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DAY ON THE HILL 2026

MAND’s Public Policy team

President
President-elect
Director of Public Policy
Public Policy Coordinator
State Policy Representative
Consumer Protection Coordinator
Nutrition Services Payment Specialist

What is MAND?

State affiliate of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Some 1,500 members across Massachusetts

What is Day on the Hill?

MAND’s annual legislative event – Monday, March 2, 2026
Opportunity to introduce state legislators to MAND, the work of dietitians and the public policy issues important to us

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PUBLIC POLICY - WHAT IS IT?

How the executive and legislative branches of government address public issues

Executive - President (U.S.) or governor (MA)
Legislative - House of Representatives and Senate (U.S. & MA)

Policymaking involves two parts

Advocacy for or against particular policies and legislation
End result - laws and regulations

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PUBLIC POLICY – WHAT IS IT?

Advocacy comes in two forms

Grassroots advocacy - Providing information on policy issues to individuals, helping them to contact their members of Congress or state legislators to educate them on these policy issues, particular bills

This is what we can all do!

Lobbying - Direct request to members of Congress or state legislators to vote for or against particular policies or bills

This is what lobbyists do!

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POLICYMAKING IN MASSACHUSETTS

Policymaking is complex and begins in the state legislature, here in MA called the General Court
Welcome to the home of the MA legislature – the State House!

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POLICYMAKING IN MA - LEGISLATION

Massachusetts legislature has 200 legislators

40 state senators

Serve two-year terms
Represent 159,000 people in district

160 representatives

Serve two-year terms
Represent 40,000 people in district

Every MA resident has one state senator and one state representative
Legislative sessions are two years long

Current session began January 1, 2025
Will run until January 5, 2027

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POLICYMAKING - BILLS & LAWS

How are laws made in Massachusetts?
Bills are introduced by a member of the House of Representatives or Senate
There is a process which takes place for many months:

Joint Committee hearing
Joint Committee executive session
Bill readings - First, second and third readings
Engrossment and enactment
Conference committee
Sent to governor - four possible outcomes: (1) signs the bill into law; (2) vetoes the bill; (3) lets the bill become a law by waiting ten days without signing; or (4) makes line-item vetoes to reduce spending

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POLICYMAKING IN MA - REGULATION

Once a bill becomes law, a state agency is designated to create regulations to carry it out
Agencies draft regulations and solicit comments from groups affected by the proposed regulations, then issue final regulations
MAND provides comments to state agencies and solicits member input
Key state agencies in Massachusetts

Department of Public Health: school meals
Bureau of Health Professions Licensure: licensure
Division of Insurance: telehealth reimbursement

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PUBLIC POLICY - WHY CARE?

Laws and regulations impact most of us working in clinical and community nutrition

Program funding: Older Americans Act, National School Lunch Program, SNAP, WIC
Research: NIH, USPSTF, hospitals, academia
Practitioners: licensure, scope of practice, who can provide nutrition services
Reimbursement: RDNs able to bill independently? telehealth services?
Food security: farmers markets, HIP
Food is Medicine: medically tailored meals, healthy food vouchers

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PUBLIC POLICY - WHY CARE?

To impact food and nutrition policies affecting your family, workplace and community
To be involved in the discussion of improved access to healthy affordable food, nutrition education and services for disease prevention
Because you can impact public policy!

Call, email, tweet and meet with your state legislators and members of Congress
Submit comments to regulatory agencies
Create or sign a White House petition, join a demonstration or rally, vote in state and federal elections

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PUBLIC POLICY - WHY RDNs & LDNs?

Many policymakers do not know the education and training requirements to become a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) or the importance of licensed dietitian/nutritionist (LDN) credentialing
We must educate them on our qualifications and our work in a wide variety of settings
RDNs are “nutrition experts” recognized by the National Academy of Medicine to provide MNT*
There are many ways for RDNs and LDNs to impact public health, and we need to educate policymakers

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PUBLIC POLICY - MAND

MAND supports nutrition and health public policy and advocacy campaigns in line with the Academy’s policy initiatives:

Promotes the RDN as the recognized nutrition expert
Advocates for dietetic licensure for RDNs to protect the public from those offering potentially harmful, non-evidence-based nutrition information
Provides regulatory comments and submits testimony for or against state level legislation and regulations
Works with stakeholder groups and coalitions to further nutrition and healthy eating policy

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PUBLIC POLICY - MAND

MAND’s current state public policy priorities:

Reimbursement parity for MNT provided via telehealth

An Act relative to telehealth parity for nutrition counseling (H.4340/S.716)

Modernizing the MA dietetic licensure statute

An Act relative to modernizing licensure of dietitians and nutritionists (H.453/S.253)

Permanent funding for HIP and universal school meals
Credentialing dietitians with MassHealth
Food is Medicine programs in MassHealth

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GETTING INVOLVED - ADVOCACY!

Advocacy involves influencing others => legislators
It does not have to be a challenge or a struggle
Believe in something important to you

=> Telehealth MNT

=> Dietetic licensure to protect the public

Unite with others who share that belief => MAND members
Educate legislators on these policy issues and how they can help
Help them to achieve these policy goals, which are your goals, too
Continue to educate and support them in their work
MAND’s public policy team is here to support you!

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ADVOCACY - DAY ON THE HILL

Day on the Hill is an opportunity for you to influence others => state legislators
MAND wants to help you:

Understand our current public policy priorities
Explain why these issues are important to your state legislators and their constituents (i.e., you and others living in their district)

MAND’s current public policy priorities

Continued access to medical nutrition therapy provided by dietitians via all modalities of telehealth, including audio-only
Modernizing the state dietetic licensure statute

MAND’s public policy team can answer any questions legislators ask that you cannot answer… let us know and we will follow up!

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ADVOCACY - DAY ON THE HILL

Day on the Hill is an opportunity to influence others:

Your state senator is: ____________________________
Your state representative is: _______________________

Believe in something important to you:

Telehealth MNT => Why is MNT important? And why via telehealth?
Dietetic licensure => Why is dietetic licensure important?

Unite with others => We will be meeting at Day on the Hill
Educate legislators on these policy issues => Drop off materials
Let MAND’s public policy team know which legislators you met with and if they had any questions or requested additional information. We will follow up!

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MAND thanks you for learning more about

Day on the Hill 2026

We’re here to help you prepare for visits to legislators’ offices and engaging in advocacy

Ask us any questions!