Employees’ Rights
• Supports lawful right of employees to form a union without interference, intimidation or fear of reprisals from employers
• Supports workers’ right to collectively bargain with employers over terms of employment such as wages, health benefits, retirement benefits, work rules, and health and safety policies
• Supports state employees’ rights to collectively bargain for healthcare coverage
• Opposes any measures that would weaken or eliminate the existing collective bargaining rights of workers
Public Safety
• Led the fight to reinstate a daytime drug control unit in South Boston
• Sponsored legislation to restore Boston Police Department jurisdiction in the city’s Seaport District
• Helped pass a bill to curb the epidemic of prescription drug abuse such as Oxycontin in Massachusetts
• Supported the state Probation Department’s “Operation Movement” initiative which increased visibility, awareness and community understanding of the department’s important public safety role
Social Services
• Led fight on Beacon Hill to enact CHINS reform legislation that created the Families and Children Engaged in Services (FACES) program, an approach that will keep families together and children out of the criminal justice system
• Secured state funding for local health centers to deliver drug prevention programs in city neighborhoods
• Secured state funding for nurse training programs
• Secured $2.3 million dollars in funding for Julie’s Learning Center and the Gavin House
Elder Affairs
• Sponsored legislation to ensure that non-elders could not live in state-funded Senior Housing
• Delivering funding for shuttle transportation and daytime programming for seniors
Economic Development
• Sponsored legislation to establish a new tax credit program to enliven the theater industry in Boston and create jobs and promote economic growth
Healthcare
• Sponsored H1012 An Act to Benefit the Health Safety Net Trust Fund, which called for contributions to the Health Safety Net Fund from large and independent physician organizations unless they are affiliated with a hospital, have fewer than 500 physician members, or at least 15% of their charges serve Medicaid patients
• Voted for legislation that protected the rights of teachers, police officers, firefighters and other municipal worker’s rights to collectively bargain for their healthcare
• Supports protection of jobs and assurance of quality care as healthcare industry continues to shift toward the Accountable Care Organization model
