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SENATE DOCKET, NO. 669 FILED ON: 1/14/2025
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1649
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PRESENTED BY:
Joanne M. Comerford
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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying
resolution:
Resolutions to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and move the US back
from the brink of nuclear war.
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PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Joanne M. ComerfordHampshire, Franklin and WorcesterPatrick M. O'ConnorFirst Plymouth and Norfolk1/24/2025Samantha Montaño15th Suffolk2/4/2025Patrick Joseph Kearney4th Plymouth2/25/2025Mary S. Keefe15th Worcester3/5/2025 1 of 3
SENATE DOCKET, NO. 669 FILED ON: 1/14/2025
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1649
By Ms. Comerford, a petition (accompanied by resolutions, Senate, No. 1649) of Joanne M.
Comerford, Patrick M. O'Connor, Samantha Montaño, Patrick Joseph Kearney and others for the
adoption of resolutions to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and move
the US back from the brink of nuclear war. Public Safety and Homeland Security.
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 1487 OF 2023-2024.]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
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Resolutions to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and move the US back
from the brink of nuclear war.
1 WHEREAS, the continued existence of more than 12,000 nuclear weapons worldwide
2poses a grave and existential threat to the citizens of the Commonwealth; and
3 WHEREAS, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and repeated threats to use nuclear weapons
4have dramatically increased the danger of nuclear war; and
5 WHEREAS, the citizens of the Commonwealth have expressed their deep concern about
6this continuing threat over many decades and continue to do so; and
7 WHEREAS, this concern has been expressed through numerous Town Meetings and City
8Council resolutions throughout the Commonwealth; and 2 of 3
9 WHEREAS, this concern has also been expressed through numerous resolutions and bills
10brought before this General Court, including at least 5 such bills introduced in the last legislative
11session on this topic; and
12 WHEREAS, in general it is the federal government and not the state which has
13jurisdiction over matters relating to nuclear weapons, this does not mean there is no role for the
14Commonwealth to play in this regard; and
15 WHEREAS, in fact, it has been shown that the policies and actions of states can lead the
16way to important and necessary changes at the federal level and even internationally; and
17 WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts played a leading role in ending the
18nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union in the 1980s, by adopting a Nuclear Freeze resolution
19and encouraging other states to follow our example; and
20 WHEREAS, over 40 years later it is not a “freeze” of nuclear weapons that is needed to
21save the Commonwealth, and the world, from the unthinkable catastrophe of a nuclear war or a
22nuclear accident, but the complete elimination of these weapons, in line with the Treaty on the
23Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force as international law on January 22,
242021;
25 THEREFORE, be it resolved that the General Court of the Commonwealth of
26Massachusetts congratulates the 70 countries that have signed and ratified the Treaty on the
27Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and joins the legislatures of California and Oregon, the Maine
28State Senate, the New Jersey Assembly, Rhode Island Assembly and Senate and the 21 cities and
29towns in Massachusetts which have taken action to protect their citizens from the existential
30threat of nuclear war by embracing this Treaty and endorsing the national Back from the Brink 3 of 3
31platform, which calls on our federal leaders to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
32Weapons and to take immediate steps to prevent nuclear war by actively pursuing a verifiable
33agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals, renouncing the option
34of using nuclear weapons first, ending the President’s sole, unchecked authority to launch a
35nuclear attack, taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert, and canceling the plan to
36replace its entire arsenal with enhanced weapons; and be it further
37 RESOLVED, that the General Court urges all members of the Massachusetts
38Congressional delegation to co-sponsor House Resolution 77, which calls for the US to adopt the
39policy provisions of the Back from the Brink platform, and urges the two Senators from
40Massachusetts to introduce a companion resolution in the United States Senate; and be it further
41 RESOLVED, that it shall henceforth be the policy of the General Court of the
42Commonwealth of Massachusetts to pursue whatever measures may be found necessary and
43appropriate to protect the citizens of the Commonwealth from the existential threat posed by
44nuclear weapons and to contribute in whatever ways it can, as a Commonwealth, towards the
45total elimination of these weapons from all countries, in line with the Treaty on the Prohibition
46of Nuclear Weapons; and be it further
47 RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be transmitted forthwith by the clerk of the
48Senate to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Speaker and Minority Leader
49of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United
50States Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from the Commonwealth in the Congress
51of the United States, and to the Governor of the Commonwealth.