Opioid Crisis

In 2018 I was appointed to the Section 35 Commission to study the involuntary treatment of alcohol and substance abuse and was the only member of the commission from western Massachusetts. During the studies, I identified that there was a regional inequity issue when I discovered there was no facility to treat women in western MA needing Section 35 treatment, the closest facility was 2 hours away. I worked with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to address this issue and begin taking the necessary steps to create a facility in western MA so women needing substance abuse treatment did not have to travel 2 hours to receive it.

I have developed a great working relationship with our area hospitals. In the FY20 State Budget I was able to secure $100,000 for the purpose to support, enhance and expand programming for its “Rooming In Program” for infants and mothers with opioid use disorder. This program helps hospitals keep mothers and infants safe by having them under the supervision of the hospital to monitor health needs and provide support and assistance to the mothers through health care and social services before and after birth.

Education

The legislature passed monumental education legislation, the Student Opportunity Act. This bill helps update the funding formula and increases the Chapter 70 contributions to local school districts. It also addresses the costs of educating low income students, special education students and English learners. It provides guidance and psychological services to students and provides health insurance to employees and retirees of the school systems.

The Chapter 70 program is the major program of state aid to public elementary and secondary schools. In addition to providing state aid to support school operations, it also establishes minimum spending requirements for each school district and minimum requirements for each municipality’s share of school costs.  I helped secure an additional $12.5M in Chapter 70 funding for the 6th Hampden District in FY2019.

Protecting Seniors

The Commonwealth must take care of its senior citizens. I hold bi-weekly office hours at the West Springfield and Chicopee Senior Centers to talk and listen to the concerns and needs our seniors have. I support the Meals on Wheels program that delivers warm meals to seniors across the district and the senior circuit breaker tax credit that gives seniors a tax discount, which is important for those living on a fixed income.   I also support making sure seniors have reliable, safe and ADA compliant transportation and affordable housing.

Addressing Western MA Health Care Needs

Western MA has different health care needs than the rest of the state. I worked together with Baystate Health and UMASS Medical School to secure state support and funding to create a regional campus at Baystate Health in Springfield and start a Population-based Urban and Rural Community Health Track. This innovative medical approach to medical education focuses on integrated care within the community, healthcare disparities and population health and team-based patient care. It also focuses on providing quality care and addressing the needs of the under-served inner city and rural communities of western MA.

Conserving Bear Hole and Improving Our Parks

Bear Hole has been treasured by West Springfield residents for generations. I wanted to do my part in making sure Bear Hole is properly conserved for future generations to enjoy. With this in mind, I was able to secure $100,000 from the state to begin a carbon sequestration program. This program protects Bear Hole from development and allows the town to sell the undeveloped lands as carbon credits to private companies to offset their carbon footprint, effectively making the carbon sequestration program a revenue generator and a conservation program for the town.

West Springfield is also home to beautiful parks and fields. I take pride in our parks and want them to be in pristine condition for residents to utilize for sports or leisure. I was able to bring back funding for infrastructure improvement projects, park maintenance, drainage and surface improvements to athletic facilities and expanded recreation programs. In conjunction with West Springfield Friends of Park and Recreation and the West Springfield Parks and Recreation Department, we were able to put the funding to good use repaving all town basketball courts and skate park and aerating the soccer fields. We were also able to take funding and construct a new pickle ball court, tennis court, batting cage and basketball court at Mittneague Park. I am proud to have played a role in these projects being completed and working with other great parks and recreation advocates in West Springfield.

The Economy

Over the past two years I have worked with my colleagues on many important initiatives that will help the business community recover from the recession more quickly.  My main goal has been to focus on areas that keep people working or help them to get back to work.  To achieve that goal I supported the following:

Reform

A large number of governmental reforms have been passed during the 2013-2014 legislative session.  Many of these reforms were born by necessity as the great recession caused significant reductions in statewide tax collections and forced the legislature to find new ways of saving money and increasing efficiency.  The legislature was committed to protecting core services for those who need them the most while avoiding raising any new taxes.  This was accomplished by disciplined fiscal policy and a series of reforms that will save the commonwealth hundreds of millions of dollars now and well into the future.

I supported the following reforms:

• Pension Reform:  These new rules will save the Commonwealth 5 Billion dollars over the next ten years.  The changes increase by 2 years the retirement age for new employees, and also increase the retirement averaging formula from 3 to 5 years.
• Municipal Health Reform:  This new legislation allows for municipalities to negotiate health insurance plans outside of collective bargaining.  It sets rules for how the savings are shared between a municipality and its employees.  This legislation has saved cities and towns across the Commonwealth over 100 million dollars and has allowed police and fireman to stay on our streets and teachers to stay in our classrooms.  It was a difficult vote for me to make, but I am confident it was the right vote.
• Court Reform:  These reforms create guidelines for hiring and promoting individuals based on merit, create a Court Administrator position to run the business side of the Trial Court so Judges can focus on court proceedings, and provides for Legislative approval before any Court can be closed to ensure justice can be provided to every citizen of the Commonwealth in a reasonable amount of time.  The measures in the court reform legislation aim to restore public trust in a judicial system that was in need of repair.
• Unemployment Insurance Reform: This new legislation increased the taxable wage base from $14,000 to $15,000, saving Massachusetts employers between 3% and 29%. The law also instituted a three-year rate freeze between 2015 and 2017, providing rate relief for businesses in the Commonwealth. Most importantly, the legislation reframed the debate on unemployment insurance reform to ensure it does not include benefits or restrict eligibility.
• Veterans’ Affairs Reform: The VALOR Act II provides increased property tax relief and enhances employment, education, and healthcare support services for our veterans. The bill also creates a home modification program to ensure veterans the ability to stay in their homes and function with independence and dignity. The law also includes provisions which increase penalties for disturbing military funerals or services and provides new protections against charity fraud.

The combination of reforms and sound fiscal policy that have taken place this legislative session have positioned the Commonwealth to recover from the Great Recession quicker and stronger than the rest of the country.  The Legislature has taken the challenges we have faced very seriously and responded accordingly.   As a result, in spite of the tough economic picture, we were able to improve the Commonwealth’s Bond rating to AA+ and are one of only three states with over 1 billion dollars available in our rainy day fund.  By making the difficult choices that had to be made, and by facing challenges head on, we have been able to lower the cost of doing business for years to come.

Healthcare

Individuals, families, businesses and governments have all been struggling with the unsustainable growth in health care costs.  This year the legislature made significant strides towards resolving this crisis by passing “H4127 An Act Improving the Quality of Health Care Costs and Reducing Costs through Increased Transparency, Efficiency, and Innovation.â€ÂÂ  This legislation addresses several areas that will collectively save the Commonwealth 160 billion dollars over the next fifteen years.  We spent many months carefully balancing the need for reform without harming the Commonwealth’s number one employment sector while crafting this bill.  This new legislation aims to promote innovation and reward quality outcomes through the following means:

• Creates new Health Care Payment Models moving away from fee for service
• Promotes Efficiency through Electronic Medical Record Interoperability
• Ties health care growth to Gross State Product -.05% making cost increases predictable
• Increases Medicaid/Medicare Rates to Doctors
• Adopts new Medical Malpractice Policy reducing litigation
• Requires Consumers to have active participation in their care, creating system transparency

Massachusetts is renowned for our world class health care facilities.  We are the first state with universal coverage for our residents, and we will continue to be leaders in innovation and quality while showing the rest of the nation that quality health care can be affordable.

Substance Abuse Recovery

In recent years, the Commonwealth has faced an epidemic of opiate addiction. In order to combat this, the legislature passed S. 2142, “An Act to Increase Opportunities for Long-Term Substance Abuse Recovery,â€Â providing much-need services to those facing the crippling struggle of addiction. The bill provides a continuum of care and removes barriers that stand in the way of effective treatment through the following of means:

• Requires the Drug Formulary Commission to prepare a drug formulary of chemically equivalent substitutions, which must include abuse deterrent properties and must take into consideration cost and accessibility for consumers.
• Authorizes the Department of Health to schedule a substance as Schedule I for up to one year if it poses an imminent hazard to public safety and is not already listed in a different schedule.
• Strengthens the Prescription Monitoring Program
• Creates a commission to review prescription painkiller limitations by insurance carriers
• Provides increased access to care and improves the standard of care by removing prior authorization for substance abuse treatment if the provider is certified or licensed by DPH

The prevalence of substance abuse in Massachusetts hurts families and burdens the taxpayers. This legislation provides the necessary services to help those most in need of it. By addressing the issue now, the Commonwealth can not only save millions in potentially lost revenue but can also save lives.

I have spent countless hours throughout my first term in office learning more about a very complex issue.  The savings that will be realized from the changes we have made to the health care industry are significant.  These savings will allow families to more easily pay their mortgages and allow small businesses to hire more employees or buy new equipment.  Cities and Towns will be able to keep teachers in our classrooms and police and firemen on our streets.  I was privileged to have served as an active member of the Committee that brought this legislation forward

2011 Tornado

Many of us will never forget the tornado that devastated western Massachusetts on June 1, 2011.  Just hours after the tornado took everything from so many people, I escorted Governor Patrick and Senator Kerry to West Springfield to survey how much damage had occurred from the storm.  I wanted them to fully understand the level of devastation that we were facing and I immediately asked for their support to get us back on our feet.  In just a matter of weeks I was able to secure 15 million dollars in Tornado Relief Money to be used by the communities that had been impacted.

This money helped pay for public safety personnel who worked around the clock to help secure our streets and care for victims.  The money was used by our communities to clear streets that had been left impassable from debris.  This money provided resources to shelters so that they were able to provide food and water to those left homeless.  Western Massachusetts could not have recovered as quickly as we did without the help of the Tornado Relief Money secured through an emergency supplemental budget request.

My District Office was destroyed by the tornado and I knew first hand how tough the rebuilding process was.  I spent the next weeks helping in every capacity possible because of this.  I was grateful that so many people reached out to my office to help their families, friends, and neighbors.  I was so proud to have been a part of the rebuilding process and will never forget how the community came together to help one another.

The Issues

No matter where I go throughout our district, the number one concern on people’s minds is the economy.  Some are worried that the recession was overwhelming and the recovery is not happening fast enough.  Others are concerned that health care costs are too expensive and that the increases each year are unsustainable.  People are still worried about the future and they are turning to their government for help.

I have listened to the individual stories and done everything possible to fight for important changes that would have a real impact sooner, rather than later.  I knew there were ways to make government more efficient, to eliminate wasteful spending, and to help create an environment where businesses could once again thrive.  I also knew this could be accomplished while protecting core services to those who needed them the most, our children, our seniors, and our veterans.

Our Commonwealth has been dealing with a significant reduction in Federal funding over the past two years.  We have been forced to find a way to do more with less.  But, I am proud to say we met this challenge and did it without raising taxes, while increasing our “rainy day fundâ€Â to over one billion dollars, and while keeping our unemployment rate well below the national average.  Thanks to a well balanced and disciplined fiscal policy, and a series of legislative reforms, Massachusetts is recovering from the “great recessionâ€Â much faster than the rest of the nation.

There is still a great deal of work to be done, but I am confident that we are headed in the right direction.  I invite you to look over this website and read more about my accomplishments in the legislature and to see how Massachusetts is well positioned to move towards a great future.