Senate Adopts New Rules, Reflecting Transparency and Openness, for 2015-16 Session

This is the earliest the rules have been adopted by the Senate since they moved to a two year session in 1995. The new rules reflect the priorities of openness and transparency for Senate business that Senate President Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst) promised in his inaugural Senate address on January 7th.

Sex Offender Recidivism Commission

In 2013, the legislature created a commission to study “the most reliable protocols for assessing and managing the risk of recidivism of sex offenders.” Our goal is to make recommendations that will better protect the public from dangerous people, while being fair to offenders who pose little risk. The subject is difficult and emotional and we are trying to proceed in a step-by-step way to gather a full understanding of the subject before we reach any conclusions about public policy.

New Senate Committee Assignments

As we begin the new year, the Senate has released its Committee Chairs and assignments for the 2015-2016 legislature. Senator Brownsberger’s roles include the Judiciary Committee (chair), the Senate Ethics Committee (vice-chair), and membership on the Ways and Means Committee, Municipalities and Regional Government Committee, and Election Laws Committee

2015 Non-competition Bill

Senator Brownsberger and Representative Lori Ehrlich have filed “An Act relative to the judicial enforcement of non-competition agreements” in both the Senate and the House. This bill would prohibit the use of non-compete agreements but continue to allow other tools to protect business after separation, such as non-solicitation agreements or nondisclosure agreements. The bill does not impact existing agreements.

MyRWA’s Clean Water Campaign

Perhaps you heard that the EPA announced the 2013 water quality grade for the Mystic River Watershed last month. Unfortunately, for the fourth year in a row the watershed received a “D” water quality grade based on bacterial contamination. Luckily, there is also good news about efforts to improve water quality throughout the watershed!