Representative Don Humason



GOOD LAWS Westfield Evening News column By State Representative Don Humason, Jr. February 27, 2010 As I sit down to write my column this week I have just received news that the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey tem beat Team USA 2-0 to take the gold medal in the Vancouver Winter Olympics. I didn’t get to see any of the game due to a Massachusetts Dental Society event I attended so I will have to watch the highlights on NBC later tonight. Still, Westfield’s own Kacey Bellamy and the American women’s Olympic hockey team took home the silver medal and for that we can be very proud. My new cable show airs this week on Westfield Community Programming Channel 15 and features Colonel Robert “L.A.” Brooks, Commander of the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Barnes. The show is ½ hour and runs on Sundays at 4:30 PM, Wednesdays at 8:30 PM, and Thursdays at 10:30 AM and 10:30 PM. It repeats until I do a new show. This one’s pretty good (thanks to Colonel Brooks, Mark St. Jean, Major Matt Mutti, and airplane footage from Senior Master Sergeant Rob Sabonis) so I may let it run for awhile. There’s a new word making the rounds on Beacon Hill. Do you know what a “Slactivist” is? Read my column next week for the definition of slactivist and for a preview of a column I run every year around this time to teach readers how to lobby their legislators like professional lobbyists. I wanted to let you know that the Governor and those in the new MA Department of Transportation have begun floating a trial balloon on the issue of “open road tolling.” This is not a new concept and Governor Patrick talked about it last year at the same time as his proposal to raise the state gasoline tax. I’ve gotten contacted by many of my constituents who are opposed to this concept and I want to make it clear that I am opposed as well. I am fervently against any concept or idea of a chip implanted in your windshield or Fast Lane Pass or license plate that would allow you to be tracked by a government agency for the supposed purpose of keeping a tally of how many miles you drive so you can be taxed for it. As a member of the Legislature’s Committee on Transportation I have already weighed in on this issue more than once. I reminded my Boston colleagues that we in Western Mass do not enjoy access to public transportation like they do. We have few bus lines, no subways, no commuter rail, no water taxis. In Western Massachusetts, mostly, we drive. And we have greater distances to cover. It would be patently unfair to tax us disproportionally. Incidentally, I have also made my position known on the topic of charging pickup and SUV drivers more to register their vehicles in Massachusetts. I drive a pickup. Lots of motorists in Western Mass need four-wheel drive vehicles to live and work. So I oppose my Boston colleagues who want to raise those fees as well. I would rather support increased tolls on the Mass Pike and the bridges and tunnels in Boston so that those motorists who use those roadways actually pay for them Sometimes, I come home from Boston completely dismayed by the political process in the Bay State and our inability to get good laws passed or stop bad laws from going into effect. But this week I left the State House very pleased and satisfied that the members of the House, both Republicans and Democrats, voted for a very good law. On Wednesday we took up Senate Bill 997, An Act Punishing Assault and Battery by Means of a Bodily Substance upon Correction Facility Employees. This bill establishes a new provision in the General Laws creating the distinct and separate offense of assault with bodily fluids (saliva, urine, blood, semen, feces, sweat) by prisoners upon correctional facility employees. This provision will provide prosecutors with the tool to punish disgusting criminal activity and mandates that the sentence for assaulting correction officers in this manner begins after the inmate’s original sentence expires, thereby acting as a deterrent against assaulting jail and prison employees. House Republican Leader Brad Jones and Judiciary Committee Chairman Eugene O’Flaherty offered an amendment to the bill co-sponsored by dozens of legislators, myself included that would provide greater protection to minors from the crime of “sexting.” The amendment expands the statute by prohibiting the dissemination of harmful material to a minor via instant messaging or other online communications. It was offered in response to the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling made on February 5th in favor of a child predator who had been sending sexually explicit content through online communications via his cell phone. After an examination of the statute and its legislative history, the SJC stated that the Legislature must update the law if it wanted to ensure that children are protected from predators seeking to electronically disseminate obscene material to minors. Technology had advanced faster than the law. The amendment and the underlying legislation passed the House unanimously and now go to the Senate where I am certain they will be speedily passed and sent on to the Governor for his signature. I am satisfied these will be good laws and I was happy to vote for them. * * * Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of the Westfield Evening News. Representative Don Humason and his Chief of Staff Sarah Latour may be reached at their Westfield District office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, 568-1366. Email address: Rep.DonaldHumason@Hou.state.ma.us Website: www.donhumason.org
This Site Designed and Maintained by: The Barre Group

GOOD LAWS

Westfield Evening News column

By State Representative Don Humason, Jr.

February 27, 2010

As I sit down to write my column this week I have just received news that the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey tem beat Team USA 2-0 to take the gold medal in the Vancouver Winter Olympics. I didn’t get to see any of the game due to a Massachusetts Dental Society event I attended so I will have to watch the highlights on NBC later tonight. Still, Westfield’s own Kacey Bellamy and the American women’s Olympic hockey team took home the silver medal and for that we can be very proud.

My new cable show airs this week on Westfield Community Programming Channel 15 and features Colonel Robert “L.A.” Brooks, Commander of the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Barnes. The show is ½ hour and runs on Sundays at 4:30 PM, Wednesdays at 8:30 PM, and Thursdays at 10:30 AM and 10:30 PM. It repeats until I do a new show. This one’s pretty good (thanks to Colonel Brooks, Mark St. Jean, Major Matt Mutti, and airplane footage from Senior Master Sergeant Rob Sabonis) so I may let it run for awhile.

There’s a new word making the rounds on Beacon Hill. Do you know what a “Slactivist” is? Read my column next week for the definition of slactivist and for a preview of a column I run every year around this time to teach readers how to lobby their legislators like professional lobbyists.

I wanted to let you know that the Governor and those in the new MA Department of Transportation have begun floating a trial balloon on the issue of “open road tolling.” This is not a new concept and Governor Patrick talked about it last year at the same time as his proposal to raise the state gasoline tax.

I’ve gotten contacted by many of my constituents who are opposed to this concept and I want to make it clear that I am opposed as well. I am fervently against any concept or idea of a chip implanted in your windshield or Fast Lane Pass or license plate that would allow you to be tracked by a government agency for the supposed purpose of keeping a tally of how many miles you drive so you can be taxed for it.

As a member of the Legislature’s Committee on Transportation I have already weighed in on this issue more than once. I reminded my Boston colleagues that we in Western Mass do not enjoy access to public transportation like they do. We have few bus lines, no subways, no commuter rail, no water taxis. In Western Massachusetts, mostly, we drive. And we have greater distances to cover. It would be patently unfair to tax us disproportionally.

Incidentally, I have also made my position known on the topic of charging pickup and SUV drivers more to register their vehicles in Massachusetts. I drive a pickup. Lots of motorists in Western Mass need four-wheel drive vehicles to live and work. So I oppose my Boston colleagues who want to raise those fees as well. I would rather support increased tolls on the Mass Pike and the bridges and tunnels in Boston so that those motorists who use those roadways actually pay for them

Sometimes, I come home from Boston completely dismayed by the political process in the Bay State and our inability to get good laws passed or stop bad laws from going into effect. But this week I left the State House very pleased and satisfied that the members of the House, both Republicans and Democrats, voted for a very good law.

On Wednesday we took up Senate Bill 997, An Act Punishing Assault and Battery by Means of a Bodily Substance upon Correction Facility Employees. This bill establishes a new provision in the General Laws creating the distinct and separate offense of assault with bodily fluids (saliva, urine, blood, semen, feces, sweat) by prisoners upon correctional facility employees. This provision will provide prosecutors with the tool to punish disgusting criminal activity and mandates that the sentence for assaulting correction officers in this manner begins after the inmate’s original sentence expires, thereby acting as a deterrent against assaulting jail and prison employees.

House Republican Leader Brad Jones and Judiciary Committee Chairman Eugene O’Flaherty offered an amendment to the bill co-sponsored by dozens of legislators, myself included that would provide greater protection to minors from the crime of “sexting.”

The amendment expands the statute by prohibiting the dissemination of harmful material to a minor via instant messaging or other online communications. It was offered in response to the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling made on February 5th in favor of a child predator who had been sending sexually explicit content through online communications via his cell phone.

After an examination of the statute and its legislative history, the SJC stated that the Legislature must update the law if it wanted to ensure that children are protected from predators seeking to electronically disseminate obscene material to minors. Technology had advanced faster than the law.

The amendment and the underlying legislation passed the House unanimously and now go to the Senate where I am certain they will be speedily passed and sent on to the Governor for his signature. I am satisfied these will be good laws and I was happy to vote for them.

* * *

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of the Westfield Evening News.

Representative Don Humason and his Chief of Staff Sarah Latour may be reached at their Westfield District office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, 568-1366. Email address: Rep.DonaldHumason@Hou.state.ma.us Website: www.donhumason.org

This Site Designed and Maintained by: The Barre Group