In the Massachusetts House session on Monday, December 16, State Representative Kay Khan and State Representative Ruth Balser bade farewell to their colleagues. They have been among the longest-serving members of the Massachusetts House and have represented almost all of Newton. They joined fourteen of their retiring colleagues in delivering farewell addresses. Voters in the 11th Middlesex District have sent Rep. Khan to the State House fifteen times, and voters in the 12th Middlesex District have sent Rep. Balser to office thirteen times.
Before running for the Legislature, Rep. Balser was a member of the Newton Board of Alderman for eight years, where she and State Senator Cynthia Creem represented Ward 8 and both began serving in the Massachusetts House and Senate in 1999. Both State Representatives determined independently that this would be their last term on Beacon Hill.
Their farewell addresses underscored their previous careers as mental health professionals; revealed their similarity of heritage motivating their State House mission; and highlighted the parallels in legislative agendas. Both paid tribute to their remarkable partnership, which has included Senator Creem, who is Senate Majority Leader, and both noted their own Legislative leadership roles.
The Sixteen House members assembled in the House to deliver farewell speeches to their colleagues in reverse order of seniority, with Rep. Khan the second-longest member,and Rep. Balser third to last.
Rep. Balser’s Address
In her address (see video), Rep. Balser explained that her move from Clinical Psychologist — the Legislature’s first — to “a midlife career change” was the result of her childhood in a Jewish home with parents who directed their children to be sure nothing like the Holocaust “ever happened again.” In high school, Rep. Balser took part in civil rights marches, and in college she joined marches for peace in Southeast Asia. As an adult, she was part of the women’s liberation movement and a supporter of the gay rights movement.
The Legislature took her off the streets and gave her a venue for proposing and pushing for laws that protect people. As a mental health professional, she helped individuals address their problems. In the Legislature, through a wide range of legislative initiatives, she has been able to help individuals as well as thousands of people. For example, she noted that her amendment to protect mental health was included in the universal health care bill and that she has led the effort to decriminalize mental illness and addiction and consider these problems under health care.
Another of her legislative accomplishments is abolishing the practice whereby women were charged more for insurance than men. Finally, this past year, after twenty-four years of her efforts, the Public Lands Preservation Act passed, offering protection to public parks. The last piece of legislation that she hopes will make it to the Governor’s desk would end the State’s practice of incarcerating men who have been civilly committed for addiction but have not been charged with any crime, thereby allowing for treatment in health care settings.
Rep. Balser particularly thanked former Speaker Sal DiMasi, who appointed her chair of a then new committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse. She praised him for his leadership on universal health care, mental health parity, and marriage equality. She expressed gratitude to former Speaker Robert DeLeo, who appointed her to chair the Committee on Elder Affairs, which was charged with oversight of nursing homes during Covid. As for current Speaker Ron Mariano, Rep. Balser particularly noted that he has included her as part of his Leadership team and has supported her signature issues.
In marked contrast to the contentious relationship between Democrats and Republicans nationally, departing Massachusetts Legislators in both parties thanked one another for the collegial, mutually respectful working atmosphere prevailing in the State House. Rep. Balser expressed gratitude for that accord as well.
Among the many people she thanked in the Legislature and the wide range of Legislative personnel, Rep. Balser paid special tribute to her two Newton colleagues, Rep. Khan and Senator Creem, and the people in her constituency who, she said, “believe strongly that an essential role of government is to provide a strong safety net for those who are less fortunate.” She concluded that her three goals in her Legislative career have been the Jewish goal of repairing the world, honoring her parents’ memory, and making her children proud.
Rep. Khan’s Address
Kay Khan’s thirty-year State House tenure was a second career as well, after having been a psychiatric nurse specialist. She ran for the open seat vacated by State Representative Susan Schur in 1994 and has served the 11th Middlesex since 1995. As she told her colleagues: “After three decades of service, it is hard to believe the time has come for me to say goodbye, and to say this moment is both bittersweet and filled with gratitude.” She, too, noted that serving as a Legislator has allowed her to serve more people than in her role as a nurse. Rep. Khan connected her dedication to public service to her father, a German Jew who escaped to Italy, where he studied medicine, and then came to the United States and instilled in her his pride in being an American.
In her long list of “thank yous,” she began by expressing gratitude to current Speaker Mariano, who appointed her Commissioner to the Permanent Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, and to former Speaker DeLeo for naming her House Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities — a position she held for twelve years. Dedicated to mental health initiatives, Rep. Khan founded the first-in-the-nation Mental Health Caucus. Her career has been marked by advocacy for the rights of women and children, for the end of homelessness, and, as with Rep. Balser, promoting the rights of incarcerated people, particularly for treatment of addicted individuals.
When she began her State House career, Rep. Khan noted, the legislature was 24% female. Now 31% of its members are women. In fact, the next representative from the 11th Middlesex is Amy Sangiolo. To that increase, Rep. Khan gave special thanks to the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators and the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus.
Two other Legislative accomplishments during Rep. Khan’s tenure have been the abolition of the death penalty in 1996 and passage of the marriage equality act in 2004.In describing initiatives to expand inclusion and accessibility for all people, Rep. Khan thanked Governor Healey for her commitment to making the Newtonville Commuter Rail Station fully accessible.
In departing, Rep. Khan had two requests: one that the Legislature move to provide homeless people with an ID – she has been advocating for that, she said, since the “early 2000s” – and raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to 19 years.
In leaving the legislature, Rep. Khan counted herself “filled with hope for the future” and that “equality, justice, and compassion will continue to guide our Commonwealth and our nation.”
Statement by Sen. Creem
State Senator Cynthia Creem, who has been a part of the long-termed trio – she and Rep. Balser represented Ward 8 on the Board of Aldermen for eight years – said of the most enduring Legislative partnership:
Representatives Balser and Khan have been tremendous allies in the State House and our friendship over the years has only been strengthened by our shared desire to best serve our community. We have always put our constituents first, never letting external political pressures impact our ability to help the people of Newton, and for Ruth and I, the people of Brookline.
Ruth and I have been friends and colleagues since we first sat next to each other on Newton Board of Aldermen (now the City Council), and over the years I have seen firsthand the intelligent, conscientious, and progressive leader she has been for our community. And with Kay being the Dean of the Newton delegation and a fierce champion on Beacon Hill, she first welcomed us to the State House as a valued and trusted friend ready to offer advice.
I will miss having them fight the good fight with me in the halls of the State House, and I know that our community and the people of Massachusetts are better off because of the hard work, passion for public service, and enduring legacies of Ruth and Kay.”
