Comments on the Gas Leaks Legislation

This week, the Senate passed legislation to address leaking natural gas pipelines. I was pleased to support this legislation. Jeanne Mooney has posted the official senate press release on this site, but I wanted to offer some additional explanation and comments. Leaking natural gas is a real problem: It is costly. It sometimes endangers the …

Nurses and Needles

The costs of college and graduate education have soared out of control. I’m a strong advocate for giving people less expensive ways to learn what they need to know in order to work.  Overly broad professional licensure requirements can contribute to unnecessarily high education costs and generally to higher costs for consumers. We only let …

Unemployment Insurance Rates for Construction Firms

One of the more complex issues currently before us is the rate structure for unemployment insurance. One of the major features of the Senate’s recently passed bill was a shift in rates that would charge more to companies who routinely layoff workers on a seasonal basis. This is only fair to other businesses — it’s …

Watertown Town Council weighs in on bus service issues

The Watertown Town Council has transmitted a letter to the MBTA expressing concerns and offering collaboration for service improvement. Letter to MBTA, 03-20-2014 Representatives Hecht and Lawn and I have been in close contact with the Town Council. In addition to 71 and 73 issues, the council is also concerned about the 70 and the …