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State Rep.
Thomas M. Stanley
State House, Room 167
Boston, MA 02133
(617) 722-2230
Thomas.Stanley@mahouse.gov
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Rep. Stanley testified before his House colleagues on behalf of legislation he filed to license Appraisal Management Companies. The House passed this important bill.
Rep. Stanley with Carlos Vidal at the 2019 Waltham Partnership for Youth Showcase & Awards Ceremony. Congrats to those recognized this year as community leaders!
Waltham Boys & Girls Club
Rep. Stanley with Dee Kricker, who recently received an Unsung Heroine award for her work in Waltham.
Rep. Stanley and the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight hear testimony on presciption drug costs.
Prescription drug cost hearing at the State House.
Rep. Stanley and his colleagues listening to testimony.
House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight presciption drug cost hearing.
Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson testified in support of legislation ensuring access to brain injury treatment at a Joint Committee on Financial Services public hearing on health benefit mandates.
Legislators testify in support of legislation cosponsored by Rep. Stanley ensuring continuity of
care for MS patients
Joint Committee on Financial Services hearing on health benefit mandates.
Rep. Stanley presented an award to Social Studies Teacher Jay Peledge's 8th grade civics class at Hanscom Middle School for their civics work on public policy issues at the "Activate Civics in Boston" led by iCivics and supported by the NBCUniversal Foundation. The event took place at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute.
Award ceremony at Edward M. Kennedy Institute.
Stanley Elementary School
Marina in Clinton, CT
Long Island Sound
Crusing
Wellfleet, MA
Low tide
Fourth of July!
Boston Harbor
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2019 Council and Committee Calendar
To view the Waltham City Council and Committee 2019 calendar, click
here.
Primary Election will take place Tuesday, September 17th
This year's municipal primary election will take place on Tuesday, September 17th. The general election will take place on Tuesday, November 5th.
Rep. Stanley Announces $300K Grant for Wayside Rail Trail
The City of Waltham received $300,000 in MassTrails Grants from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Conservation and Recreation Department for design/engineering/permitting of the Waltham Wayside Rail Trail. The Waltham Wayside Trail project proposes to build a 2.74 mile paved shared-use path connecting with the existing trail at Edge Hill Road and extending East to Beaver Street. The project includes (7) roadway treatments, the reuse/restoration of (2) bridges (Linden Street bridge & timber trestle bridge) and a new accessible walkway connection from Linden Street. The proposed Waltham Wayside Trail is part of the regional 23-mile Wayside Trail and the greater Statewide Mass Central Rail Trail.
House Passes Rep. Stanley's Legislation to License Appraisal Management Companies
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| Rep. Stanley speaking on behalf of his bill. |
The Massachusetts House of Representatives passed important consumer protection legislation filed by Rep. Stanley to regulate Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs), bringing MA into compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act. This bill (H.3904) needs to be signed into law before August 10th in order to prevent disruptions to home purchases and refinances as AMCs would no longer be able to operate in the Commonwealth if the deadline is missed. The MBREA (the Association for Valuation Professionals), appraisal management companies, the mortgage industry and real estate appraisers all support this legislation.
In 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform Act was signed into law. Under the provisions of Dodd-Frank, states are required to enact licensing of AMCs by August 10, 2019. Forty-nine states currently license AMCs. The Dodd-Frank Act requirements will be satisfied with prompt passage of Rep. Stanley's bill, which has support in both the House and Senate.
Requiring the licensing of appraisal management companies is indirectly driven by consumer concerns. Appraiser independence requirements were established to halt the inordinate pressure from lenders that was placed upon appraisers to reach a pre-determined value - one that would make the loan work. The pressure came mostly in the form of threats to withhold payment for appraisal services and blackballing the appraiser from future work. As a result, lenders were compelled to establish a firewall between staff, compensated based on a loan closing, and appraisers. The firewall most typically employed was made by engaging third-party appraisal management companies to act as go-betweens the lender and the appraiser.
With more than 80% of all residential appraisal orders processed by AMCs, the mortgage industry will not change the way they manage appraisal ordering for the one state that fails to comply. Instead, much of the lending activity will be curtailed and consumers, the residential housing market, and the overall economy will suffer from a lack of competitive mortgage products.
Rep. Stanley and State Officials Honor Dee Kricker as an Unsung Heroine
Congrats to Dee Kricker for receiving an award this year at the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women's 16th Annual Unsung Heroines Awards Ceremony. Dee has done so much for Waltham in promoting affordable housing and protecting green spaces and agriculture. She is a co-founder of WATCH CDC, a champion of Waltham Fields Community Farm and a former Waltham Land Trust board member.
Rep. Stanley and Post Audit and Oversight Committee hold hearing on rising prescription drug costs
In the ongoing effort to reduce the high cost of prescription drugs in the Commonwealth, the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight held an oversight hearing on the Health Policy Commission (HPC) findings on Pharmacy Benefit Managers, "Cracking Open the Black Box of Pharmacy Benefit Managers." The Committee heard from HPC Executive Director David Seltz as well as members from their Research and Cost Trends team. Click
here to access the report and learn more.
Rep. Stanley hears testimony on important healthcare bills
Rep. Stanley and his colleagues on the Joint Committee on Financial Services recently held a public hearing on health mandates. Rep. Sean Garballey, Senator John Keenan, Rep. Tommy Vitolo and Rep. Ken Gordon testified in support of legislation ensuring continuity of care for MS patients. Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson testified in support of legislation ensuring access to brain injury treatment.
Baker Administration Files Legislation Strengthening Public Safety Requirements for Transportation Network Companies
The Baker Administration filed legislation to enhance public safety requirements and empower the Department of Public Utilities to obtain enhanced ride data from TNCs in order to assist planning agencies and other state and local entities with transportation planning, congestion management, and vehicle emissions tracking. An Act Relative to Public Safety and Transparency by Transportation Network Companies builds on one of the most stringent ride-for-hire background check systems in the country.
While Massachusetts is widely understood to have the most comprehensive TNC safety and enforcement laws in the country, this proposal would enhance safety measures by increasing fines and penalties, up to two and half years in a House of Correction, for the practice of "account renting," or allowing another individual to utilize a TNC driver's account or identity, to provide TNC services. The bill would make it a criminal offense for a driver to exploit the personal information of a rider to stalk, harass or defraud a ride. The bill will also implement tougher penalties for drivers who fail to maintain a driver certificate or a background check clearance certificate, fail to display TNC vehicle decals, or fail to maintain adequate insurance, or carry proof of a TNC vehicle inspection. In conjunction with safety proposals, today's legislation also allows for new transportation data to be collected from TNCs and eases the administrative burden on small towns.
Baker Administration Announces $86 Million Investment in Workforce Housing
Governor Baker announced $86 million in new funding to expand the Workforce Housing Initiative, including $60 million to support homeownership. The investment will allow MassHousing to expand this initiative and develop new homes to increase first-time homeownership opportunities. The $60 million commitment will create roughly 500 new workforce homes that will be affordable and accessible for moderate-income, first-time homebuyers. The remaining $26 million will support the creation of roughly 260 new workforce housing rental units.
Launched in 2016, the Workforce Housing Initiative supports the development of homes for middle-income households who struggle to meet high housing costs, but do not qualify for traditional affordable housing. Since then, MassHousing has committed or closed workforce housing financing totaling $73.4 million to 31 projects in 16 communities across the state, making the Workforce Housing Initiative the largest state-level middle-income housing program in the United States.
Governor Baker made the investment announcement at Olmsted Green, a multi-phased workforce housing development at the site of the former Boston State Hospital. Led by Lena New Boston, a partnership between Lena Park Community Development Corporation and the New Boston Fund, the transit-oriented re-development of former Boston State Hospital will feature more than 500 mixed-income units once completed, including 41 townhomes that extend homeownership to families otherwise unable to afford it. In June 2018, the Governor joined Mayor Martin Walsh to cut the ribbon on the project's latest phase.
MBTA Plans Infrastructure Improvements
Governor Baker announced a plan to accelerate the pace of MBTA capital construction projects with the goal of expediting the transformation of the MBTA into a modern, safe, reliable transit system. Through a five-part strategy, the acceleration plan builds on the T's existing robust safety program and aggressive Capital Investment Program and is designed to facilitate an increase in construction and maintenance projects within shorter timeframes. The MBTA is in the midst of executing a five-year, $8 billion Capital Investment Program that prioritizes core system investments into areas including new vehicles, track, signals, power systems, and maintenance facilities.
The MBTA is expanding its focus to include ways to increase the pace of all investments, and ensure system reliability by increasing maintenance and inspection intervals that properly reflect the age and condition of many MBTA assets. Additionally, the MBTA has worked to identify and resolve barriers that prevent increasing investment efforts.
This proposal includes five key initiatives: explore scheduling more aggressive evening and weekend closures to expedite infrastructure improvements; increasing the frequency of proactive inspections and preventive maintenance to find and fix potential issues before they impact service; seek changes to law that remove impediments to force multipliers for capital investment, such as flexible procurement and project delivery approaches; negotiating with industry partners to expedite manufacturing, accelerate contract milestones, and compress project schedules; and creating a new, flexible team of additional MBTA personnel and contracted resources to focus on expediting construction and infrastructure projects.
Public health officials say tick season has arrived in Massachusetts
Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) officials recommend that residents be mindful of ticks while taking part in spring and summer outdoor activities, as tick season has arrived. Ticks are tiny bugs most likely found in shady, damp, brushy, wooded, or grassy areas (especially in tall grass), including backyards. The most common ticks are black-legged (deer) ticks and dog ticks which are found throughout Massachusetts and may spread different disease-causing germs when they bite.
The most common tick-borne diseases in Massachusetts are Lyme disease, babesiosis, and anaplasmosis. Other diseases that are rarer, but still occur, are tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Borrelia miyamotoi, and Powassan virus. People should call their health care provider if they have been bitten by a black-legged tick, or have a rash or symptoms such as fever, headache, fatigue, or sore and aching muscles, especially after a tick bite.
Health officials recommend appropriate bug repellents on skin or clothing and remind parents never to use insect repellents on infants. For more information about ticks and tick-borne illnesses, visit the DPH website at
www.mass.gov/dph/tick.
Please send us your hometown photos for inclusion in the Stanley Report!
Love to take photos? We are looking to include your pictures of Waltham in The Stanley Report! Please email
Mark Phillips
in Rep. Stanley's office a picture of your hometown for inclusion in the report. Remember to leave your full name if you'd like to be credited! We look forward to seeing your pictures.
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Publish your events in The Stanley Report!
We want to hear from you! The Stanley Report is a great way to spread the word about an upcoming event. Please forward any community, civic or nonprofit upcoming events that you would like included in next month's Stanley Report. If interested, please email Mark Phillips, Rep. Stanley's legislative assistant, with information about your
event.
Highland Glee Club Recruiting Male Singers
The Highland Glee Club is looking for male singers to volunteer to join the club. All voices and all ages of men are wanted to join and sing. Please contact the club president, Ron Jantzen at 508-613-5450, with any questions. Rehearsals start after Labor Day. Click
here to learn more.
Upcoming Events at Stonehurst!
Stonehurst, the Robert Treat Paine Estate in Waltham, is hosting a variety of events in the upcoming monnts. Learn more about upcoming events at Stonehurst
here.
Learn about The Leland Home
The Leland Home provides a safe and affordable residence for persons age 62 and over who desire or need assistance in their daily living. The group helps to maintain the dignity and independence of our residents by offering a warm friendly and homelike setting. Learn more.
Communities against Abuse in Later Life
Communities against Abuse in Later Life (CAALL) is a partnership of agencies working to end elder abuse. REACH Beyond Domestic Violence is the lead partner joined by the Waltham Police Department, Waltham Council on Aging, Middlesex District Attorney's Office, Springwell, Inc., and the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Program at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Please click here to learn more or call the 24-hour CAALL Helpline at 781.790.3966.
Volunteers needed to mentor vulnerable, aspiring Waltham High School students
The John Andrew Mazie Memorial Foundation's focus is on turning children at-risk into children of promise. The city of Waltham has joined many Waltham companies in supporting the Mazie Mentoring Program at Waltham High School. The Foundation selected Waltham High School as the venue for a second mentoring program in 2010, modeled after their successful program in Framingham High School, now in its 20th year. As the program grows, so does the need for volunteer mentors. To find out more about the Mazie organization please visit www.mazie.org.
About the Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra
Now in its 32nd season, the mission of the Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra is to provide the community opportunities to perform in and attend orchestral and chamber concerts of the highest quality. It provides a venue for musicians with a range of ages and abilities to enjoy the art and music making. It makes a long lasting impact to society by creating engaging programs that inspire, entertain and nurture the minds and spirits of its audience and members. Click here to learn more and see a calendar of events.
About Thom Charles River Early Intervention
Thom Charles River Early Intervention provides home visits to babies and toddlers who are delayed in their development or who are considered to be at risk of delay. Services include parents as partners in these visits. The dedicated clinicians who work with these families are to be applauded. Learn more about the orgranization. http://www.thomchild.org/charles-river.htm
Learn more about The Waltham Land Trust
The Waltham Land Trust is creating a legacy of land conservation in Waltham by promoting, protecting, restoring, and acquiring open space. To learn more about the non-profit group and their events celebrating Waltham's natural environment, visit walthamlandtrust.org.
Waltham Symphony Orchestra Concerts
For information on concerts and events at the WSO, click here.
Waltham Public Library Offers Events
The Waltham Public Library offers many events for residents of all ages. To view a calendar of events, click here.
Meals on Wheels program
The Waltham Council on Aging's Meals on Wheels (MOW) program delivers lunch to homebound seniors who are unable to provide their own meals, and who meet certain guidelines. Special dietary considerations are available for those with chronic health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. This daily check in by a volunteer driver may be the only social contact an elder has and helps reduce the isolation often experienced by disabled seniors. Drivers are trained to identify and report observations or emergencies that might indicate a medical problem or the need for more intervention.
Learn more or call 718-314-3300.
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State Representative
City Council
Former City Council President
State Committees:
Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government
Joint Committee on Ways and Means
House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight
City Council:
Veterans Committee
License and Franchise Committee
Public Works and Public Safety Committee
Education:
Suffolk University (MPA), Bentley University (BS - Management), Mass Bay Community College (AS - Business Administration)
Community Involvement (Past & Present):
Waltham Boys & Girls Club, Waltham Youth Basketball Association, Basketball Plus Program, Central Middle School Basketball, Little Nippers Baseball, Warrendale Little League, Waltham Youth Soccer, Waltham Police Athletic League, CCD Teacher, St. Jude Church, Waltham Lions Club, Waltham Rotary Club, Reagle Players Board of Directors, Warrendale Little League Board of Directors, Waltham Partnership for Youth Board of Directors, Waltham Day Center (Homeless) Advisors Board, Waltham Family School Advisory Board, Waltham Safe & Healthy Schools YRBS Steering Committee, Reach Beyond Domestic Violence Advisory Board, Waltham Public Library Planning Committee, Waltham Sons of Italy, Middlesex Area Enough Abuse Campaign.
Work, Community, Independence - Human Service Advocate of the Year, 2008 COFAR - award recipient for support of people with mental disabilities, 2003 MassBay Community College Distinguished Alumni Award WATCH CDC - Housing Advocate Award, 2007 Minuteman Senior Services - Certificate of Appreciation, 2006 Boston Bar Assoc., Greater Boston Legal Services and MetroWest Legal Services - Pillar of Justice Award, 2003 Shining Star Award, Edinburg Center, 2019 Community Health Center Leader Award, The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers
Personal:
Married to the former Kimberly A. Bayliss
Children: Ryan, age 25, Parker, age 16
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