BOSTON — Local legislators and child abuse prevention advocates are celebrating the adoption of a Senate budget amendment that bars kids under the age of 18 from being able to legally consent to sexual conduct with an adult who holds, or has held, supervisory or custodial authority over them in a public or private school setting or similar context.
“It’s really exciting because it’s really going to eliminate the loophole for defendants who have been able to argue a 16-year-old consented… I’m quite thrilled about that,” said Carol Conragan, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Franklin County and the North Quabbin. “It’s going to make those in positions of power more accountable and eliminate the gray area around consent.”
Conragan said that not only does the bill create criminal penalties for those in positions of authority over teenagers who pursue inappropriate relationships, but it will help prevent the actions from taking place, as those who try to groom students leading up to them turning 16 will now have to wait until they are 18 to try to claim a student consented.
“It’s a milestone for us,” Conragan said.
Conragan said it can be difficult, if not impossible, for teenagers to understand that attention from adults in teaching, coaching, counseling, and other roles of power over them is inappropriate, and they may struggle to understand the power dynamic and truly consent to any form of a relationship.
The redrafted amendment (#841) by state Sen. Joan Lovely (D-Salem) would close a “legal gap” in state law, she said, in which criminal sentencing protections for indecent assault and battery on a child apply only to victims under the age of 14.
“Once a young person turns 16, they are presumed legally capable of consenting to sexual activity, even with an adult in a position of supervisory or custodial authority, who may have groomed or manipulated them over months or years,” Lovely said. “This is the loophole. A 16- or 17-year-old student cannot consent to having sex with their teacher. A teenage athlete cannot consent to having sex with their coach.”
The amendment was passed unanimously in a roll call vote last week as part of Senate debate on the state’s 2027 fiscal year budget.
Lovely has been filing related legislation for years, and said the amendment would create a new section in Chapter 265 specifically addressing sexual assault by mandated reporters against minors ages 16 and 17. The abuse would remain a crime even if the adult is no longer formally in a supervisory role at the time of the offense, according to the amendment.
It implements an up to 20-year sentence for rape and up to 10 years for indecent assault and battery, Lovely said, “adding these new offenses to the definitions underlying the sex offender registry, ensuring these crimes are captured and tracked.” She said the amendment also includes “a narrow close-in-age exemption” to protect relationships between young people who are closer in age.
“The headlines have not stopped. Across all of Massachusetts, we are seeing horrific stories of sexual abuse in schools,” Lovely said during floor remarks. She and Rep. Leigh Davis filed companion bills (S 1163, H 1634) on the topic this session.
State Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton) co-sponsored the bill, and said she “was delighted” the amendment passed in the Senate.
“This says no minor can ever consent to a realationship with an adult in a position of power,” Comerford said. “It does feel like this was needed change to the law.”
She said Lovely has led the charge on this for years and filed many bills, researched and advocated on the topic, and she and her colleagues understood that the work was important and closing the gap in the age of consent was “the largest piece of the puzzle.”
“It’s an impossibility for us to ever imagine a young person could ever consent to a relationship with a person who’d been in a position of power over them,” Comerford said.
As an amendment in the Senate budget, the regulations will still need to be worked out with the Conference Committee to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate budgets before going to the governor’s desk for a final signature. Conragan said she is hopeful that the adoption from the Senate means “maybe finally people are understanding” the need for such legislation, and that it will make it to the finish line.
Comerford said that the amendment was one of just a few pieces of policy that senators agreed to include, and something she believes will be prioritized when the time comes for the House and Senate budget versions to be reconciled.
“I have pretty significant confidence the Senate will prioritize this, and our colleagues in the House will agree,” she said. “I’ve been in contact with Senator Lovely about this for a long time… and constituents have talked to me about their own concerns around this.”
“This is like Christmas for me if this goes through,” Conragan said.
Material from the State House News Service was used in this report.
