Therese Murray President of the Senate

Therese Murray was elected Senator of the Plymouth and Barnstable District in 1992 and became the first woman President of the Massachusetts Senate in March 2007.

In her role as President, she has continued her mission as senator to support the rights of children and veterans, promote affordable housing, invigorate the Commonwealth’s traditional fishing and agricultural industries, and advance new technologies in the life sciences as well as reforms in health care, energy, transportation, pensions and ethics.

One of her first major pieces of legislation as President of the Senate was the health care cost control bill that was signed into law in August 2008. Under this new law, health care providers and insurers are held to new standards of transparency to identify cost-drivers in the market while also modernizing the health care delivery system with the adoption of standardized electronic medical records, physician order entry systems and uniform billing.

The new law also addresses the severe shortage of primary care doctors in the Commonwealth through a variety of measures, including a primary care recruitment center, expanded enrollment at the UMass Medical School, a loan forgiveness program and an expanded role for Nurse Practitioners.

President Murray was successful in getting other significant legislation passed in 2008 to benefit the people of Massachusetts, our economy and the environment. These include new laws addressing children’s mental health, heating assistance for veterans, renewable energy sources and efficiency, ocean management and protection, dairy farm preservation, commercial fishing revitalization, biotechnology, the motion picture industry, and improvements for housing, education and transportation infrastructure.

President Murray also co-authored and passed major legislation in 2009 to restructure our transportation system by dissolving the Turnpike Authority and consolidating multiple agencies into an efficient, independent authority; and she oversaw passage of a string of sweeping reforms to the state pension system, and state ethics, lobbying and campaign finance laws – all while delivering an on-time and balanced budget during the worst recession in generations.

Continuing the reform agenda in 2010, President Murray passed a Safe Driving bill that bans texting while driving. She also passed a Better Schools package that includes a new anti-bullying law, healthy food options in schools, and new education reforms aimed at closing the achievement gap and improving opportunities for all students. The President has also passed Economic Development legislation and a bill to relieve small business health insurance costs – both of which are now law and will help businesses grow and create jobs.

Prior to becoming President of the Senate in 2007, Therese Murray served as Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means for four years. As the architect of several state budgets, she helped guide the Massachusetts economy through difficult times, and that knowledge and experience has great value today as we continue to feel the effects of the current global recession.

Senator Murray’s other notable legislative accomplishments include spearheading the drive for Welfare Reform in 1995; overhauling DSS in 1997; consolidating child care services in 1998; passing the Mental Health Parity law in 2000; creating the Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund in 2001; and proposing Smart Growth affordable housing in 2004.

She was also a driving force behind Chapter 70 reform and the Health Care Reform Act of 2006, as well as Oceans Management, Energy Reform and Children’s Mental Health legislation in 2008.

In addition to being President of the Senate and Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, Therese Murray has served as the Senate Chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Human Services and Elder Affairs from 1993-1999, and Senate Chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Insurance from 2000-2003.

Therese Murray is currently serving her ninth term as State Senator of the Plymouth and Barnstable District, which includes the towns of Sandwich, Plympton, Plymouth, Pembroke, Kingston, Falmouth, Bourne, and parts of Barnstable.

She is a 35-year resident of Plymouth and the mother of one daughter.