Bringing Beacon Hill to You

October proved to be a busy, interesting, and exciting month for both my office and the State House as a whole.



This newsletter highlights what has kept me busy over the past few weeks.  

Tax Relief & Housing Bill.....................

Two comprehensive pieces of legislation received a great deal of attention on Beacon Hill this past month. Both bills involve large sums of money and have the potential to affect nearly everyone living in Massachusetts.  

More recently, Gov. Maura Healey unveiled a $4 billion housing bond bill that is similarly expansive as it attempts to address the high cost of housing and its severe shortage all across the state. This bill authorizes funding for various housing programs, including $1.6 billion for repairs to existing public housing; $800 million for the construction of public housing; $100 million to support the construction of affordable, single-family homes; and $200 million to support the housing of individuals experiencing homelessness, recovery from substance use disorder, or who are elderly or a veteran.  

This proposed housing bill also includes a variety of policy changes, including the ability for municipalities to enact a 0.5% - 2.0% transfer tax on real estate sales. Under this bill, housing known as accessory dwelling units or ADUs would be allowed in single-family zoning districts in all communities and municipalities could pass inclusionary zoning changes by a majority vote instead of a two-thirds super majority. 

In the past few weeks, we have seen successes with some of our higher profile bills as well as legislation that may be less familiar to some readers. 



Notably, my legislation to criminalize revenge pornography in Massachusetts recently received a favorable report from the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. This important step means the bill is advancing in the process and it also signals that many legislators are taking this issue seriously. If this bill is signed into law, the sharing of any explicit media without the consent of the depicted subject will be illegal in Massachusetts. The bill also outlines sentencing guidelines and a diversion program for youth offenders. 

A bill I have filed in previous sessions, An Act relative to Massachusetts time zones and sunshine protection, recently went before the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight. If approved, this would effectively remove Massachusetts from the biannual tradition of daylight savings provided nearby states do the same thing. I am happy to share that not only do many of my colleagues seem to have an interest in the issue, but there seems to be a good deal of support among the general public.  

Lastly, I testified before the Joint Committee on Labor & Workforce Development in support of An Act expanding access to commuter transit benefits offered by employers, a bill I filed with Rep. Steve Owens and Rep. Tommy Vitolo, which incentivizes commuters to use public transportation and other travel alternatives. Under this bill, employers with 50 or more employees would be required to offer a commuter transit benefit by which employees can pay or purchase transit services on a pre-tax basis. The passage of this bill would result in fewer cars on the road, lower carbon emissions, and greater revenues for the MBTA and regional transit authorities. 

We celebrated the ribbon-cuttings for both the new Braintree Veterans Center and the new Holbrook senior housing property Maple on Franklin, then closed out the month by contacting the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is evaluating renovation proposals at Quincy’s Francis W. Parker School, Montclair School, and Wollaston School. Any one of these projects would be exciting, but to see all of them moving so smoothly and in such rapid succession is truly reassuring. Each of these projects serves a different group of people, but all reminder us that we need to keep aware of everyone's unique needs.

This past month also marked the conclusion of my most recent round of office hours across the Norfolk & Plymouth District. Conversations about a variety of different topics took place in all six communities I represent. Planning for the next round of office hours is underway, but you can reach out to my office directly in the meantime if you have an issue or concern. I am happy at your convenience to talk on the phone or to meet in person in the district or at the State House. 

."Just a quick story...".......................

On October 30, I went to Washington, D.C. at the invitation of the Biden Administration to attend the signing of an executive order regarding artificial intelligence by President Joe Biden. Like many, I have visited the White House as a tourist, but this time, I attended as a government official due to my work seeking to criminalize revenge pornography and its intersection with AI.

As President Biden told us in his address, AI is a technological tool that we can harness for the betterment of society, but it also has the potential to be used for the opposite. We must be proactive to ensure that this enormous power does not result in great societal harms.  

In recent years, we have seen how AI, particularly deepfakes, can be used to create sexually abusive materials depicting unconsenting individuals. This bears many of the same concerns we currently have with revenge porn, and with horrifying new dimensions added. AI makes it possible to generate this kind of content without the depicted subjects even being filmed. Instead, their likeness can be superimposed over another filmed individual to an unsettling degree of realism.  



Actions like President Biden’s executive order need to be taken now, before this issue gets any worse.  

Turning back to Massachusetts, I recently participated in the latest of a series of visits to the districts of my Massachusetts Senate colleagues. These visits - which we call SenaTours - highlight local business, education, transportation, health care, housing, and economic development initiatives and how they could serve as models for other districts.

This month, colleagues and I spent time with Sen. Pavel Payano in Lawrence and learned about some of the recent work being done by the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority, which has implemented flexible routes and reduced fares, as well as the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center.  

I also had the chance to recently speak at the Citizens’ Legislative Seminar. Each year, municipal officials, town employees, and concerned citizens from across Massachusetts come to the State House on the same day to learn about the legislative process. Every time we hold this event, we get a fantastic two-way exchange of ideas. Folks from across the Commonwealth get a clearer picture of how state government and the legislature work, and in turn convey their concerns and offer suggestions on how both can be improved. 

This year, Peter Walters, an U.S. Army veteran and retired insurance claims professional from Abington, represented my district and participated in a simulated Senate committee hearing and legislative session on a proposal to expand the bottle bill.