In the News

On Oct. 27, the Massachusetts Senate passed an omnibus criminal justice reform bill, an issue which State Sen. Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington, has been a supporter of since her election campaign this summer.

The bill, which features 240 sections, was introduced to the senate by the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in 2017. The bill highlights areas of the criminal justice system, like diversion programs, decriminalization and criminal penalties and procedures, that Friedman noted had not been looked at comprehensively for some time.

“I feel that on a lot of different levels we need to update our criminal justice system so the focus is on incarcerating less people,” said Friedman.

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BOSTON — A workforce training grant program championed for years by the late Sen. Kenneth Donnelly would be named in memory of him and given a dedicated funding stream under a bill the Senate passed Thursday. The Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund provides regional training partnerships with the goal of placing unemployed and underemployed workers in jobs that pay a decent wage. Sen. Jason Lewis said the trust fund can help both workers and employees.

“Ken Donnelly never gave up this effort, nor did he ever relax his constant and vocal support for working families,” said Sen. Cindy Friedman, who served as Donnelly’s chief of staff and has since been elected to his seat in the Senate, said in her maiden address. “Because of the work he did to provide opportunities for our residents, it is a fitting gesture that as we supply a reliable funding stream we name the grants that will be made possible after Ken Donnelly.”

Donnelly’s widow, Judy, was present in the Senate’s temporary chamber for the unanimous vote on both the amendment and bill. The bill now goes to the House for consideration.

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Ahead of the long-anticipated debate on its criminal justice bill Thursday, the Massachusetts Senate launched its own online broadcast program to highlight major Senate initiatives.

The streaming series, “State of the Senate,” premiered at 10:30 a.m. with seven Democratic senators discussing various aspects of the criminal justice bill (S 2185). The program is available on the Legislature’s website and on closed-circuit TVs inside the State House.

Sens. William Brownsberger, Patricia Jehlen, Karen Spilka, Michael Barrett, Sonia Chang-Diaz, Cindy Friedman and Jamie Eldridge spoke, accompanied by stock footage and elevator music, for about 18 minutes about the bill they will debate Thursday.

The Senate president’s office said the program will air “periodically” and that a second episode is planned to cover the Senate’s health care reform bill.

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BOSTON — The Massachusetts Legislature is considering a major overhaul of the state’s criminal justice system. The bill, S.2185, is 113 pages long, has 239 sections and is estimated to cost more than $1 million in the next fiscal year. So what would the bill do? Here is a look at a few major topics addressed in the bill.

The purpose of bail reform is to ensure that someone is not imprisoned solely because they are unable to afford cash bail.

“What we’re trying to do with bail reform is move bail from a cash based system, which disproportionately affects people who don’t have money, to a system that’s evidence based and that’s objective and that determines or looks at whether someone is a flight risk or a danger to themselves or others,” said Sen. Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington.

What this means is establishing ways for judges to assess whether someone is a flight risk or a danger, determine how much they can pay, and set bail at the least restrictive amount possible to ensure that they will return to court and will not pose a danger to others.

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BOSTON — Sen. Cindy Friedman never thought she wanted this job. But last year, everything changed.

She’s managed political campaigns, and even worked as chief of staff for a senator. But she’s ‘always been behind the scenes — and I’m fine with that.’ Then her boss in the Statehouse, Kenneth Donnelly, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. He died in April.

Friedman didn’t have to run for his open seat. She could’ve stepped back and let a newcomer try their hand at state politics. But she felt like she lost her “partner,” she said.

“I had to get out of my comfort zone and say, this is important to me that I’m willing to risk losing, that I’m willing to put everything I have out there to try to remain in this work so I can continue it,” she told The Sun in a recent interview.

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BOSTON — If lawmakers give county sheriffs the funds and leeway to open up region-wide lockup facilities for detainees, Middlesex County would need to expand its current jail facility — but its current staff could handle the influx of prisoners, Sheriff Peter Koutoujian says.

Sen. Cindy Friedman, Donnelly’s successor and former chief of staff, said she has heard from several concerned police chiefs who feel the bill would save money in the long run. The bill filed last session was reported favorably out of committee before stalling.

Friedman, a Democrat whose district includes Arlington, Billerica, Burlington and Lexington, said the Senate Ways and Means Committee expressed some concerns last session about the funding of the facility. “This time we’re gonna try and address those issues for them, so people feel comfortable about it,” she said.

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Issues embracing limits on prison sentences and on devices aimed at producing machine guns drew support last week from Sen. Cindy Friedman, Democrat of Arlington.

On Thursday, Oct. 12, she expressed support for a comprehensive criminal-justice bill, sponsored by Sen. Will Brownsberger, Democrat of Belmont: “I am proud to stand with Senate colleagues and community advocates…Now is the time to bring real, meaningful reform to fruition in our state to reduce unnecessary incarceration and refocus on criminal diversion.”

She commented in an Oct. 14 news release following a State House rally seeking the passage of Senate Bill 2170, An Act Relative to Criminal Justice Reform.

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After the town of Arlington decided to turn the Gibbs building into a sixth grade school, the Lesley Ellis school was one of the four tenants who needed to find a new home.

On Oct. 11, Benson invited school community members and state Sen. Cindy Friedman to a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the new location. Lesley Ellis currently serves 183 students from preschool to eighth grade. Roughly half of those students are from Arlington and the rest are from surrounding towns

“You should all be very proud, this is a wonderful building. It’s old, it’s got great roots and you’ve done a beautiful job to modernize it and make it a welcoming environment, which is one of your great legacies,” said Friedman.

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BOSTON, MA — Several years ago Mary Maguire’s 17-year-old son was driving home from a homecoming dance. He fell asleep at the wheel while on I-495 near Wrentham. He woke up while his pickup truck was taking down highway reflectors and over-corrected course, the truck hurdling across all three lanes before crashing.

He was trapped so tightly he couldn’t reach his phone. It took three sets of “jaws of life” to get him out. The emergency crews told Maguire later that it looked like it would be a salvage mission instead of a rescue mission. But her son made it out alive. All because he was wearing his seatbelt that night. Now a more strict seatbelt law is being sought by legislators. One bill was presented this week to the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. If passed, it would essentially require everyone to wear a seatbelt, allow police to pull over a car for anyone who is not wearing one, and double the current fine for not wearing one.

“Seatbelts save lives. That is a given,” said State Senator Cindy Friedman, who said she wasn’t familiar with the law yet. “In general I agree with mandatory seatbelt laws. We would have to make sure that there are no unintended consequences in terms of how the law would be applied.”

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The Burlington Democratic Town Committee recently held its first meeting of the 2017-18 year, with State Sen. Cindy Friedman delivering an update on legislative priorities.

Friedman’s priorities include preserving access to and coverage for health care; support of paid family leave; and support of the Fair Share Amendment, which would tax income over $1 million as an investment in public transportation and public education. Friedman is also focused on increasing worker protections and rights and is currently leading the effort in the Senate to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2021.

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