AMENDMENTS TO HARD-WIRE FOR SAFETY
Even if you set aside thousands of studies showing wireless harms wildlife, wireless is a known security risk.
We need legislators, in the very brief time available now before the session for major bills ends on 31 July 2022, to propose the below amendments to wire broadband and telecommunications in nursing homes, soldier’s homes, schools, colleges, etc. If not, to give support for these changes next year.
Any or all of these amendments could be proposed to any bill — please contact us if doing so.
AMENDMENTS
WIRED INVESTMENTS AT MA BROADBAND INSTITUTE
Section 6B of Chapter 40J of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking ‘”Broadband”, high-speed internet access, including wireless internet access, and as may be further defined by the board’ and inserting thereof the following:-
“”Broadband”, only hard-wired and non-powerline internet access of a speed geographically appropriate to actual residential, government, and, where deemed beneficial to the Commonwealth including local interests, to commercial needs”
Section 6B subsection (d) of Chapter 40J of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking ”This broadband infrastructure shall include, but not be limited to, conduit, fiber and towers” and inserting thereof the following:-
“The broadband infrastructure investments shall include conduit and fiber, but shall not include wireless components except and exclusively for necessary emergency services of first responders”
Section 6B subsection (e) of Chapter 40J of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking ‘Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the corporation shall have the power to develop, lease or otherwise acquire, own, hold, dispose of and encumber conduit, fiber, towers and other real and personal property related to broadband infrastructure that shall be necessary or convenient to the fulfillment of such purposes.’ and inserting thereof the following:-
“Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the corporation shall have the power to develop, lease or otherwise acquire, own, hold, dispose of and encumber conduit, fiber, and other real and personal property related to broadband infrastructure that shall be necessary or convenient to the fulfillment of such purposes, with the caveat investments shall not be made in wireless properties or equipment except as necessary for emergency services by first responders, and if other wireless investments exist these shall be disposed of promptly through sale or through reconfiguration as wired property.”
SAFETY & SECURITY PURPOSE AT MA BROADBAND INSTITUTE
Section 6B subsection (a) of Chapter 40J of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the last sentence the following sentence:
”Safe broadband access”, broadband access which minimizes security risks and non-ionizing radiation, the latter through hard-wired connectivity using equipment with minimal leakage and with filtering to prevent any power quality disturbance.
Section 6B of Chapter 40J of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking the last sentence of subsection (b) “The first priority of the institute shall be to assess and improve conditions in the commonwealth’s communities that have no broadband access.” and inserting thereof the following:
“The first priority of the institute shall be to assess and improve safe broadband access, beginning in the commonwealth’s communities that lack or have little access.”
Section 6B subsection (b) of Chapter 40J of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking clause (i) “(i) assessing and improving broadband access conditions in communities that have no access or have limited or insufficient access to broadband;” and inserting thereof the following:-
“(i) assessing and improving safe broadband access conditions, beginning in communities that lack or have limited access to safe broadband;
Section 6B subsection (b) of Chapter 40J of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the second word in clause (ii) the following word:-
“safe”
PROMOTE WIRES AT MA OFFICE BIZ DEVELOPMENT (MOBD)
Section 3 of Chapter 23A of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking the first sentence of subsection (a) “MOBD shall contain the following 4 divisions: business services, entrepreneurial and small business development, wireless and broadband development and manufacturing development.” and inserting in place the following subsection:-
“MOBD shall contain the following 4 divisions: business services, entrepreneurial and small business development, wired telecommunications and broadband development, and manufacturing development.”
Section 3 of Chapter 23A of the General Laws is hereby amended by replacing “wireless” in every instance occurring and inserting in place the following word:-
“wired, non-powerline”
Section 3 of Chapter 23A of the General Laws is hereby amended by replacing “cellular” in every instance occurring and inserting in place the following word:-
“telecommunications”
Section 3 of Chapter 23A of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking the words “, including, but not limited to, wireless technologies” in paragraph (12) of subsection (b).
USE WIRES ON PUBLIC LAND
Section 63 of Chapter 23A of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence of subsection (b) the following sentence:-
“Broadband and telecommunications eligible public infrastructure projects authorized by clause (i) of subsection (a) located on public land or on public leasehold, right-of-way or easement must minimize non-ionizing radiation by design, including but not limited to non-powerline wired transmissions and careful choice of connectors.”
WIRE PUBLIC LIBRARIES
Section 19G of Chapter 78 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence the following sentence:-
“The board of library commissioners shall, subject to appropriation, also establish and administer a program of state assistance to cities and towns in the planning, design, construction and reconstruction of safer wired, non-powerline broadband and telecommunications services to be used by public library staff and patrons.”
WIRING POLICY AT EXECUTIVE OFFICES & AGENCIES
Section 2 of Chapter 7D of the General Laws as appearing in the Official
2021 Edition is hereby amended by inserting after the second sentence the following sentence:-
“The executive office of information technology and security shall recommend and support throughout all executive offices and agencies safer broadband access, choosing hard-wired non-powerline connectivity, power quality filtration, and connectors and other equipment with minimal leakage of non-ionizing radiation.”
Section 3 of Chapter 7D of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking clause (xii) “(xii) adapt standards as necessary for individual agencies to comply with federal law; and” and inserting in place the following:-
“(xii) adapt standards as necessary for individual agencies to comply with state and federal law; and”
HARD-WIRE PUBLIC EDUCATION
Chapter 15A of the General Laws as appearing in the Official 2021 Edition is amended by striking section 3A and inserting in place the following section:-
“Section 3A. (a) The secretary of education shall with the relevant boards, departments, administrators and agencies coordinate a plan to safely hard-wire public education facilities and support safer use of technology. The plan shall be referred to as safer edTech, or SET, and incorporate the following goals:
(1) establishing a hard-wired, non-powerline telecommunications and broadband system with minimal electromagnetic emissions within public schools, colleges, and university campuses;
(2) facilitating implementation of statewide training and educational materials for educators, relevant staff and administrators to clarify relevant laws, duties, and best technology practices for privacy and health;
(3) facilitating rapid adoption of interim best technology practices for privacy and health;
(4) facilitating the revision of statewide educational technology and data collection requirements in elementary, secondary, and higher education to foster health and privacy and minimize risks; and
(5) identifying relevant state and federal laws which interfere with best practices for privacy and health, including questionable requirements for technology use.
(b) For the purposes of this section, SET shall be broadly construed to include, but not be limited to, programs, courses, and capital expenditures including computer hardware and software, networks, television, fiber optics cable, calculators and video and audio tapes.
(c) Subject to appropriation, SET funds may provide grants to public universities, colleges, schools and school districts for the purposes of purchasing the equipment and other materials necessary for SET implementation. The secretary and the board of elementary and secondary education along with the board of higher education may establish such advisory groups or committees as deemed necessary for SET development and implementation, and shall insure members are independent of conflicts of interest regarding data collection, wireless connectivity, technology sales and other financial gain.
(d) The commissioner shall annually provide to the legislature a report on the status, progress, and financial needs of SET.”
WIRE PUBLIC HOUSING AUTHORITY POWERS
Section 26 of Chapter 7D of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting a new subsection (p) and re-lettering the previous subsection (p) as (q) as follows:-
“(p) to require new housing projects include reliable hard-wired, non-powerline broadband and telecommunications access designed to minimize electromagnetic exposures and loss of service; set policies to limit electromagnetic exposures in existing housing from all equipment and appliances; and where existing housing projects lack reliable and hard-wired access, support reconfiguration; and
(q)”
WIRE NURSING HOMES
Chapter 111 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 72BB the following new section:-
“Section 72CC. (a) Each convalescent and nursing home, infirmary maintained in towns, rest home, charitable home for the aged, and intermediate care facility for the intellectually disabled shall limit electromagnetic exposures by safely hard-wiring broadband and telecommunications services, without the use of powerline connectivity, and by establishing policies to limit exposures from other sources.
(b) The department shall facilitate staff and administrative training and educational materials to support the provisions of this section.
(c) The department shall promulgate regulations under this section and may allow in such regulations extensions of time for certain homes and long-term care facilities which the department shall find to be in hardship if the provisions of this section are implemented forthwith.”
Section 72D of Chapter 111 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking the first sentence and replacing it as follows:-
“Every nursing home, rest home, and long-term care facility shall provide hard-wired non-powerline telephone access for the use of the residents.”
WIRE MEDICAL FACILITIES SAFELY
Chapter 12C, as appearing in the General Laws of the 2021 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding after section 14 the following section:-
Section 14A. (a) Irrespective of all other recommendations for a standard quality measure set as listed in section 14 of this chapter, with regard to every health care provider facility, medical group, and provider group the following shall be required state-wide assessments as part of the standard quality control sets.
(1) Safely hard-wire broadband and telecommunications services, without the use of powerline connectivity, to minimize electromagnetic exposures;
(2) Choose equipment, including connectors and filters, to minimize power quality disturbances and leakage of electromagnetic frequencies;
(3) Minimize use of medical devices and equipment which lead to radiation exposures when optional or accessory to the medical purpose;
(4) Set facility-wide policies and signage for adoption of best practices to reduce radiation exposures;
(5) Promote access to natural lighting and, where artificial lighting and computer screens are used, prefer lighting options least disruptive to circadian rhythms.
(b) The department shall promulgate regulations under this section and may allow in such regulations extensions of time for facilities which the department shall find to be in hardship if the provisions of this section are implemented forthwith.”
SAFELY WIRE SOLDIER’S HOMES
Chapter 115A is hereby amended by adding the following section:-
“The office of veterans’ homes and housing and also the trustees of Soldier’s Homes in Holyoke and in Massachusetts shall establish policies, recommendations and regulations to limit artificial electromagnetic exposures of a non-medical nature.
Minimum requirements shall include safely hard-wiring, without the use of powerline connectivity, telecommunications and broadband services; using filters and careful purchases to avoid power quality disturbances and wireless transmissions including leakage; and establishing policies to limit exposures from all other sources.”