Senator O’Connor’s legislative platform aligns with the mission of PLAN, as he has been consistently working throughout his time in the State Senate to serve those with disabilities in helping to preserve assets, protect benefits, and to live well. Providing resources not just to those who are living with disabilities, but also ensuring that their family is taken care of, are aligning priorities that both PLAN and the Senator share.

Since being sworn in, Senator O’Connor has been advocating for those with developmental and intellectual disabilities. In 2016, the Joyce family made him aware of the abuse their son Dana was experiencing in his group home, which ignited the legislation that would be signed into law in March 2020, “Dana’s Law.” This law establishes a registry of individuals found to have committed abuse against those with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Group homes serving these populations would now be required to check the registry during the application process, and any individual on the registry would be barred from employment.

In 2019, Senator O’Connor co-hosted a panel with the MDDC to discuss the challenges and achievements regarding employment and accessibility for those living with disabilities, discussing strategies that will allow the Commonwealth to increase employment opportunities for those living with disabilities.

Some recent relevant active legislation that benefits the disabled community primarily sponsored by Senator O’Connor includes An Act to increase the safety of individuals with disabilities relying on life-support equipment, An Act relative to accommodating special needs students taking the MCAS examination, An Act creating a scholarship fund to increase the number of medical providers who are knowledgeable in autism, and An Act establishing tax credit for families caring for elderly relatives and victims of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Senator O’Connor has secured money in the Massachusetts Fiscal Year 2025 budget for the ARC of the South Shore Autism Resource Center, Raising Harts (an organization dedicated to supporting families with autistic and neurodiverse children), the SAIL Program (Supported Access to Independent Living, a new initiative based out of Scituate to create housing solutions for those who have IDD and/or autism and their families). The local organizations that Senator O’Connor has provided support for are of the utmost priority to him. Aiding those throughout the district he represents, beyond into the state of Massachusetts who have disabilities, and their families is what he is proudest of and will continue to make a top legislative priority.

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