Senator Velis Appointed Chair of Mental Health, Substance Use, & Recovery Committee for 2023-2024 Legislative Session

2024 Legislative Session. And he will Continue to Also Chair Veterans & Federal Affairs Committee (BOSTON – 2/15/2023) Today Senate President Spilka announced new committee assignments for the 2023-2024 legislative session.

Senator John Velis (D-Westfield) was named the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use, & Recovery. Senator Velis was also named to continue serving as Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Veterans & Federal Affairs. “I am honored to be appointed to serve as Chairman of the Mental Health, Substance Use, & Recovery committee and am excited to build upon the work we achieved last session with the passage of the Mental Health ABC Act 2.0,” said Senator Velis. “In my mind, mental health and substance use are the biggest problems in the Commonwealth that not enough people are talking about. And as someone who has had their own struggles in recovery, I know firsthand how these two issues can so often be cooccurring for people. We know that we must do more to help those struggling, and I look forward to working with members of the committee to accomplish just that.”

Senator Velis served as the Vice-Chair of the Mental Health, Substance Use, & Recovery Committee in the 2021-2022 legislative session and helped usher the Mental Health ABC Act 2.0 in law. Senator Velis was also recently appointed to a National Mental Health Task Force convened by the Council of State Governments (CSG) and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). With his reappointment as Chair of the Veterans & Federal Affairs Committee, Senator Velis will continue to lead the Legislature’s efforts to support veterans, active-duty service members, and military families.

“From securing funding to rebuild the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, to reforming the governance structure of both our Soldiers’ Homes, to passing the SPEED Act to support service members and military families, we are coming off of an incredible productive session in terms of veterans’ affairs,” said Senator Velis, who is a Major in the US Army Reserve himself. “I want to build off that momentum this session and focus on expanding outreach to women veterans, ensuring that the new cabinet-level Veteran’s Secretariat has the support they need, and increasing benefits for veterans throughout our communities. This is an area that I will always be passionate about and I am thrilled to continue this work to ensure that Massachusetts remains the best place for service members and military families to call home.” In addition to his two chairmanships, Senator Velis was also named Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs.

Senator Velis will also serve on four other joint committees in the 2023-2024 legislative session: the Joint Committee on Housing, the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, the Joint Committee on Public Safety & Homeland Security, and the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight.