Representative Dylan Fernandes has served Falmouth, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in the legislature since 2017 where he has focused on combating climate change, advancing affordable housing, and addressing the opioid and heroin epidemic. He serves as the Vice Chair of the Committee on Tourism, Arts & Cultural Development, and has seats on the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities & Energy, and the Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change.
The economy of our communities are dependent on a healthy environment. Millions of people visit the Cape and Islands each year because of the natural beauty of our region. As the climate crisis continues to worsen, we must do everything we can to preserve it. Sea levels are not getting any lower and our region is going to be particularly hard hit if we don’t take action.
In the legislature, addressing the climate crisis has been a major priority for me. I’ve been fighting for policies that will allow us to urgently transition our energy resources and preserve our environment.
We are all tied to the ocean and we must return to the sea to save our planet from the devastation of climate change. This March, the House passed groundbreaking offshore wind legislation that is a commitment to future generations to drive out dirty fossil fuels. For the first time, this bill unlocks the potential of offshore wind to cities, towns and private companies across the state by allowing them to directly procure offshore wind energy. Municipalities that have pledged to take climate action will now have the ability to power their communities with clean energy. I’ve worked closely on this legislation since my first session in the building, and I’m extremely proud that it passed in the House.
This bill also makes sure we’re developing responsibly. It includes language from legislation I filed that requires companies to have environmental and fishery mitigation plans and creates working groups to oversee the process. It incorporates language from my bill that funds workforce development and prioritizes projects that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion opportunities. Finally, the bill takes many steps to prepare our electric grid for the incoming influx of renewable energy, requiring utilities to create plans to proactively upgrade the grid. With this legislation, Massachusetts will be fully prepared to step into a clean energy future and meet our 2050 net-zero goals.
Addressing the ocean acidification crisis is essential if we hope to sustain our blue economy and protect our state’s historic coastal marine environment. We are running out of time before the consequences of ocean acidification become truly catastrophic. This urgency is what led us to establish the Massachusetts Ocean Acidification Commission in 2018.
Through 2019 and 2020, the commission worked incredibly hard to create a report that outlines the ocean acidification crisis in Massachusetts and provides a roadmap of actions we can take to prevent its worst effects.
Housing is a basic human right and yet today, the lack of affordable housing is driving young people and working families out of our district. Seniors who helped to build this community can’t afford to remain in their homes and we are at risk of becoming an economy that must import its workforce. I talk with small business owners from across our district and they continually tell me that one of their biggest challenges is finding employees. Workers can’t afford to live here.
Since my first session in office, I’ve filed and advocated for a bill that would give municipalities to the option to implement a 2% transfer fee on home sales over $1 million and generate new revenue for affordable housing. On top of my statewide enabling act, H.2895, I’ve also filed legislation on behalf of the Town of Nantucket that would allow the town to enact their own fee. As housing prices continue to skyrocket and push out working families, a transfer fee would generate significant revenue for new affordable housing development in our communities.
For many families and young people, homeownership is an important investment and a major step in gaining sound financial footing. However, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for young families to find available and affordable homes. Legislation I sponsor, H.2840, encourages prospective first-time homeowners to save up for a home by creating new homebuyer savings accounts that are tax-deductible.
Healthcare is a human right: everyone deserves access to reliable and affordable healthcare. In Massachusetts, while we have the highest rate of insured residents in the country, there is still work we can do to make our healthcare system work better for everyone.
All women deserve the right to make their own decisions about their own bodies. The extremist Republican attack on abortion, which led to the decision overturning Roe v. Wade, is an outright infringement on women’s rights and freedoms. Here in Massachusetts, we’re doubling down to insulate our state and ensure that abortions remain safe and legal for all those who seek them. We passed legislation in June that protects women fleeing red states to seek an abortion in the Commonwealth. The bill also safeguards health care professionals who provide abortion or gender-affirming care, expands access to emergency contraception, and requires insurance companies to cover abortion medication or procedures without deductibles or copays.
Craniofacial medical conditions impact the entire body, including the ability to eat, speak properly, and have normal jaw function. Untreated patients experience chronic pain, severe psychological and social issues, and have limited options to employment opportunities due to abnormal appearance and speech difficulty. While there are medical solutions to craniofacial disorders, the out-of-pocket costs to patients are enormous, and can total over $100,000 per person with a lifetime of revisions and specialist visits.
I filed legislation, H.1153, to ensure that medically necessary services to treat craniofacial disorders are covered under medical insurance policies.
Mental health parity has long been enshrined in Massachusetts law, but we have failed to fully achieve it. This June, we closed that gap with a comprehensive mental health bill that expands services and breaks down barriers to care. The legislation increases youth access to care, implements a 988 crisis hotline, expands state data reporting, and address emergency room boarding overflows.
This is particularly important for our geographically isolated district that has enormous mental health challenges but often too few resources to support our residents.
The heroin and opioid epidemic is an issue that is very personal to all of us. I think everyone in our communities knows someone who is struggling or has struggled with this disease. Too many of us know someone who won’t come back from it. My step-father, Tim Lineaweaver, has spent his entire career working in substance abuse and suicide prevention on the Cape and Islands. He started the first sober house on Nantucket and has worked for decades in Falmouth as a therapist.
In the State House I’ve worked hard to advocate for policies that will support individuals struggling with addiction and substance abuse disorder. During this year’s budget debate, we quadrupled funding for addiction treatment and harm reduction programs, but there is still much more work to do.
I filed legislation that would allow municipalities to establish safe consumption sites, H.2088, which are locations where individuals can use previously obtained drugs under medical supervision. These sites have been incredibly successful at preventing opioid-related deaths around the world, and no individual has ever lost their life at a safe consumption site. This legislation is a priority for me and I’m continuing to advocate for it in the legislature.
Education is the foundation of a democratic society. It is the most powerful tool in lifting people out of poverty, expanding opportunity and preparing people from all backgrounds to live up to their full potential.
I am the product of our public school system, having graduated from Falmouth High School and the head of my committee, Brian Switzer, is a local school teacher. I come at this issue as someone who wants to support all of our children AND our teachers.
But that means getting serious about funding. State aid to our schools has been level funded for years – even as our towns have struggled with increasing costs. With fixed costs like healthcare and retirement rising, there is little money available for important innovations like universal pre-K and full day kindergarten all of this have been shown to improve education outcomes.
We need to get serious about funding our schools.
As State Representative I would:
Increase funding for public school from pre-K to higher education so that every child can get a truly free public education. Period.
Invest in some of the innovations that have worked at charter schools – longer school days, homework support, smaller class sizes – we can’t just say it works – and then not pay for it.
Fight to lower the cost of public college. It is a failure of our system that it costs over $100,000 for in-state students to get a degree from UMass Amherst.
I know that this will all take money – and it’s about time we paid for the things we really care about. That’s why I support the millionaire's tax which increases the tax rate on income over one million dollars and that money goes directly to funding public education and transportation.
Two issues currently before the State Legislature speak directly to how ardently we believe in basic economic fairness and equity.
The first – extending family paid medical leave to the nearly one million workers who are excluded under federal law because they work for employers with under 50 people – ensures that both men and women have time to bond with their newborn or adopted child, that children have the opportunity to care for a sick or dying parent, that an unforeseen medical emergency does not bankrupt a family or force an individual to choose between employment and caring for a loved one.
The program would be overseen by the treasurer and replicate a similar law in place in Rhode Island, New York, and California. I fully support it – as I do pay equity.
Massachusetts led the nation when it passed the first equal pay bill. That was in 1946. It’s beyond time for an update.
Women still earn only 82% of what Massachusetts men make. And women in retirement have less savings and smaller social security checks as a result of chronic underpayment. However, since 40% of women are now the head of a household, pay equity is not just a women’s issue; it’s an issue of economic security for working families.
As political director for Maura Healey, I fought for pay equity and I helped build an advocacy campaign called "She’s Worth It" that called on the legislature to pass this bill. Today, business leaders across the state have joined the cause and even the Boston Chamber of Commerce has endorsed passage of the pay equity bill.