State’s top cop rules for homeless man in trespass case

Senator Brownsberger was quoted in a State House News Service article in the Brockton Enterprise regarding an SJC decision on the defense of necessity: “I certainly don’t think we should be rushing to rule out common sense defenses to crimes,” Brownsberger said. He said, “We’ll have to look at the opinion carefully but that’s my incoming bias.”

Citizens’ Legislative Seminar, Fall 2016

Senator Brownsberger is seeking nominees to participate in the 77th Citizens’ Legislative Seminar (CLS) to be held October 17-18 at the State House in Boston.  CLS is a semi-annual educational seminar geared towards adults of all ages interested in learning more about state government and the legislative process.  Participants are required to attend both days. …

Role of Probation Dept in Sentencing Recommendations

Will I wonder if Massachusetts has a similar system as California where a representative of the Probation or Corrections department is responsible for interviewing researching and making a post sentencing recommendation to the Judge when deciding what sentence is to be imposed on a convicted person? If so does the Commonwealth have a legal framework …

Zoning Reform — how it went in the Senate

The final vote was relatively close for a major bill with leadership support. But the volume and significance of the changes that the Senate made on the floor — and the close vote — make clear that a House-Senate consensus will not be reached before formal sessions end on July 31. I was pleased to speak for and vote for the bill. Here are some of my takeaways.