Massachusetts Safety Panel Hears Bills on Staged Deaths, School Bus Sensors

BOSTON — April 15, 2026 — Massachusetts lawmakers heard pleas for staged-death investigation protocols and mandatory school bus door sensors at an April 15 Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security hearing. Co-chairs State Senator John J. Cronin and State Representative Daniel Cahill presided as Amanda Taylor, whose nine-year-old daughter Summer Steele was killed in 2016 when her backpack caught in a bus door, begged the panel to pass Senate Bill 2861, modeled on a Maine law, noting a full Massachusetts fleet retrofit would cost an estimated $10 million for 9,446 buses. Susan Altman testified that it took more than seven years and forensic expert Dr. William Smock's identification of more than 80 injuries "inconsistent with an accidental fall in the shower" before her sister Stacy's husband was convicted of first-degree murder, urging passage of Senate Bill 2743's 10-factor investigative checklist. EverDriven Technologies chief policy officer Mike Signer warned that Boston's school transportation bill hit $180 million last year — roughly 12 percent of its operating budget — while the state reimbursed only 44 percent of costs, pressing the committee to favorably report Senate Bill 3021, which would allow smaller personal vehicles to transport homeless, foster-care, and disabled students as is already permitted in 38 states. No votes were taken.