This is the second in our 2024 Year in Preview series examining important trends in white collar law and investigations in the coming year. We will be posting further installments in the series throughout the next several weeks. Our previous post, "PCAOB Overreach – Proposal to Expand Secondary Liability Exposes Potentially Fatal Lack of Statutory Authority," can be found here.
Last year, Foley Hoag reviewed what we could expect from the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General (“OAG”) as Attorney General Andrea Campbell took on her first year in office. This post looks to see whether the initiatives identified by the new administration at the start of her term were actually prioritized and whether we expect to see continued development in those areas this year.
Elder Law
While campaigning, Attorney General Campbell vowed to form the Elder Justice Unit and to focus on using the tools of the Office to protect Massachusetts elders from hardship caused by unequal access to health care, deceptive business practices, and fraud.
In August 2023, AG Campbell announced the creation of that unit, appointing Mary Freeley as director. The new unit is charged with convening internal and external elder justice groups to listen to priorities and ongoing issues, enhancing the existing work of the office to prosecute the abuse and exploitation of vulnerable older adults, working with the OAG’s Community Engagement Division to conduct intentional outreach to elders, and advocating for state and national policy that aligns with and advances the work of the Elder Justice Unit. One of the unit’s first steps was to launch a free hotline for elders to call in regarding a range of issues.
While Attorney General Campbell made good on her promise to create the Elder Justice Unit, the unit itself seems still to be ramping up on the enforcement front. For example, OAG’s recent prosecution of a Medicaid consultant for stealing from elderly nursing home victims was prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Division.
Reproductive Justice
As with the Elder Justice Unit, AG Campbell likewise promised the creation of a Reproductive Justice Unit and a renewed focus on reproductive justice and rights at the start of her term. OAG fulfilled these campaign promises. In October, AG Campbell announced Sapna Khatri to lead the newly created Reproductive Justice Unit, which will focus on “ensuring that Massachusetts is a national leader on reproductive justice by expanding and protecting access to reproductive and gender affirming care, addressing disparities in maternal health, tackling misinformation and disinformation that prevents access to care, working across state lines to respond to national attacks on reproductive health care, and championing and defending Massachusetts’ strong legal protections for reproductive rights.”
The Reproductive Justice Unit has taken its mission to heart, and its undertaking remains a core focus of OAG. For example, in the spring of 2023, AG Campbell announced a $1.5 million maternal health grant program aimed at reducing maternal health disparities and promoting culturally competent care. In August, AG Campbell then awarded $1.5 million to 11 organizations as part of the grant expanding access to culturally competent group models of prenatal care, perinatal behavioral health support, and breastfeeding support.
We expect that as reproductive justice and rights continue to play an important role nationally – particularly during the election season – the Reproductive Justice Unit and action in this space will continue to be a priority of the OAG.
Gun Safety
As promised at the outset of 2023, gun safety has emerged as a high priority of both the Office and AG Campbell herself. Some highlights include:
- AG Campbell filing a multi-state amicus brief to uphold laws restricting gun magazine capacity;
- AG Campbell urging the ATF to expand background checks and reduce illegal gun trafficking, co-leading a coalition of 21 attorneys general in support of a proposed ATF rule that would broaden firearms sales license requirements and expand the background check requirements for buyers;
- AG Campbell co-leading a coalition of 20 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit, arguing that states can restrict ownership of weapons of war consistent with the Second Amendment;
- OAG successfully defending the Commonwealth’s law banning assault weapons in Capen and National Association for Gun Rights v. Campbell, where the District of Massachusetts denied plaintiffs’ request to block the state’s ban on the sale and possession of assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines;
- AG Campbell joining a multi-state coalition calling for federal action to stop the sale of military-grade ammunition used in mass shootings.
In addition, in November 2023, AG Campbell announced a new Gun Violence Prevention Unit, naming Christine Doktor as Director and Ryan Mingo as Deputy Director. The Unit is tasked with enforcing the Commonwealth’s gun and consumer protection laws, working to ensure that Massachusetts has the strongest, most comprehensive commonsense firearm laws in the country, supporting the defense of commonsense gun laws from legal challenge and supporting law enforcement, and community-based gun violence prevention work to help reduce gun deaths and shootings across the Commonwealth. While Massachusetts has one of the lowest rates of gun violence in the nation, the gun violence in Massachusetts disproportionately affects Black youth. The Unit seeks to address this disparity. Moreover, recognizing the direct connection between public health and public safety, the Unit will seek to support both community based and law enforcement violence prevention efforts by providing training and technical assistance on gun law compliance and by exploring potential grant programs to bolster community violence prevention and to support survivors and their families.
Given the creation of the Unit just a few months ago and OAG’s proactive action related to gun safety nationwide, we can expect this area to remain very active in the coming year.
Access to Education
AG Campbell campaigned on Access to Education as a key priority to her leadership and we noted last year that her first month in office showed a commitment to this issue. The following months proved this through demonstrating that AG Campbell remains focused on addressing issues facing students including predatory lending, DE&I, and loan repayment.
In October, AG Campbell joined Governor Healy in issuing joint guidance to affirm and strengthen equality efforts in higher education, and K-12 schools. Issued in response to the Supreme Court’s decisions in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. the University of North Carolina, the guidance focuses on admissions standards and access issues in higher education while providing guidance for promoting equality in K-12 schools to facilitate future success.
AG Campbell also collaborated with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu this year in hosting a student loan forgiveness clinic to help federal student loan borrowers navigate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The effort saw U.S. congressional support with Senator Elizabeth Warran and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley joining the clinic. The clinic is part of an ongoing effort by the OAG’s Student Loan Assistance unit to help borrowers access debt relief programs in offering ongoing webinars for borrowers.
The OAG has also signaled a commitment to using its enforcement efforts and amicus briefs to further its Access to Education goals. In October, AG Campbel led a coalition of 23 attorneys general in a multi-state amicus brief supporting strong relief options for borrowers harmed by predatory lending and in September AG Campbell co-led a letter to the Biden administration expressing concerns regarding potential loan servicing programs.
Opioid Crisis, Labor Violations, and Health Care
In last year’s post we identified the opioid crisis, labor violations, and health care as areas on which we expect AG Campbell to continue to focus. Those areas continue to see activity over the last year, with labor violations emerging as a key focus under AG Campbell’s leadership.
In November 2023, AG Campbell announced the indictment of an alleged $1.6 million Medicaid fraud scheme and in August the OAG announced a $2.6 million dollar settlement with an ambulance company to resolve false billing allegations.
This year, AG Campbell partnered with several law enforcement agencies resulting in major opioid take-downs. In March, the OAG announced the significant arrest and recover of more than two and a half kilograms of fentanyl in partnership with the State Police under the New England Fentanyl Strike Force and in September OAG partnered with the State Police and several local law enforcement agents to execute the takedown a major fentanyl trafficking operation across the Merrimack valley.
Historically, Massachusetts has been a leader in pursuing healthcare violations and opioid enforcement efforts. As these high-profile efforts indicate, we expect these areas to continue to be active.
Additionally, labor violations have emerged in the last year as a major priority of the OAG under AG Campbell, including actions related to labor trafficking and wage and hour violations. In a recent interview, for example, Campell reiterated that labor was one of the biggest challenges facing Massachusetts residence. In that interview she vowed continued aggressive enforcement efforts against employers or contractors “not willing to pay their workers” and noted that the office’s prioritization of violations of child labor laws.
Efforts in this space are not limited to enforcement actions. AG Campbell’s first year indicate a commitment to policy advocacy on labor issues. In May the OAG filed an amicus brief before the U.S Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in the case Patel v. 7-Eleven interpreting Massachusetts independent contractor statute. AG Campbell’s lawsuit challenging Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s decision to roll back the public reporting requirements resulted in OSHA’s reversal of this position and adoption of a robust rule to protect worker safety.
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The first year in office demonstrated the OAG’s commitment to many of AG Campbell’s campaign promises especially in gun safety, reproductive justice, and access to education. Labor violations emerged as an additional area of focus. We can expect to see continued prioritization of these areas in the Campbell’s second year in office. In addition to these priorities, across industries Campbell’s office is giving increased scrutiny to issues effecting vulnerable populations including immigrants, elders, children, women, the LGBTQ community and low-income residents.
For the full series, please see: White Collar Year in Preview
