Somerville City Council Legislative Matters Committee Meeting - May 20, 2026
Somerville City Council Legislative Matters Committee Meeting - May 20, 2026
The Legislative Matters Committee of the Somerville City Council met virtually on May 20, 2026, at 6:03 PM, chaired by Councilor Scott. The meeting was called to order with a quorum of four members present (Councilors Davis, Mbah, Ewen-Campen, and Scott) and adjourned at 7:53 PM. Councilor Strezo arrived at 6:09 PM. The meeting addressed two substantive items: amendments to the Welcoming Communities Ordinance and a proposed Rental Registry and Energy Disclosure Ordinance.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The committee unanimously approved the minutes of the May 5, 2026, and April 28, 2026, meetings by a roll call vote of 5 in favor (Councilors Davis, Mbah, Ewen-Campen, Strezo, and Scott), none opposed.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Gideon Epstein (Counsel, ACLU of Massachusetts): Introduced the Welcoming Communities Ordinance amendments, describing them as some of the most consequential actions municipalities can take to protect immigrant rights and civil liberties. He highlighted the requirement for city lawyers to review contracts involving surveillance technology and data-sharing, referencing concerns about companies like Flock Safety sharing license plate reader data with ICE. He noted that Somerville has not participated in such data-sharing networks and that the amendments would codify these protections into law.
- Maria Teresa Nagel (Director, Somerville Office of Immigrant Affairs): Discussed ongoing implementation of the mayor's executive order, including distribution of signage to businesses and property owners about ICE access without a warrant, “know your rights” trainings for community members and city staff, and coordination with the Police Department to distinguish local police from federal immigration agents.
- Shumeane Benford (Somerville Police Chief): Described the Police Department’s training and compliance measures, including annual in-service training on the Welcoming Ordinance, designation of Deputy Chief Donovan and Captain De Oliveira as points of contact, and distribution of informational tips to officers.
Discussion Items
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Item 3 – Ordinance Amendment to Welcoming Communities Ordinance (ID # 26-0522): Councilor Ewen-Campen, lead sponsor, introduced the proposed amendments, focusing on new Section 3 (prohibiting city assistance in federal immigration enforcement absent federal/state law requirements) and Section 13 (requiring city solicitor review of contracts to ensure they do not violate constitutional rights). Committee members discussed several drafting points:
- Councilor Strezo suggested adding “places of worship” to Section 13(B)(II), but staff and legal advisors advised it was already covered by First Amendment protections and could unintentionally narrow scope.
- Councilor Davis raised concerns about removing “without limitation” in some sections, inconsistency in adding “except as required by federal law or court order” in Sections 13(E)(3) and 13(E)(4), and the use of “court order” versus “administrative warrant.”
- Councilor Mbah called for stronger civilian oversight measures in Sections 13(F), (G), and (H), but Councilor Ewen-Campen noted the enforcement section was modeled after existing ordinances and that further changes could be complex.
- Councilor Ewen-Campen proposed adding “religious expression” after “assembly” in Section 13(B)(I) to address concerns about protection of religious activities.
- Councilor Davis moved to remove all remaining uses of “without limitation” in the document to maintain consistency; the motion passed 4-0-1 (Councilor Mbah absent).
- Councilor Ewen-Campen moved to include “religious expression” in Section 13(B)(I); the motion passed 5-0.
- The committee agreed to keep the ordinance in committee and request a clean resubmission from the policy analyst and law department incorporating the approved changes and addressing other drafting concerns offline.
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Item 4 – Rental Registry and Energy Disclosure Ordinance (ID # 25-1822): Chair Scott introduced the ordinance, originally filed by the previous administration. Liaison Raddassi stated the current administration supports the policy but is not yet prepared to discuss implementation details, as the responsible department will be identified after the budget process. Councilor Davis expressed frustration over years of delay but acknowledged the need for a clear enforcement plan. Chair Scott argued that the council should pass ordinances to establish policy direction even if enforcement is delegated to the executive, noting that the council’s role is to legislate. The committee voted to keep the item in committee, with the chair indicating he will bring it forward again after the summer recess.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to remove “without limitation” language: Approved 4-0-1 (Councilor Mbah absent).
- Motion to include “religious expression” in Section 13(B)(I): Approved 5-0.
- Item 3 (Welcoming Communities Ordinance): Kept in committee; clean resubmission to be prepared for the next full council meeting.
- Item 4 (Rental Registry and Energy Disclosure): Kept in committee; further discussion deferred until after the budget process.
- Consent Calendar: Approved unanimously.
- Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 7:53 PM.
Meeting Transcript
All right. Welcome everybody this evening to uh this meeting of the City of Somerville City Council uh Committee on Legislative Matters. I'm JT Scott, your Ward II counselor and your chair for legislative matters this session. We are meeting here on this Tuesday, May 19th at uh 6.03 p.m. Uh pursuant chapter two of the acts of 2025, this meeting is being uh conducted via remote participation and the video and audio recording of it will be posted to the city's website shortly after the conclusion of the meeting. Uh we I want to thank everybody for joining us this evening on a delightful uh summer thunderstorm evening. If you do hear uh delighted squeals outside, I promise that's just my kids losing their mind running around in the rain. Uh to go ahead and begin. I know we are joined tonight by Clerk Fisher Cassial. If you could start us off with a uh roll call to establish a quorum, please madam. Glad I can. Counselor Davis. Here. Counselor Mbaugh. Counselor Ewan Campen. Here. Counselor Strezzo. Chair Scott. Present. All right. With that, we have four members here, so we do have a quorum. Oh, wonderful, wonderful. Uh, our first two items are approval of minutes. We had two meetings in our uh in our last batch, although this does say April 5th, I believe this is the approval of the meetings of May 5th. Uh, and the approval of the minutes of the April 28th uh meetings. So a little bit of an error on the agenda here. But if we could uh are there any discussion on those two sets of minutes? All right, seeing none, we'll go ahead and lay those on the table for uh approval. And uh yeah, there it is, May 5th. Excellent. All right. So uh we will go ahead. It's just a scrivener's error. I'm pretty sure we don't need to amend anything. Uh we have two substantive items before us tonight. One is a uh welcome update to our welcoming communities ordinance, and one is a discussion on the uh establishment of the rental registry and energy disclosure ordinance, which was uh submitted by the previous administration uh just prior to their conclusion. So we'll go ahead by picking up item number three first, that is ordinance 260522, proposing an amendment to section 2-6 of the code of ordinances, the welcoming community ordinance to further enhance civil rights protections in Somerville. Now, Counselor Ewan Campen, you were, I believe, lead sponsor on this. Uh and so if you'd like to give an introduction and sponsor any members of the public to introduce the changes that you are uh proposing tonight, I give you the floor. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Um I I want to just dig into this and hear from colleagues and from staff. Um, but before we do so, I was hoping to sponsor a member of the public, Gideon Epstein, who's in the audience, who is counsel with the ACLU of Massachusetts, who aided us in the drafting of this. Have him give some very brief introductory remarks. That sounds like a splendid idea to me. Um, Madam Clerk Fisher Cassiol, could you uh promote him up or unmute him so that he can uh give us a brief introduction? I'm here. Oh, all right, already here. Uh well then, Mr. Epstein.
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