BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday signed the supplemental spending bill she first filed in early April, including the Legislature’s addition of a take-it-or-leave-it pay raise proposal for bar advocates who have been refusing to take court-appointed cases.
Also included in the new law is $60 million to fund home care services for older adults, nearly $43 million for the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition program, $28.9 million for settlements and judgments, and $15.5 million to help the Department of Transitional Assistance roll out electronic benefits transfer chip cards.
The $259 million midyear budget did not include investments in legal representation for indigent defendants when the governor filed it, but a work stoppage among private attorneys who take cases as bar advocates has since led some criminal defendants to have charges against them dropped. House and Senate negotiators added the proposal just before final votes last week.
The new law seeks to address the work stoppage in two ways. First, it would provide bar advocates with a $20-an-hour raise over two years (compared to the $60-an-hour raise that some bar advocates are seeking over two years). It also includes $40 million for the Committee for Public Counsel Services to hire about 320 additional public defenders, eliminating the need for as many independent contractor bar advocates.
Many bar advocates, a group that has accounted for as much as 80% of the public defense work in Massachusetts courts, have said the $20-an-hour raise is inadequate.
“You know, $20 over two years is a lot of money. The concern that I have is that I haven’t heard from any bar advocates who told me that they will go back, given that they’re going to get an additional $10 this year,” Mara Dolan, a member of the Governor’s Council who has also worked as a bar advocate, said Sunday in an interview on NBC 10 Boston.
She added, “The momentum has a life of its own. So whether $10 an hour this year and $10 an hour next year is enough remains to be seen. If it isn’t, then we will continue to have people coming to court arraigned on charges and don’t have counsel to represent them.”
The law also enshrines a new policy requiring that private bar advocates sign biannual contracts with CPCS to establish minimum coverage and availability, and includes language that would consider any agreement between private bar advocates who refuse to compete for or accept new assignments unless rates are increased as evidence of a violation of the state’s antitrust laws.
“Together, we hope that these initiatives will lead to most reasonable private bar advocates returning to work,” House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz said last week as he laid out the full proposal and also made clear that the legislative leaders are unhappy with the way bar advocates have handled the situation.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2025 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
