In order to provide Massachusetts consumers with greater protections from identity theft,  a new law increases requirements on companies and agencies to report security breaches and protect personal information.  The law also puts tools at consumers' disposal to protect their credit information.

This law gives consumers the power to dictate who has access to their personal information from credit reporting agencies by allowing them to apply a security freeze on their information. The consumer is required to send notification to the reporting agencies requesting the freeze. Once the reporting agency receives the request, they will send the individual confirmation and an ID and passcode. This passcode allows the consumer to temporarily unfreeze or completely remove the freeze from the account.

There will be a maximum of $5 fee to implement, remove, or lift each freeze. The charges, however, will not apply to a victim of identity theft or a victim's spouse.

In addition to empowering consumers, the statute also clearly defines the requirements and responsibilities of businesses and agencies. Specifically, businesses, government agencies and non-profits are required to inform individuals of any security breach where there is the potential that personal information has been accessed and might be used for unlawful activities. The business or agency provides, a written notice or, depending on the number of consumers affected, an appropriate means of notification to the affected individuals.

Businesses and agencies are also directed to properly dispose of personal information, either electronic or paper formats, by measures that include redaction, pulverizing, burning, erasure of electronic data or shredding. Any entities failing to properly dispose of personal information can be fined up to $100 for each data subject affected, but not exceeding $50,000.

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that 9 million people each year are victims of identity theft.

Motor vehicle accidents are the top killer of children between ages 4 and 8. Children in booster seats are 58 percent less likely to be killed in a car crash than those in seat belts. With the safety of our young children in mind, the Senate approved legislation that would require the use of booster seats for children through age 7 or four-feet-nine-inches tall, whichever comes first. The current law targets children up to the age of 5 and weighing less than 40 pounds.

Highlighting the importance of booster seats, the federal government is providing $25 million during the next four years to states that adopt booster seat laws. Last year, Maine and Vermont received approximately $170,000 each. Massachusetts could potentially net up to $750,000.

The legislation also states that those children under 12 who are not required to use a booster seat must use a seat belt.

The bill is now awaiting action from the House of Representatives.

In an effort to address inequities that are unique to communities across the Commonwealth, I created the Education Reserve Account in the fiscal year 2005 budget. For the last four, years school districts facing additional obstacles have been able to apply for additional education funds through this grant program.

I am pleased to announce that two of the towns in my district, Bourne and Barnstable, have received additional education funding through the Education Reserve Account. Bourne Public Schools will receive $500,000 to help compensate the system for the cost of educating the children of military families stationed at MMR. This is the fourth year that Bourne has received this funding to help make up for the lack of promised funding from the federal government.

The Barnstable School District was awarded $225,000 to help the district cope with declining enrollment and inequities in Chapter 70 funding based on property values and per capita income. The funding will also be used for drop-out prevention programs.

Throughout the past four years, this additional assistance for schools has made a difference for communities across the Commonwealth. While this funding does not completely solve the challenges that districts like Bourne and Barnstable face, it allows these communities to give children the best education possible.

Congratulations are in order for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), which was recently awarded a $97.7 million research grant from the National Science Foundation. In addition to the federal grant the project also received a $10 million investment through the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's John Adams Innovation Institute to build the ocean observation system.

The state of the art ocean observation system will be placed off the Massachusetts coast along the U.S. Northeast Continental Shelf. These laboratories at sea will allow researches and scientist to receive real time data enabling them to focus on environmental issues, public health, economic development, energy, and weather prediction.   

WHOI will take the lead on the project, but will collaborate with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and Oregon State University's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences.

The Department of Business Development has announced that they will be accepting applications for the fiscal year 2008 Small Business Technical Assistance Provider Grant Program.

The grant funding is available to non-profit community based organizations, community development corporations, or community development finance institutions and must be used to provide technical assistance or training programs to businesses with 20 or fewer employees in Massachusetts.  This round of grants will be limited to $50,000 per organization. Organizations cannot exceed a total of $75,000 in Small Business Technical Assistance Provider Grants for the 2008 fiscal year.

Last year the Department of Business Development awarded more than $1.6 million to organizations throughout the Commonwealth.

Applications are due by September 14th at 5 p.m. You can find more information by going to www.comm-pass.com.

"Thanks to Project Bread, and the support of Senator Therese Murray, the Boys & Girls Club was able to acquire large refrigerator and freezer units that can hold the quantity of milk and food required to feed large numbers of children."

- Garreth Lynch, Executive Director, Boys and Girls Club of Plymouth on the organization's summer food service program.