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.

Off-limits affordable housing law clouds Senate passage of zoning reforms

The State House News Service reported via WWLP News 22 on the zoning reform debate – Senator Brownsberger share his thoughts on the necessity of including some reforms to Chapter 40B in order to make progress:  “One of the decisions that was made in the drafting of this legislation was to keep 40B out of …