Passage of this piece is critical, as noncompliance with the law will subject the Commonwealth to a loss of valuable federal grant funding.

Patrick wrapped the other restrictions around the federal compliance/grant funding lollipop, giving it much more chance of passage if the state legislators claim that they’re doing it to receive additional federal funds.

The bill has to be rewritten. I am urging everyone I talk to to express their opposition to it in its current form and if the State is interested in complying with the federal regulations, craft a narrowly-targeted bill that will do that, instead of what this one does.