(March 22, 2019) Since the 1990s, Pharmaceutical companies have been marketing opioids as safe and effective for treating chronic pain, despite evidence that the proven risks outweigh the proven benefits in most cases. This legislative session, I filed an Opioid Stewardship Bill which aims to defray the costs of the opioid epidemic by enacting a drug stewardship assessment on opioid manufacturers doing business in the Commonwealth. The funds collected through this assessment will be deposited in the substance abuse services fund to be used for substance use disorder prevention and treatment.

(Feb 7, 2019) Thank you, Mayor Petty and the rest of the Worcester School Committee, for giving me the opportunity to speak about the importance of medically accurate, age-appropriate, and LGBTQ inclusive sex education during the most recent school committee meeting. I was happy to hear that the school committee adopted a new health curriculum for our schools, as well as tabling the sex education portion of the curriculum until after Massachusetts comes out with new health education standards later this year. If you'd like to learn more about the long history of sex education curriculum in Worcester, Bill Shaner from Worcester Magazine outlines it perfectly: https://www.worcestermag.com/news/20190214/feature-long-winding-road--to-sex-ed-in-worcester

(Feb 7, 2019) Last night, the Worcester School Committee adopted a new health curriculum for our schools, which includes topics on opiate addiction, relationships, bullying and the health effects of tobacco. Thanks to community efforts, the sex education portion of the curriculum was pulled out of the proposal and will be tabled until further review. The fight doesn't stop here! This legislative session, I re-filed the Act Relative to Healthy Youth with my colleague State Representative Paul Brodeur. Under this legislation, young people who attend Massachusetts public schools will receive honest and complete education about their health, relationships, and sex. It would require any public school choosing to teach sex education to use a curriculum that develops essential affirmative consent and communication skills in addition to providing accurate, age-appropriate, and LGBTQ inclusive information about sexual health. It is our responsibility to ensure that our students are equipped to build healthy, respectful, and safe relationships appropriate for every stage of life.

(Feb 7, 2019) As you all may know, the MBTA is proposing to increase their fares by an average of 6.3% starting July 1, 2019. The MBTA's proposal would increase the fare of a one-way ticket from Worcester (Zone 8 of the Commuter Rail) to Boston from $11.50 to $12.25. Comparatively, the monthly pass would increase $25 - totaling $388. This fare increase would burden our residents who cannot afford transportation alternatives. These financial barriers would hurt businesses and limit the access of talented members of the workforce to jobs in different neighborhoods of the Commonwealth. I was also disappointed to find out that none of the public hearings regarding the fare proposal were located in Worcester, taking away MBTA's farthest-reaching customers the opportunity to contribute to the conversation. I hope the MBTA will decide to hold a public hearing in Worcester prior to the deadline for public comment. The Fiscal and Management Control Board is expected to vote on the fare increases on March 11, 2019. For additional information about the proposal, and to submit public comment, please visit https://www.mbta.com/fare-proposal-2019.

(Nov 27, 2018) It was National Grid's choice to lock out these steelworkers, it was not the workers' choice to walk away. As of right now, these workers pay out of pocket for their health care. A part of my bill would require National Grid to pay for the steelworkers' continued health care.

(Dec 4, 2018) I was honored to stand with my colleagues and the locked out workers of National Grid to push for restored health insurance coverage, blocked access to public funds, and a hold on rate increases until National Grid comes back to the table and ends the lockout. Thousands of families have been without salaries and health insurance for the past 164 days, and the lockout has drained over a million dollars from our economy. This is not how we treat our workers here in Massachusetts. Watch a clip of my testimony here. #Endthelockout #H4960