Dylan A. Fernandes

Drug Policy

I was in high school when the opioid epidemic first exploded. I have lost friends to it. The state spends roughly one billion dollars a year to address this crisis yet deaths continue to rise. We need more access to recovery options that meet an individual's needs. We must hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for their nefarious marketing of these products and use settlement funds to support people struggling from addiction. We must support harm reduction measures that have proven effective at keeping people alive and getting people into treatment. We must also treat the whole person and not criminalize disease. Most people struggling with addiction have a co-occuring mental health issue that also needs to be addressed. I support mental health parity and treating mental health issues like any other injury. I supported the mental health reforms recently passed by the legislature to improve treatment options and make access to mental health more affordable. Learn more

Economy

Today, most families must pay for childcare to ensure they can work and make a better life for themselves and their children. But reliable and affordable childcare is often beyond their reach. We must ensure that middle- and low-income families in Massachusetts are given the support they need to access high-quality childcare at an affordable cost. And we must support early education centers to make sure they have the resources they need to be successful. Learn more

Our district is home to one of the most vibrant tourist economies in the world. However, Massachusetts does a terrible job of supporting our tourism industry compared to peer states. We need more funding to promote local tourism, understanding that money coming from out of state will be an economic engine for our communities. More than any other region, our district is poised to be the leader in the Blue Economy. From world renowned scientific institutions in Woods Hole to the shellfishing communities in Plymouth we have a vibrant Blue Economy that needs to be supported. JP Morgan estimates that 1 trillion dollars will need to be invested in our oceans to meet our climate goals and I want to see our district become the hub for a blue-tech future. Learn more

Education

Dylan is a strong supporter of the states public education system and understands that a good public school education is a bridge to the middle class. He voted to support the Student Opportunity Act, Universal School meals, and free community college all of which are funded by the Fair Share Amendment which his Republican opponent voted against. Dylan will be champion for our schools and work to get increased reimbursement for school busing costs in the district. Learn more

Environment / Energy

Clean water is the lifeblood of our region. It makes our communities liveable and it is the driver of our tourism economy. Many of our communities sit above sole-source aquifers and we must protect them. This means investing in clean water infrastructure and promoting smart-growth. As a member of the Cape and Islands delegation, I supported and worked to pass the Cape and Islands Water Protection Fund that will bring more than 1 billion to local communities to support wastewater infrastructure. In the legislature we lobbied for and passed a tripling of the septic system tax credit to 18,000 to help protect our waterways. Learn more

There is no greater issue facing my generation and our children's generation than that of global warming and its impacts on our communities. We live in one of the most coastal places in Massachusetts and sea level rise and the increased power of storms will have serious impacts on our region. The first bill I passed through the House was legislation signing Massachusetts onto the Paris Climate Accord in the wake of Donald Trump pulling America out of this historic agreement. I support the transition to renewable energy to meet our climate goals. Solar and wind are key to powering our future and also boosting economic benefits with good-paying, long-term jobs in the engineering, construction, mechanical, and electrical fields associated with climate technology. The projects must be done responsibly and I passed offshore wind legislation that called for environmental monitoring and marine mammal protection. I have a number of climate bills pending before the legislature including the creation of a Green Bank to help homeowners and small businesses finance renewable energy projects. Learn more

Housing

Making housing affordable for middle- and low-income families keeps people from being priced out of home ownership, an important aspect of building family wealth. Seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities need supportive housing. We must address homelessness while also supporting middle class families with housing. We should raise the AMI threshold for “Affordable” housing so that middle class families can qualify because too often they make too much money to qualify but are also completely priced out of the market. There is no easy fix to this problem and it will require an array of solutions. The focus should be on building housing in downtown areas and redeveloping existing structures so that we minimize environmental impacts and support housing that meets local needs. Learn more

Immigration

The federal government has failed to do its job so the state has to manage this issue alone and we have made tough decisions. We ended the permanent right to shelter law, limiting it to 6 months and capping the number of families at 4,000, putting in residency requirements, and background checks. Massachusetts does not have the endless funds to continually pay for migrant housing and these reforms were necessary to give Massachusetts residents priority. I passed legislation giving priority to veterans in the shelter system. These are tough decisions but necessary to balance the state budget while also giving children and pregnant women a place to stay. Learn more

I support comprehensive immigration reform that includes border security, updating the visa process, protecting our national security, and supporting states to help defray the cost. Massachusetts is not on the southern border. The immigration process from visas to refugee status to immigration courts are all on the federal level. So the state is very limited in what it can do but we have been taking action to lower costs. Learn more

Taxes / Budget

Dylan Fernandes voted to support one billion dollars in tax relief for working people across Massachusetts this year. It included legislation he filed to cut the estate tax that was overwhelmingly impacting middle class families in our region. Now the estate tax threshold is doubled and people are only taxed on the third million of their estate value. He also advocated for and expanded the septic tax credit which tripled the tax credit from 6,000 to 18,000. He has a track record of reducing taxes for the hard working people of our district. Learn more