Massachusetts State Senator
An initiative to reduce health disparities linked to race and ethnicity has widened to include women and people with disabilities, thanks to a bill just passed by the State Senate.
Health disparities are gaps in access to care or in actual outcomes that confront certain groups disproportionately. As they relate to disabilities, health disparities include inaccessible doctors’ offices, ill-equipped examination rooms and frustrating communications barriers.
Read moreMany thanks to the Weston League of Women Voters of Massachusetts for hosting its recent legislative talk. State Rep. Alice Peisch, D-Wellesley, and I took questions on solar initiatives and rising health care costs, to name a few. Photo courtesy of Katherine Wolfthal of the League.
Walking the State House halls with Boston Bar Association President and Lincoln resident Lisa Arrowood. We discussed funding for legal aid lawyers, who represent low-income people confronted with non-criminal crises like evictions, heating shutoffs and high hospital bills.
The State Senate has passed a bill to close the wage gap between men and women workers in Massachusetts. The legislation, which passed unanimously, mandates equal pay for comparable work, boosts wage transparency and requires the hiring process to be fair.
Women comprise almost half the state’s workforce, but earn roughly 82% of what men make. African American women earn 66 cents for every dollar made by male workers; Latina women only 54 cents.
Read moreI want these rate increases discussed in an open forum. I don’t want million-dollar propositions handled in private, where only industry is heard.
Bicyclists from around Massachusetts gathered at the State House recently to call for new road safety measures to prevent traffic injuries and deaths. One of the bills before the Transportation Committee sets a minimum distance for cars to pass bicyclists; another aims to stop cars from blocking bike lanes.
Both pieces of legislation are authored by State Senator Will Brownsberger, D-Belmont, and backed by local State Senator Mike Barrett, D-Lexington. Barrett, a committed cyclist, is a longtime supporter of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail and other pathways across his district. He says the Legislature should act on bike safety now.
Congressman Moulton injects some much-needed perspective into the conversation about refugees: As Americans, we don’t turn our backs on those in need. We lend a helping hand.
Packed room at a recent Chelmsford Board of Selectmen meeting. I joined the town’s House delegation to report on the successful passage of local bills, troubling shortfalls in state “non-tax revenue” once expected from the operation of a new casino in Southeastern Mass. and pending legislation to help homeowners and businesses deal with gas leaks.
