Western Massachusetts legislators appointed to conference committee assembled to advance Holyoke Soldiers’ Home governance reforms
Stephanie Barry | MassLive | March 21, 2022
BOSTON — Two Western Massachusetts legislators have been appointed to a committee that will iron out differences in dueling House and Senate bills to streamline governance and improve oversight of the soldiers’ homes in Holyoke and Chelsea.
State Rep. Joseph Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat, and state Sen. John Velis, a Democrat from Westfield, were named to the joint conference committee Monday.
The House and Senate must agree on one version of the bill and vote on before it advances to the governor’s desk for approval.
The soldiers’ homes — primarily the long-term care facility for elderly veterans in Holyoke — have taken center stage in the state Legislature after they were particularly hard hit with COVID-19 deaths in 2020.
The Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke saw a staggering 78 deaths that spring, while Chelsea lost 38 veterans to the virus. Beyond the death toll, renewed scrutiny of the state-run homes revealed systemic failures at the ground level of staffing and through the ranks of Beacon Hill.
The legislature and Gov. Charlie Baker already hustled through a $600 million bond bill, with $400 million of that earmarked for a new, state-of-the-art facility in Holyoke and the rest to bolster veterans’ services across the state. The governance bill is designed to reform a chain of command that advocates for the homes said have weighed down the facilities to the detriment of veterans, families and a commonsense approach to management.
“It is absolutely paramount that we get these reforms right, for all the Veterans who tragically passed away at our Commonwealth’s Soldiers’ Homes during the Spring of 2020 and for all the future Veterans who will (reside) in these homes for the years to come,” said Velis, who also chairs the Legislature’s Veterans’ and Federal Affairs Committee. “We passed a really great bill in the Senate that institutes a clear chain of command and maintains power at the local level.”
The Senate advanced its version by a vote of 39-0 on March 10. The House passed its version 156-1 in February.
Key differences in the bills include debating local versus statewide oversight committees, whether to require certain licensures for its superintendents and how to best serve veterans in all pockets of the commonwealth.
“I’m honored by this appointment and look forward to working with my colleagues to advance this legislation into law during the current session,” said Wagner.
“The unimaginable loss of life at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke served to highlight not only the fault lines relating to an antiquated facility, but also an archaic governance structure and the need for veterans’ housing and programming across regions of our state. Massachusetts’ more than 300,000 veterans deserve the greatest level of care and services, with dignity and honor, in their later years of life,” he said.
Also named to the conference committee were Reps. Paul McMurtry and David DeCoste, Sen. Michael Rush and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, according to the State House News Service.