Will Brownsberger — State Senator, Democrat, 2d Suffolk and Middlesex District

On Tuesday, June 21, at 10AM in Room A-2 in the State House, the Education Committee will hear testimony on two pieces of legislation related to the membership of the board of education. Both bills — House 1088 (sponsored by Rep. Walz) and House 1917 (sponsored by Rep. Garballey) — are designed to assure that [...]

Representative Brownsberger will be participating in a meeting on Redistricting which is being held in Lexington at the Cary Memorial Library, 1874 Mass. Ave. at 7PM on June 9th. The major redistricting question for Massachusetts is how to shrink our Congressional delegation from 10 to 9, since that reduction is dictated by the 2010 Census. [...]

We send our elected representatives to the State House to make hard decisions.  They are usually not popular with everyone.  Representative Brownsberger has listened to all sides of this issue and made the best choice possible.  Saying no is the hardest thing any of us has to do.  Will, your experience in town government shows [...]

Rep. Brownsberger, You said in the posting the Unions played by the rules but you have chosen to change them and that is not good faith bargaining.  I read your posting that because you are a legislator, you can change the rules.  As a union member who has negotiated contracts for my local, I played [...]

From today’s Boston Globe – ““It’s pretty stunning,’’ said Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “These are the same Democrats that all these labor unions elected. The same Democrats who we contributed to in their campaigns.”  Congratulations to you, Will, and the others who voted FOR the people of MA who get handed [...]

I believe it is incredibly insensitive and reprehensible to remove collective bargaining rights from the union when planning health care options for their employees.   As a lifetime Democrat, I believe it is time for me and others to reconsider our political affiliation.     Why are you so afraid of our right to bargain [...]

Last night the House of Representatives voted 113 to 42 to remove health care plan design from collective bargaining for municipal employees. I view the reform as a very modest and responsible labor law adjustment that reflects important practical realities.

I’ll be reporting on budget issues to the Belmont town meeting on May 9.

The pay scales of public employees might be decided by an impartial referee committee that has no vested interest but the public interest (as much as is humanly possible). Politicians should not be directly involved in negotiating with unions. I believe in the very high value of unions.  However,  it is true that most people [...]

Will -I support your stand with the speaker on removing bargaining rights for municipalities on health care. Budgets are being cut to the bone and everything should be on the table in setting town budgets. Health care is also the prime area of expense growth and we all have to share the pain of controlling [...]

Will, I support your stand on allowing local authorities to modify contracts. All budgets are under pressure and there has to be shared sacrifice. I would like to see some more sacrifice by taxpayers. The tax rate could easily go up. The quid pro quo would be that towns and the State Government would have [...]

The House Ways and Means Budget does not adopt the Governor’s proposal to fold the Committee for Public Counsel Services into the Executive Branch and eliminate bar advocates (contract attorneys), replacing them with 1000 new hires. It does attempt some cost-savings in indigent representation.

I am working on a portfolio of bills to further a clean energy strategy in this session.

An overview of bill flow in the past session.

Today, the House voted unanimously to stop an increase in the unemployment insurance assessments on employers.

I have received hundreds of identical emails, mostly from people outside Massachusetts, urging me to support the Farm Animal Cruelty Act.

Senator Tolman and Representative Brownsberger announced today the passage of House 701, a bill which would kick start the conversation about state acquisition of the Silver Maple Forest property, also known as the Belmont Uplands.

Four part-time unpaid internships in my State House office will be available for the summer of 2011. We have a variety of other options both for students and for persons past college age.

House 5024, a bill requested by vote of Belmont’s Town Meeting, will give the Selectmen the authority to issue seven additional restaurant alcohol licenses. These will will be all-alcohol licenses for restaurants between 60 and 250 seats.

The legislature enacted two more of Belmont’s five home rule petitions for this session