How I Voted: Protecting Transit Workers

Protecting Public Transit Workers from Assault and Battery

Bill: H.4645, An Act Relative to Assault and Battery Upon a Transit Worker

Date of Vote: November 25, 2025

What Problem Was This Bill Trying to Solve?

Public transit workers have experienced an increase in workplace assaults while performing their duties. Bus operators, train conductors, ticket collectors, and other transit employees interact with the public every day and often work in challenging environments.

Existing Massachusetts law provides enhanced protections for certain public employees, such as police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel. However, not all public transit workers were covered by these protections, particularly employees working for private contractors that provide public transportation services.

This legislation was intended to close that gap and ensure that all transit workers receive appropriate legal protections while performing their jobs.

What Does the Bill Do?

• Expands enhanced assault-and-battery protections to public transit workers.

• Extends those protections to employees of private contractors that provide public transit services, including commuter rail operators and other contracted transit employees.

• Clarifies that assault includes acts such as spitting on or throwing bodily fluids at a transit worker.

• Establishes penalties for assault and battery against covered transit workers, including potential fines and incarceration.

• Provides transit workers with protections similar to those already available to other public employees performing essential public services.

How I Voted

I voted YES.

Why I Voted This Way

Public transit workers provide an essential service that keeps our communities connected and our economy moving. Every day, they help residents get to work, school, medical appointments, and other important destinations.

No one should face violence or intimidation simply for doing their job. Workers who serve the public deserve safe working conditions and reasonable legal protections when they are assaulted while carrying out their responsibilities.

This legislation closes a gap in state law by ensuring that transit workers, including those employed by contracted transit providers, receive protections comparable to other public employees who perform critical public functions.

I supported this legislation because it promotes workplace safety, supports the public transportation workforce, and helps ensure that those who serve the public can do so without fear of violence or harassment.