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FRAMINGHAM – The Massachusetts House of Representatives is comprised of 160 members, each
representing a district of approximately 40,000 people and each elected for a two-year term. As required by the Massachusetts Constitution, the House meets year-round in either formal or informal session to consider legislation. The Massachusetts House is led by the Speaker of the House who is elected by the members of the body at the beginning of each two-year legislative session. Base salary for each representative is approximately $66,256.
The League of Women Voters posed the following questions to each of the candidates running for State Rep. in the 6th Middlesex Democratic Primary on September 6.
Below are the responses provided by Margareth Shepard.
In addition to the following questions, LWV of Framingham posed 16 more questions to the candidates at the August 22 candidate forum. See how they responded here.
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Biographical Information
Campaign Phone: 508-922-7358
Website: http://www.margarethforstaterep.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/electmargarethshepard
Twitter: @margarethshepar
Campaign Email: margarethshepard@gmail.com
Introductory Remarks
My Name is Margareth Shepard. I have lived and operated a business in Framingham for 30 years, and served as a town meeting member and City Councilor.
I worked to approve the Community Preservation Act, the Sustainability Committee, the ban of single use plastic bags, to move forward with the Irving street and Mary Dennison Park cleanup, to create the Irving street pocket park, and in denying approval of a potential harmful care storage business in this area. As your state rep, I will keep working to assure that we will achieve net zero carbon greenhouse emission and continue to invest in clean energy.
I created the Welcoming Immigrants Task Force, and the City council resolution to support the Work and Mobility Act. In recognition of my efforts , the Brazilian Policy Center, along with Rep Dan Sena and local Rep Jack Lewis have endorsed my candidacy.
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I facilitated the offering of a walk-in COVID-19 tests, promoted vaccination clinics, helped residents access healthcare, and food resources. As your State Rep. I will continue to fight for health care for all. I am overjoyed that the Massachusetts Nurses Association endorsed me. As your state rep I will work with MNA and other workers organizations to protect and advance all worker rights.
As a former school guidance counselor, I know that access to high quality education is the key to every child’s success. I have strongly advocated for the Student Opportunity Act, for keeping the cap on charter schools, and for the construction of our new Fuller school. I am honored to say that the Massachusetts Teachers Association has endorsed me in this race.
With our hard fought rights under attack at every level of government, I am running to continue to protect them and to serve you with honesty, integrity, dedication and enthusiasm.
What would be your two priorities related to transportation?
● My first priority is electrification of the government fleet. This is a needed step to
reduce our carbon footprint and transition to a zero-emission vehicle. Public
transportation accounts for a large percentage of carbon monoxide emissions,
and fleet electrification would bring us forward to a more sustainable transit
system.
● My second priority is advocating for State Funds for the Metrowest Regional
Transit Authority to improve public transportation in the 6th Middlesex District and
beyond.
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What legislation, if any, would you support to improve the availability of affordable housing in Massachusetts?
I would support a rent control bill which would permit increases normalized to an external value to make it fair for landlords too, to address inflation and rising costs. I would also support bills to allow people to apply their lifetime rent payments towards a state-subsidized mortgage program for home ownership. This is a community investment and supports the wealth generation opportunities that home ownership
provides while increasing motivation for renters to invest in the community. I also would support more funds for subsidized housing for our workforce and seniors.
What, if anything, would you change about the way the state funds education?
I would ensure that state funds for education would exclusively be used on education and I would expand funding for universal early childhood education.
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Do you support providing complete reproductive health care to all including people from other states? Do you support protecting health care providers from lawsuits from other states?
Yes. I believe that Massachusetts should provide all individuals access to comprehensive reproductive health care coverage, independent of where they reside, or their gender and immigration status. Our legislation should also include provisions to protect health care providers from lawsuits from other states.
What is your priority for the legislature in addressing the climate crisis?
After witnessing the challenges to address contaminated sites in Framingham, I would work to file legislation to prioritize the cleaning up of environmental contaminated sites across the Commonwealth by enlarging the Office of Brownfields Revitalization, increasing funding to this vital program that liaisons between local municipalities and state and federal programs to clean up brownfield sites across our Commonwealth. I believe all residents have a right to a healthy environment and that this should be a
concern for each one of the 160 State Reps. This would give us the opportunity to work collaboratively to provide solution together, instead of each municipality working isolated. Solidarity brings us together and moves us forward.
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Town of Ashland