Elected to his second term as president, Rosenberg said criminal justice reform, raising the minimum wage, passing paid family leave and regulating self-driving cars will be among his priorities.
BOSTON - Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, was elected on Wednesday to a second two-year term as leader of the Massachusetts Senate.
In a speech before the newly sworn-in members of the Senate, Rosenberg laid out his priorities for the upcoming session, which range from regulating self-driving cars to reforming the criminal justice system to passing paid family leave and raising the minimum wage.
Rosenberg said despite the partisanship and divisiveness around the country in the wake of the presidential election, he hopes to lead a Senate that works collaboratively with the Republican minority and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.
"We cannot afford for the country to slip into even deeper gridlock or for us in Massachusetts to be tempted to do so ourselves," Rosenberg said, according to his prepared remarks. "In this new term, let's meet our challenges with openness, civility, common purpose and with boldness and a sense of urgency."
Senate Republicans nominated Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, as president, a symbolic move since Democrats control just six seats in the 40-member Senate. After the 34-6 vote, Tarr moved that Rosenberg's election be declared unanimous.
One priority Rosenberg identified is addressing advances in transportation technology. Last session, lawmakers passed a bill establishing a regulatory framework for ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft. This year, Rosenberg said lawmakers will have to look at new technology like self-driving cars. "All electric autonomous vehicles will present us with a new set of public finance, legal, liability, and safety challenges," Rosenberg said. "Once again, we will need to move quickly and deftly to handle this new disruption."
In this Republican File Photo, State Senate President Stanley Rosenberg sits with the editorial board of The Republican. (JOHN SUCHOCKI / THE REPUBLICAN)Staff-Shot
Rosenberg said Massachusetts will also have to address new challenges related to climate change, energy and education.
Rosenberg said while technological changes create opportunities in new fields like information technology and life sciences, they also drive down wages and displace jobs - for example, with automated checkout machines replacing cashiers.
"These forces are exacerbating the tensions we identified two years ago as central to our debates: the gnawing disparity in incomes in our state and nation; the difficulties faced by those whose wages are not rising; the frustrations endured by those who don't have a job but want one; the pain of working at a minimum wage job that fails to pay the bills," Rosenberg said.
The Massachusetts Senate last term passed a bill mandating paid family leave, but it did not pass the House. Rosenberg said the Senate planned to take up a similar bill again. He also supported another raise in the state minimum wage. The state last raised the minimum wage in 2014 with a series of gradual increases, the final one of which, to $11 an hour, just went into effect Jan. 1. Activists have been pushing for an increase to $15 an hour.
Rosenberg has been a long-time advocate of new tax revenue - an approach not generally shared by Democratic House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, and actively opposed by Baker. In his speech, Rosenberg pressed for passage of a constitutional amendment, which is expected to be on the ballot in 2018, raising the tax rate on income over $1 million. "The resulting extra tax contribution from our wealthiest residents, earmarked for education and transportation, will help fund these necessary, critical pillars for a robust knowledge-driven economy," Rosenberg said.
Until that time, Rosenberg said he wants to to look for new revenues by taxing the room-sharing service Airbnb and by closing unspecified tax loopholes.
In other areas, Rosenberg said senators will craft multi-year plans for education and transportation.
The education plan, he said, will include an expansion of early childhood elimination, to eliminate an existing 26,000-child waitlist. Rosenberg advocated for an increase in state appropriations for public colleges and universities to lower student tuition.
The transportation plan will address the need for infrastructure improvements, particularly outside of urban Boston.
On energy, Rosenberg stressed the need to address climate change, including by making "the tough decisions around controversial but potentially effective strategies like carbon pricing."
On criminal justice reform, Rosenberg said Massachusetts must scale up diversion programs, eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes and address prisoners' needs for services to address substance abuse and mental illness. He proposed shifting away from longer prison sentences in favor of providing more services to help offenders re-enter society. He also proposed eliminating so-called "fine time," when offenders are jailed because they cannot afford to pay court-ordered fines.
"We've talked about it long enough - this is the term we need to pass meaningful criminal justice reform," Rosenberg said.
At the beginning of his first term as president two years ago, Rosenberg launched a series of public meetings across the state, which he called "Commonwealth Conversations" to hear the priorities of constituents. Rosenberg said he will do something similar again this term, holding nine more public meetings statewide.
Rosenberg, a progressive Democrat, has at times clashed with the more centrist DeLeo. Rosenberg tried to challenge the House last session on procedural issues related to how legislative committees function - a debate that only got worked out recently, in advance of the 2017 session. Rosenberg, in his speech, thanked DeLeo for his partnership on that issue.
He said both bodies "need to maintain their greatest qualities while becoming more nimble, moving more quickly without compromising quality."
