My bills

I am laser-focused on the issues that matter most to the residents of Marblehead, Swampscott, and Lynn. Whether fighting climate change, working to ensure our kids and teachers have the resources they need to emerge from the pandemic healthy, safe, and supported, or seeking to find creative solutions to make our communities more affordable, I strive to always be a pragmatic problem solver.

Climate: Transportation

The Electrification of MBTA commuter rail lines is critical to fighting climate change, dramatically reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and creating a fast, reliable alternative to cars. Electrification is especially important for environmental justice communities that have suffered disproportionately. These bills generate urgency and accountability to achieve our transportation goals.

  • H 3392: This bill requires the MBTA and its commuter rail contractor to operate a fully electric commuter rail system by December 31, 2025. This bill also requires that sufficient zero-emission infrastructure is in place to achieve this timeline over four phases. By 2035 the MBTA commuter rail system must have the ability to operate trains every 15 minutes on all lines in both directions.

  • H 3702: This is an important safety bill that legalizes existing practices. Modeled on legislation in several other states, it outlines a series of scenarios that would allow cyclists to slow to a reasonable speed and proceed at an intersection without coming to a full stop, thereby reducing the likelihood of collissions.

  • H 3673: This bill creates regulations for electric vehicle charging stations that require minimum safety standards, equity in access, and responsibility for maintenance and repair by charging providers. This bill is a common-sense addition to our state’s existing efforts in leading the transition to electric vehicles.

Climate: Clean Energy

Building on the incredible work of the last session, these bills seek to expand options for clean energy, specifically solar and geothermal sources. They tackle head on the need for DPU to be more transparent and to approach the utilities as clean heat suppliers – versus natural gas suppliers – and make choices for fixing and replacing infrastructure based on that imperative.  

  • H 3203: This bill allows a municipality or affected customer to petition the DPU to review a gas project and determine whether a non-gas alternative such as networked geothermal or electrification would better serve the public interest. It directs the DPU to develop standards to guide gas company decisions about whether to repair or replace pipe. And it repeals session law allowing gas companies to design programs to attract and recruit new gas customers.

  • H 3137: Currently, non-profit group organizations are blocked from acting as a public voice (or intervenor) in the adjudication process around work on gas pipelines in communities, unless given special permission by utilities. This bill would allow that participation “by right.” It would also hold utility companies liable for the death of trees.

  • H 3135: This bill will exempt municipal ratepayers, low-income ratepayers, community solar ratepayers, and owners of small-scale solar projects from having to pay a monthly minimum reliability contribution. Electric utility companies can ask DPU to levy this charge to cover the fixed costs of reliability, maintenance, and safety. This bill ensures that communities pursuing solar energy aren’t dissuaded by these kinds of hidden costs capable of killing a project.

  • H 3136: This bill directs the Department of Energy Resources to create a program that incentivizes the use of our schools’ built environment for solar energy, whether on roofs or parking lots. Such an effort would offer an opportunity to address a few challenges simultaneously: the high cost of energy for schools; the greenhouse gas emissions produced by that process; and the need for more community solar power generation. K-12 public schools, including municipal and state education offices, would be eligible for this program.

Climate: Electric Vehicles

This bill was inspired by the experiences of a constituent who found herself concerned about her safety while traveling with her young daughter in an EV. They were often led by apps to charging stations without lighting, in remote locations behind dumpsters and shipping containers, and inaccessible to help if they needed it. Unlike gassing up a car, charging takes time, making safety a far larger concern.  

  • H 3673: As above, this bill creates regulations for electric vehicle charging stations that require minimum safety standards, equity in access, and responsibility for maintenance and repair by charging providers. This bill is a common-sense addition to our state’s existing efforts in leading the transition to electric vehicles.

Climate: Trees

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”

- Franklin Roosevelt 

The enormous public good provided by trees is better understood today than it was even during the tree hugging environmental movement of my 1970s childhood. They provide oxygen, sequester carbon, provide shade, cool buildings, and prevent soil erosion. Science, along with the experience of living without them in areas that have been thoughtlessly cleared, point us in the direction of planting more – quickly. 

  • H 869: This bill establishes an Urban Forest Advisory Council that provides advice and technical assistance to municipalities, tree-planting organizations, municipal arborists, state foresters, and gas and electric companies. The bill requires that each municipality develop a reforestation plan which prioritizes environmental justice communities.

  • H 3137: As mentioned above, this bill holds utilities accountable for killing trees on public property.

Climate: Recycling

Do you have a coastal or lake district with boaters producing mountains of plastic shrink wrap? Every year, boaters in the United States generate 92 million pounds of it, used to protect boats in the off seasons. The vast majority ends up in landfills and in our oceans.  

  • H 3919: This bill creates a state-led program to require the recycling of boat shrink wrap.

Gender Equity

When he crafted the Massachusetts Constitution, John Adams failed to take Abigail’s sound advice to “remember the ladies.” To this day, it directs the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to be referred to as “His Excellency.” These two bills would finally update the Constitution to reflect the blessedly more equitable realities of our time, namely that the Commonwealth is now led by a woman Governor and Lieutenant Governor. These bills also seek to avoid Adams’ mistake of not imagining a future beyond the moment; the chief executives may refer to themselves as “Her Excellency,” “His Excellency,” or “Their Excellency.”

  • H. 30 and H. 31: These bills allow the chief executive to refer to themselves as “Her Excellency,” ”His Excellency,” or “Their Excellency.”

Children & Families

Lifting kids out of deep poverty requires that every resource available actually reaches the child. Currently, our child support system is set up to deny poor families much-needed monthly payments. If a custodial parent receives Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC), that family keeps just $50 per month of court-ordered child support; the rest is used to reimburse the state for cash assistance (even after they leave the system). In addition to withholding resources, this policy often creates a disincentive for noncustodial parents to comply with the order and remain engaged with their children.  

  • H 127: This bill would allow a family to keep the child support paid and would provide options for the family to opt out of the formal child support system when not in the child’s best interest.

    The kids are not alright. Children and adolescents continue to struggle with the impact of the pandemic, which exacerbated existing challenges and created new ones. This bill adds another type of mental health resource to those already eligible for insurance reimbursement, thereby expanding the number of covered providers.

  • H 1014: This bill expands the list of providers eligible to receive reimbursement for mental health services to include licensed educational psychologists.

To see a full list of all co-sponsored bills, click the link above.