Author: Cindy Friedman

Despite support from a majority of its members, legislation raising the Massachusetts minimum wage from $11 to $15 is ending the same way it began last year – pending before the Democrat-controlled Labor and Workforce Development Committee.

A News Service review determined at least 11 of 17 members of the Labor and Workforce Development Committee, which has had custody of the $15 minimum wage bill throughout 2017, are co-sponsors of the bills. They are committee co-chair Sen. Jason Lewis, vice chair Sen. Patricia Jehlen and Sens. Sal DiDomenico, John Keenan and Cindy Friedman, along with Reps. Elizabeth Malia, Christine Barber, Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Steve Ultrino, Gerard Cassidy and Juana Matias.

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“Sen. Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington, recently celebrated her 100th day in the Massachusetts State Senate and released a comprehensive list of noteworthy moments since she was sworn into office on July 27, 2017. This summer, Friedman ran in a special election to succeed the late Sen. Ken Donnelly, who passed away from brain cancer in April. She had worked as his chief of staff for nearly a decade.

‘Today marks my 100th day in office,’ Friedman said in an email to constituents. ‘During the campaign, I said that I’d be ‘ready on Day 1’ and I meant it.’

Since the official swearing-in ceremony, Friedman has traveled throughout the 4th Middlesex district meeting with constituents, speaking at community events and discussing important issues impacting Massachusetts. She began her legislative duties at the State House by taking part in several key votes in the Senate to reform the criminal justice system, contain health care costs, reduce property tax rates for seniors, military personnel, people with disabilities, and more.”

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BILLERICA — The massive crane swoops down and grabs the final steel beam covered in signatures — along with an American flag and Christmas tree attached to its top. Officials grin from ear to ear, looking up at another milestone for the $176 million high-school project.

Residents, students, officials and construction workers gathered for the topping off ceremony of the new Billerica Memorial High School on Wednesday. The school, located on the existing site, is set to open in 2019.

Sen. Cindy Friedman, of Arlington, was the late Sen. Ken Donnelly’s chief of staff when they worked to secure funding for this project. She said the new school will provide students with the most up-to-date technology, preparing them for higher education and the workforce. “We must continue to give our students all the support they need to excel, and I know that Billerica is committed to doing this,” Friedman said.

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BILLERICA — Officials pitched it as a “temporary” home for pre-trial detainees. It was the fall of 2012, and officials were announcing a $37 million plan to expand the Middlesex House of Correction in Billerica to house those prisoners from the Cambridge Jail. They continued to stress, however, that the relocation of detainees would only be temporary while officials looked for a 5-acre site to build the Southern Middlesex Justice Center.

Last year, the late Sen. Ken Donnelly and Rep. Marc Lombardo sponsored a resolve to establish a commission to investigate sites for the jail.

Like Lombardo, Sen. Cindy Friedman — who succeeded Donnelly, and was his chief of staff — supports housing detainees at a new site in southern Middlesex County. The state needs to fulfill this commitment, she emphasized. “I’m very much supportive of the project, and would like to see it move forward,” Friedman said.

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BOSTON — As allegations of misogyny and sexual harassment swirl both inside and outside of the Statehouse, local female lawmakers areas said leaders on Beacon Hill should take tough and swift action against harassers on a zero-tolerance basis.

“I think it’s something that women face everywhere, no matter what the situation is, what the field is,’ said state Sen. Cindy Friedman, whose district includes Billerica and Burlington. “It’s pretty rampant as we can see, as we’ve learned — all the stories have come out in different fields.”

“I really believe that if you want to stop certain behaviors from happening, it needs to come from the top,’ Friedman said, ‘and people who are in a position of power need to understand that if they engage in this kind of behavior that there’s consequences, and they will be strong and they will be swift.”

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The close, mutually beneficial partnership between business, industry and Minuteman High School was highlighted at Minuteman’s ninth annual Program Advisory Committee Appreciation Dinner on Oct. 25.

State Sen. Cindy Friedman, who represents the 4th Middlesex District and is a member of several legislative committees including the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, lauded that vital partnership in her remarks to the gathering.

“The connection between industry, workforce development and vocational high schools is critical,” she said.

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Veterans gathered at Billerica Town Hall on Nov. 16 for a forum designed to educate them on the benefits available to them in the community. State Rep. Marc Lombardo hosted the forum, inviting speakers to present information to local veterans.

Speakers at the forum included: Acting Director of Bedford VA Hospital Ed Koetting; Lowell Social Security Office representative Marilenin Vasquez; Assistant Director U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Benefits Office Ena Lima; Military War Records Michael Perna; Billerica Town Assessor Rich Scanlon, Billerica Veterans Agent Ken Buffum,; and Department of Veteran Services Secretary Francisco Urena.

State Senator Cindy Friedman said the legislature needs to make sure veterans have benefits available to them when they return home.

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