School Readiness Program; Revising the criteria for a child to receive priority for participation in the school readiness program; providing requirements for a school readiness program provider to be eligible to receive specified funding, etc.
Art Therapy; Citing this act as the “Professional Art Therapist Licensure Act”; defining the term “professional art therapist”; requiring the appointment of licensed practicing professional art therapists to the Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling; requiring the Department of Health to license professional art therapists and register art therapist interns if they meet specified requirements; requiring the board or department to adopt rules establishing requirements for the annual renewal of professional art therapist licenses and art therapist intern registrations, etc.
Required Instruction in the History of African Americans; Prohibiting specified instruction and state academic standards from indicating or implying that an enslaved person benefited from slavery or the enslavement experience in any way, etc.
Affordable Housing; Requiring, rather than authorizing, inclusionary housing ordinances to require developers to provide a specified number or percentage of affordable housing units, etc.
Lowell Correctional Institution Body Cameras Pilot Program; Creating the pilot program within the Department of Corrections; requiring that each correctional officer working at the Lowell Correctional Institution wear a body camera while acting within the scope of his or her official duties; requiring the department to establish policies and procedures for the proper use, maintenance, and storage of such body cameras and for data recorded by such body cameras; requiring that audio and video data recorded by such cameras be maintained in accordance with public records laws, etc.
Pregnant Women in Custody; Citing this act as "Ava’s Law"; requiring that, upon her request, every female arrested and not released on bond within 72 hours after arrest be administered a pregnancy test within a specified timeframe; requiring each municipal detention facility or county detention facility to notify each arrested female upon booking at the facility of her right to request a pregnancy test; authorizing a sentencing court to stay the beginning of the period of incarceration for up to a certain amount of time for a pregnant woman convicted of any offense; authorizing a judge to impose specified sanctions for another criminal conviction or a violation of the terms and conditions ordered by the judge, etc.
Cannabis Offenses; Reducing criminal penalties for a first, second, or third violation if the offense is the possession of 20 grams or less of cannabis; prohibiting the possession of any drug paraphernalia discovered in connection with and intended for use with such violations from being considered a criminal act or being prosecuted as such, etc.
School Readiness Program; Revising the definition of the term “economically disadvantaged” for purposes of the school readiness program, etc.
Use or Threatened Use of Force; Citing this act as the "Self-Defense Restoration Act"; deleting provisions stating that persons who use or threaten to use force, other than deadly force, do not have a duty to retreat before using or threatening to use such force in defense of persons or property, respectively; prohibiting the use of deadly force by a person who knows that he or she can avoid the necessity of using deadly force with complete safety by retreating; deleting provisions stating that a person using or threatening to use deadly force does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground under certain circumstances, etc.
Educator Certifications and Training; Revising the core curricula for certain teacher preparation programs to include training relating to mass casualty incidents; revising the certified educator eligibility criteria to require such persons to receive training in mass casualty incidents; requiring the Department of Education to develop a list of approved trainings relating to mass casualty incidents, etc.
