On April 1, 2025, the Women’s Bar Association (WBA) of Massachusetts led by the WBA’s Legislative Policy Committee (LPC), hosted its 31st Annual Legislative Breakfast. The LPC was joined in the State House by legislators and their staff, WBA members and coalition partners for its presentation of the organization’s 2025-2026 legislative agenda. The annual breakfast serves as a platform for the WBA to advocate for its important legislative priorities. 

This year, the WBA awarded the 2025 Public Official of the Year Award to three legislators who were sponsors and key players in the passage of legislation that added “coercive control” to the definition of abuse under Chapter 209A (the abuse prevention statute) in the Commonwealth last session. The WBA was honored to award Representative Tram Nguyen, Representative Natalie Higgins, and Senator Michael Moore for their advocacy for domestic abuse survivors. At the breakfast, Representative Nguyen, Higgins, and Senator Moore thanked survivors for sharing their stories and making an impact – and noted the importance of this bill in building a Commonwealth that uplifts and protects women and girls. All three legislators advocated for a continued push to provide ongoing support to survivors as the update in the law is implemented.  

The WBA’s 2025 Legislative Priorities 

Several notable speakers in attendance also voiced their support for the WBA’s 2025 legislative priorities:  

• Immediate Past-President of the WBA, Alexandra Mitropoulos touched on the WBA’s 2024 legislative and budgetary accomplishments before the organization’s new priorities were unveiled. She discussed the success of the Equal Justice Coalition obtaining $51 million for civil legal aid funding, an increase in cash assistance, the passage of salary range transparency and Medicaid coverage for doula services in the Commonwealth.  Allie also noted the success of supported legislation, including access to early education and child development, access to counsel for housing stability, and legislation which added “coercive control” as a form of domestic abuse.  

• Incoming WBA President Julie Dick Palmer discussed the WBA’s 2025 legislative priorities, including the importance of advocacy provided the current environment in the United States – stressing the need for codified access to abortion, protections for the immigrant community, employment protections for abuse survivors, civil legal aid funding, access to doula services, and access to cash assistance for families in need.  
  
  “Given the current climate in our nation, now more than ever it is imperative that we work together to advance an equitable and just society through our state legislature. The WBA is not just on Beacon Hill advocating for its members, but for all constituents of the Commonwealth. I urge everyone to engage in advocacy for causes that you believe in, contact your legislators, and influence change for the better,” stated WBA President Julie Dick Palmer. 

• Sheila Ramirez, Director of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts touched on the necessity of An Act Enhancing Abortion Care, S.1244, H.1815, and An Act Relative to Abortion Care for Young People, H.1991. Noting recent Executive Branch cuts to Title X across the United States, Sheila stressed that it is more important now than ever to lift restrictions on abortion access by passing this important legislation. Sheila noted key examples that restrictions on abortion access, due to requirements for parental consent or judicial bypass for minors under 15 years of age face, including but not limited to economic disparities, transportation obstacles, confidentiality concerns, and fear for safety.  

• April Jennison, Executive Director of the Coalition for Social Justice on Deep Poverty spoke of the impact that An Act to Lift Kids Out of Deep Poverty, S.118, H.214 has on families in the Commonwealth, discussing her personal story from her childhood and single motherhood. April championed cash assistance by describing how, as a child, her parents often opted to skip meals in order to feed their children, that clean clothes were a luxury, and that – later in life – as a single mother with a child with chronic health concerns, she relied on cash assistance to care for her child. In closing, April stated, “No one should have to make impossible choices between food, heat, and rent” and described cash assistance as not just an economic issue, but a moral one.  

• Senator Jamie Eldridge spoke on An Act to Protect the Civil Rights and Safety of All Massachusetts Residents, S.1681, H.2580, a piece of legislation that could not be more important in our country’s current climate. Recounting a constituent’s story from Immigrant’s Day, Senator Eldridge described an incident of racial profiling in which a constituent was taken into custody by ICE despite being documented. The Safe Communities Act would prevent local law enforcement and sheriff’s departments from contracting with ICE to act as local immigration agents. The bill would ultimately protect immigrants, documented or not, from being taken into custody without due process, and would stress the need for representation of counsel as the key difference in deportation vs. remaining in the United States with their families.  

LPC co-chair, Krina Patel, also highlighted the WBA’s additional supported legislation, including menopause awareness, access to free menstrual products, the Location Shield Act, protections for victims of economic abuse and automatic sealing of criminal records in certain situations.