Will Brownsberger — State Senator, Democrat, 2d Suffolk and Middlesex District

Hi Will … The bill passed recently preventing unions from collective bargaining on health plan design was sold by you and others on the basis that municipal managers needed the flexibility it offered in the face of rising health care costs, that benefits were unusually generous in some towns (e.g. $5 co-pays, very low premium [...]

Hi Will … I am curious if you know much about the services provided to educators by the DOE.  I am talking about licensure, MTEL, etc. The level of service for licensure particularly has steadily dropped over the years due to budget cuts.  At the moment a teacher with questions about their license can only [...]

Hi Will … Thanks for the email with links to the new cellphone / texting law. Do you have any idea why the ban on texting extends to vehicles stopped in traffic?  Most of it seems fine but this part seems overreaching to me — unless we are also going to prohibit all of the [...]

What is the status of the health insurance bill?  I remain very concerned that this will be done in a way that allows municipalities to make unilateral changes in negotiated labor agreements — I gather that such a power is in fact a provision of the Senate bill, but NOT of the House bill.

I just completed this training which is now required for all state and municipal employees. The scenarios are reasonable and even sometimes interesting, but they are also confusing because a lot (over 2/3?) of the training is for state employees and does not seem to apply in the same way for municipal employees — or [...]

I am responding to some comments I have seen here and also thinking about today’s Globe editorial on this topic. As a teacher and committed union member I think the recent spate of comments about teacher unions are WAY off as a generalization.  I do not dispute that some unions are stubborn about health costs [...]

I am curious as to your thoughts on the way we structure this in MA. I had a minor accident in Somerville in August (I backed into the left front door of a parked car causing scratches and dents).  Insurance company first told me it would be $1600 to fix the other car, considered a [...]