Bill
S 1440
Extends Army-style leave rights to Public Health Service officers and beneficiaries; bars conditioning MA state funding on municipalities' compliance with local land-use rules.
Note on scope and conflicting materials
- The materials provided include multiple, different measures that share the identifier “S. 1440” across jurisdictions and sessions. They include (1) a U.S. Senate bill titled the “Uniformed Services Leave Parity Act” (federal S. 1440, introduced Apr 10, 2025), and (2) a Massachusetts Senate bill (Senate Docket/No. 2163 / state S.1440) titled “An Act ensuring municipal access to state funding.” A separate firearm-related title shown at the top does not appear in the bill texts supplied. This summary treats the two substantive bills separately and flags the mismatch.
Purpose
- To extend to commissioned officers of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) — and their beneficiaries — certain leave rights already codified for commissioned officers of the Army under title 10, U.S. Code, thereby harmonizing leave benefits among uniformed services.
Key provisions
- Amends section 221(a) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 213a(a)) by adding a new paragraph referencing “Chapter 40, Leave,” effectively making Chapter 40 leave provisions an additional right or privilege for PHS commissioned officers and their beneficiaries.
- Repeals section 219 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 210–1) as a conforming change.
Who is affected
- Commissioned officers of the U.S. Public Health Service and their beneficiaries; administrative implementers within the PHS and Department of Health and Human Services.
Procedural status / timeline (from provided actions)
- Introduced April 10, 2025 (Sen. Tammy Duckworth, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski cosponsoring).
- Referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP); reported favorably.
- Reported placed on Senate calendar and — per provided actions — passed the Senate by unanimous consent (Oct 9, 2025) and subsequently received in the House (Oct 17, 2025) where it was held at the desk.
Potential impact
- Aligns leave protections and eligibility for PHS commissioned officers with those available to Army commissioned officers, reducing disparities in leave entitlements and simplifying benefits administration for PHS personnel.
Related federal items
- Companion/related: HR 2846 (companion), S 9479 and S 140 (prior-session references).
Purpose
- To prohibit the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), in collaboration with the Attorney General, from conditioning, restricting, or withholding eligibility for specified state funding or financial assistance based on a municipality’s compliance (or noncompliance) with the statutory section being amended.
Key provisions
- Amends Section 3A of Chapter 40A of the Massachusetts General Laws by replacing subsection (b) to bar the EOHLC and Attorney General from conditioning eligibility for state funding, grants, or financial assistance on compliance with that section.
- Lists specific programs protected from conditioning: MassWorks Infrastructure Program; Community Planning Grants; Massachusetts Downtown Initiative; Urban Agenda Grants; Rural and Small Town Development Fund; Brownfields Redevelopment Fund; Site Readiness Program; Underutilized Properties Program; Collaborative Workspace Program; Real Estate Services Technical Assistance; Commonwealth Places Program; Land Use Planning Grants; LAND Grants; Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Planning and Project Grants; and any successor or comparable programs.
Who is affected
- Massachusetts municipalities and regional governments (beneficiaries of state grants), the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, and the Attorney General’s office.
Procedural status / timeline (from provided actions)
- Filed Jan 17, 2025 by Sen. Kelly A. Dooner (with cosponsors). Referred to the committee on Municipalities and Regional Government. Hearing(s) were scheduled and rescheduled multiple times (July 29, 2025 hearing entries noted). Other entries indicate House concurrence and further actions; readers should consult the Massachusetts legislative tracking site for current status.
Potential impact
- Prevents state-level denial or conditioning of a wide range of municipal funding programs based on municipal compliance with a specific local land use provision, effectively protecting municipalities’ access to multiple state funding streams regardless of that compliance determination.
If you want, I can:
- Produce a one-page comparison table of the two versions
- Pull the current live status from the U.S. Congress or Massachusetts legislative website
- Draft plain-language talking points or a short explainer for municipal officials or PHS officers.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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