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Jarrett Barrios works for Massachusetts as the Democratic State Senator representing Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Charlestown, Allston, and parts of Revere, Saugus, and Somerville. His priorities include preserving public safety, improving health care access, enhancing our public education system, and expanding access to homeownership.
The son of a carpenter and a social
worker, Barrios came to Cambridge at the age of 17 to study at Harvard
University. After graduating with high honors, working for the Boston
City Council and on local campaigns, he Jarrett returned to Cambridge, where he has practiced law at the Boston firms of Hill & Barlow and DLA Piper [link]. In 1998, he began his legislative career when he was elected to the House of Representatives. In 2002, he was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate by a large majority in a contested Democratic primary election. As a State Representative, he led successful efforts to create a state low-income housing tax credit and a statewide affordable housing trust, to expand health care access in hospital emergency rooms, to oppose increases in subway fares and to improve disaster response capacity. In the Senate, Barrios has written laws that: · toughen the state fire code requiring sprinklers in nightclubs and bars; · establish a state assault weapon sales ban and a firearms license appeals board; · create a state witness protection program for police and DAs, along with tougher penalties for witness intimidation; · establish the multimillion dollar Shannon grant program for cities battling youth violence; · expand judicial tools in the fight against domestic violence by authorizing the use of GPS tracking for batterers who violate orders of protection; · combat identity theft by requiring consumers receive notice of security breaches and have a right to freeze access to their credit . He has passed bills in the Senate combating school bullying, to provide for in-state tuition rates for immigrant children from Massachusetts pursuing higher education,, permitting Massachusetts residents to reimport affordable prescription drugs from Canada, and much more. As strong support of mass transit, he led efforts to secure the Romney administration’s commitment to build the Green Line extension to Tufts University. In the 2007-2008 session, Jarrett will continue with these bills, along with leading legislative efforts to reduce illegal gun trafficking to youth in Massachusetts [link to summary], to protect consumers against identity theft [link], to promote environmental justice [link], to reestablish the MBTA on firm financial footing, to protect patients at women’s health centers with a 35 foot buffer zone, and to combat mortgage foreclosures by toughening laws regulating sub-prime lenders. Barrios’ legal work and community activism have been widely acknowledged, including receiving the Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service from the University of Massachusetts at Boston, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at Cambridge College. He has been named legislator of the year by the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the Disabled American Veterans, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston, the Jewish Community Relations Council, as well as being named Pro Bono Attorney of the Year by the Political Asylum and Immigration Representation Project. He currently serves as a director of the American Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay, the National Conference of Hispanic State Legislators, the Massachusetts Blue Cross/Blue Shield Foundation and One Family. Jarrett lives in Cambridge his spouse, Doug Hattaway, where they raise their two children, Nathaniel and Javier.
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11-May-2007 11:14 AM The Jarrett Barrios
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