James C. Arena-DeRosa

Civil Rights

We can’t truly thrive as a society until we deliver on the promise of liberty and justice for all. We must address inequity in our state, where there is documented discrimination against people of color in many dimensions of life such as bank loans, health care access, and employment. I will encourage state programs to follow the example of the Racial Equity Data Road Map that the Department of Public Health is pioneering on health inequities and barriers. This process will collect data and inform programming that can help us address the root causes of inequities still present in our society. Learn more

Even though much of Massachusetts reliably votes blue, we can’t take voting rights for granted. I am supportive of the changes under discussion such as mail in voting, that would make it easier for any eligible voter to participate. Learn more

The strike down of Roe v Wade is just the first of many threats to personal freedom from this Supreme Court. Hard won rights are under attack. We should review any of the national laws passed protecting LGBTQ rights and codify them into Massachusetts state law. Who to love and how to self-identify are among the most personal human experiences, and the government should not be dictating to people how to live their personal lives. Learn more

Criminal Justice / Public Safety

As someone who cares deeply about police reform, I support the important training initiatives underway. Police officers must be respectful and treat everyone equitably in the discharge of their duties. However, once again unfunded mandates and onerous timelines are hurting small towns. The new rules did not take into account the value of auxiliary police to small town police forces and the new training timelines are too tight for small towns to manage. We can and must make progress on police reform, but we have to pace differently for different size communities. We also need to focus more on restorative justice and should look back at and expunge records for any minor possession crimes of substances now legal. The so-called “war on drugs” didn’t accomplish much and incarcerated a generation of young men and color, most for very minor possessions. Learn more

Education

Quality education is a strength of our towns, but state aid to education has remained relatively flat while costs are increasing. The same is true for general local aid. While the State Legislature is debating general tax relief, I would rather see that funding given to communities to address the priorities they deem most urgent. I know from my days on the Holliston Finance Committee the care that goes into managing town budgets and would like to see more state resources entrusted to responsible people at the municipal level. Learn more

I believe in educating the whole child. Young minds thrive on a mix of academics, health and nutrition education, sports and physical activity, music and the arts, and social and community-oriented activities - not just being taught to take tests. Public schools should be funded accordingly. We have an obligation to provide multiple educational pathways that serve the needs of all our families. Quality opportunities should be available to students who choose to pursue technical education, especially at a time when a whole generation of skilled workers is retiring and new workers will be needed to work in our communities in the years ahead. I would like to see us manage the funding of special needs as a state rather than at the municipal level, where they can overwhelm local budgets. Learn more

Environment / Energy

As small towns look for ways to improve their bottom line and be supportive of the environment by doing things like contributing energy to the public grid, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and utilities companies seem to be slow walking important projects. It is not acceptable to use a 20th-century approach of centralized control and delivery to address 21st-century challenges. Every year of delay in implementing local energy initiatives is costing Holliston alone almost 400,000 a year. We need to modernize decision-making and accountability processes. Learn more

Jobs With Justice: A program to retrofit a million homes to make them more clean energy efficient and help workers with the transition to a clean energy economy. Learn more

Climate change is an existential crisis. We must reach Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 through a combination of green energy infrastructure investments and job development. At the same time, we must remember that communities of color and low income neighborhoods have been bearing the brunt of environmental degradation for a long time. I support creating an Office of Just Transition that will integrate social, racial, and environmental justice; incorporate the voices of labor; invest in green energy and job creation; and advance smart policy and enforcement of existing regulations. The fossil fuel industry has put forward a false narrative that clean energy hurts jobs. With the right policies in place, it can actually be a boon to job creation and the economy, especially with our unique geography and landscape. If we make the right investments, the Commonwealth has multiple opportunities in clean energy and jobs related to geo-thermal, off-shore wind, and solar. Specifically we need to fund these two programs. Learn more

Off-Shore Wind: Massachusetts has the largest technical potential for offshore wind development in the country, a wonderful opportunity for good paying jobs and enough estimated Gigawatts to electrify Massachusetts. Learn more

PFAS (or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) pose a real threat to public health. To the state’s credit, we now have some of the strictest PFAS regulations in the nation. However, the new regulation and enforcement have been enacted with too little regard for their impact on communities and on a very tight timeline. Some residents in smaller towns, including Hopkinton and Millis, could face hundreds if not thousands of dollars in surcharges. We should fund the PFAS Remediation Fund recommended by the PFAS Task Force to help impacted municipalities and homeowners. Learn more

Guns

Massachusetts has strong gun laws in place, but it is time to ban the manufacturing of assault weapons in our state except for use by the military and law enforcement and consider greater liability for gun manufacturers in state court. Learn more

Healthcare

We need to embrace a pro-family agenda that supports paid parental leave, increased programming for child nutrition, equitable access to maternal/neonatal health care, access to family planning information, and the Healthy Start daycare initiative. I also support free universal lunch and breakfast that will help every student in the system. Learn more

Covid-19 drew stark attention to the urgent need to address staffing shortages in health care. The burnout rate for nurses and health care workers is worse than ever, depleting one of the most important assets we have in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth needs to establish safe and appropriate staffing levels, and any review needs to include all parties, including front line nurses. We also need to improve workplace violence prevention to protect nurses and healthcare staff. In general, I believe in a health care system that focuses on wellness and prevention. Systemic inequities that lead to differential health outcomes costs society billions of dollars in long term health care costs related to obesity, diabetes, and heart issues. Learn more

Housing

A troubling pattern is emerging. Seniors can’t afford to stay in the towns where they spent their whole lives, young people cannot afford to buy houses in the towns where they grew up, and many of the people working in small towns, especially young employees, cannot afford to live in the towns they serve. The entire Commonwealth has a severe shortage of affordable housing and we need multiple approaches that include investing in more affordable units, rethinking zoning, and incentivizing affordable construction. Small towns want to contribute to the solution, but they need a voice at the table on Beacon Hill to ensure that new regulations take into account town size, infrastructure, and availability and access to town water and sewer systems. Learn more

Infrastructure / Transportation

Chapter 90 was intended to help all communities in the Commonwealth maintain roads. But now that our small farming and local manufacturing towns have become bedroom communities and commuter pathways, the outdated Chapter 90 formula does not take into account high volume traffic that results in considerable wear and tear on local infrastructure. Overall funding needs to be increased and the formula should be reviewed to adjust for traffic volume and road use, which would benefit every town in our district. Learn more

Taxes / Budget

The 8th Middlesex has some of the highest percentages of senior citizens in the state and the demographic is growing, but the tax burden is making it difficult for many to stay in their homes. As inflationary pressures continue to mount, the state needs to adjust the per capita formula for state assistance to seniors, double the circuit breaker refundable tax credit for fixed income seniors, and consider funding new construction for affordable housing earmarked for seniors and senior centers/multi-purpose centers. Learn more

Wages / Job Benefits

I am pro-worker and pro-union. I began learning about and fighting for workers’ rights just out of college, when I was trained in community organizing by the farm workers. I also organized and led contract negotiations as a member of SEIU. With young people’s economic security threatened by student debt, rising housing costs, significant shifts in the job market, and the staggering toll of the pandemic on low-income workers of color, I’m happy to see a resurgence of unions and will do all I can to support them from Beacon Hill. Learn more

I’ll be an advocate for workers on issues like protecting gig workers and stopping wage theft. As the economy shifts more toward service and information industries and gig jobs, we need to re-examine the difference between full-time workers and independent contractors. We can strengthen existing rules to maintain worker flexibility while protecting workers from abuses and misclassification that denies them important benefits. We also need a strong anti-wage theft law to protect workers from this billion dollar problem in Massachusetts. While most business entities are good faith actors, it is time to hold corporate entities accountable when wage theft occurs. Learn more