Denise Provost, 2010 State Rep Questionnaire Responses

1. What are your top three agenda priorities and how will you take action on these priorities?

1) Improving Massachusetts' laws and policies so as to reduce harm to human health and safety from correctable environmental conditions. We're not now using the best available scientific evidence to craft the rules by which we live. One of the consequences is a health care system that costs more than it needs to, and more than it would if we put more value on preventing preventable injury and disease.

I made some progress along these lines, in the last session, for instance, getting legislation enacted to reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired infections. In this session, I got into the transportation reform bill provisions to set goals for improving air quality, and for safer, more user-friendly design of transportation infrastructure. I’ll continue to file and support bills toward these ends, to push for compliance with the laws that we’ve enacted, and to advocate before administrative agencies for evidence-based standards that protect people and assure a good quality of life.

I'm planning to expand on the number and sophistication of educational events that I present in the State House this year. I've made a practice of bringing speakers, panel discussions, and other information resources to my colleagues and staff through "legislative briefings," often including slide shows, or other material. I've been working this year with medical doctors and other scientists to present, in the next session, a series of basic programs under the heading "What Every Legislator Needs to Know About Science," in order to develop certain critical thinking skills essential for evaluating "evidence" that’s put before the legislature.

2) Making the state’s taxing and expenditure policies more fair, rational, and transparent – including not just revenue, but the so-called "tax expenditure budget." This is the system by which tax credits or exemptions are used to create tax-payer funded subsidies among sectors of the economy.

I've worked successfully to increase budget transparency, and will use the data that will be increasingly available to demonstrate which budget policies are helpful and which are counterproductive. For instance, the state does a lot of spending for "economic development" that transfers public funds to the private sector, say for "job creation." We need to know how much public subsidy we’re paying, with what public benefit, and compared these expenditures to other public investments we could be making.

I will continue to file and support legislation, and to press for detailed information, to achieve the goals of fairness, rationality, and transparency, in both capital and operating budgets. I'll continue to fight privatization proposals, which I find invariably to overestimate public benefit, while underestimating hard and soft costs. I'll also file a revised version of my own transportation reform bill from the last session, to eliminate counterproductive subsidies and redirect more transportation dollars to mass transit.

3) Promoting public K-12 and higher education, as well as educational opportunities for those who are not full time students, such as continuing education, libraries, English Language classes, workforce development training, etc. This goal includes sifting through the fads and ideological agendas that weigh down the world of education to identify the truth of what works. In this session, I will look to improve the rule-making and accountability of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the fairness of educational aid disbursement plans – I’d also like to amend the Education Reform bill that was passed in this session.

2. How have you as an office holder worked to support progressive causes?

Where do I start? I've fought for: civil rights (all inclusive), equal marriage, AIDs awareness, the resignstion of Richard Nixon, more public transportation for Somerville, help for veterans exposed to Agent Orange, accessibility of public facilities and information, and dozens of other causes and campaigns, over the years.

I have fought against: unnecessary wars (starting with Vietnam), the construction of the so-called "Inner Beltway," the election campaign of former State representative Vincent Piro for the State Senate in 1984, the closing of VA hospitals, Somerville's "anti-gang ordinance," insider deals and sweetheart contracts, the Unz initiative and other retrograde ballot questions, and many other battles over the years.

3. How will you work with the federal, state, and local governments to ensure that the Green Line is extended through Somerville to Medford by December 31, 2014? What will you do to ensure strong community participation throughout the process?

I will keep up with my current vigilance and advocay, haunting MPO meetings and MassDOT, showing up at every hearing, commenting at every opportunity, and picking up the phone to cajole, remind, insist, or ask for more meetings, and more process, if necessary. I don’t need to do so much public education any more, because STEP is there to do a much better job of it than I was ever able to do.