay into the MBTA budget for MBTA service, and are di

Legislation requires no-cost products in schools and shelters, requires clear disclosure of ingredients OCTOBER 17, 2025 Yesterday, Senator Bill Driscoll Jr. (D-Milton) joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts Senate in unanimously passing a pair of bills that advance its commitment to health equity by promoting safe and easy access to menstrual products. One of the bills, S.2640 , expands access to necessary products like tampons and pads in public schools, homeless shelte

OCTOBER 15, 2025 The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced that they will be restarting the bidding process for 18 service plazas in Massachusetts. This is the latest development in an issue that the Office of Senator Driscoll has heard concerns about from many constituents in the past 3 months. Although this move to revisit the service plaza bidding process was perhaps not done fast enough, this reset is positive and will hopefully extend opportunity