Welcome to my personal website. I hope you find it to be a source of useful information about the work I'm doing on behalf of Brookline, as well as for the people of the Commonwealth more broadly.
This past spring, Speaker DeLeo named me as the first Chairman of a new Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change. I see this issue as one of the defining challenges of our time, and will ensure in this position that we build on last session’s successes by advocating for further legislation that addresses climate change mitigation and adaptation. For a briefing on our environmental accomplishments from the 2007-2008 legislative session, click here.
Going forward, I believe we must re-tool our economy to make it a sustainable one, and promote emerging technologies that can lessen our dependence on fossil fuels. In our transportation sector, we know we have major financing problems, but we must ensure that any and all solutions take into account our goals for reductions in carbon emissions as well. With regards to our built environment, we must encourage smart growth and ensure that green buildings become the norm. And, underpinning all of this, we need to continue to drive renewable energy options to the mainstream of our culture and our economy in order to ensure a sustainable quality of life for future generations.
As bills move through the legislative process this session, each of the relevant Joint Committees will continue to have jurisdiction over their own issue areas, of course, but the Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change will work to make sure that global warming issues are considered in their deliberations across the board. Realizing real and lasting change will require policy coordination and collaborative state action across every agency in state government, and achieving that is my goal for this committee.
Having said all that, I do have other, non-environmentally focused priorities. Outside of the environmental arena, addressing the foreclosure crisis with bills focusing on how to help homeowners and tenants will continue to be a priority for me, as will reform of the CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) system. If you are a constituent and would like to discuss any legislative issue of interest with me, please do not hesitate to contact my office.
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As Chairman of the House Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change, I spend a major portion of my time dealing with environmental and climate change issues that affect the Commonwealth as a whole. To get a sense of some of the big issues that we're currently working on, please go to this site's Committee page. But environmental challenges are far from the only ones facing Massachusetts today, so check out the News & Views page, where I lay out my positions on a series of other high-profile issues:
- Casino Gambling
- State Revenue & Taxes
- CORI Reform
- Reproductive Health Clinic Buffer Zones
And an important issue brought to my attention by Town Meeting:
- Reduction of Fossil Fuel Use in Vehicles (as approved by Town Meeting)
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I am blessed to serve a community like Brookline because our town has so many active and engaged citizens. And I want to hear from you -- sharing your experiences, expertise and support is critical to helping me fight for good policy up on Beacon Hill.
That's why I've set up this website. The more channels of communications are open, the easier it is for you to let me know what issues concern you, or are affecting your life or the lives of your loved ones. And then we can work together to try and resolve those issues.
So, please don't hesitate to be in touch, and thank you again for allowing me to work on your behalf.
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