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Date: 3/21/2023
HOLYOKE – State Rep. Patricia Duffy delivered her “Rep’s Message” through an interview with Holyoke Media and discussed her roles and goals for the current session.
Duffy said her first session started off two years ago – only a year into the coronavirus pandemic – and it was a much different swearing in ceremony than she just went through in January for her second term. She noted the upcoming year has a number of things she is looking forward to in her role.
Duffy noted for this session she has been assigned to continue her roles on the Joint Committee of Healthcare Finance and the Joint Committee of Higher Education. She added being on the higher education committee was important to her as a representative of Holyoke.
“I feel as the [representative] from Holyoke, to be advocating for the Holyoke Medical Center and Holyoke Community College, those are really important for the Rep. for Holyoke,” Duffy said.
According to Duffy staying on these two committees was her “big ask” to the speaker of the State House but she was also assigned another committee role on the Committee on Ways and Means. Duffy said she was very excited for the opportunity and noted she felt it was a “demonstration of respect” to be offered a position on the committee.
One of the most important functions of the House Ways and Means Committee is reviewing the governor’s proposed budget, a currently ongoing task. Duffy said both her new committee and the state Senate does very important work on helping come up with a final budget.
When asked about the impact of lobbyists inside the State House, Duffy said while she can’t speak to their impacts at a national level, people often forget the positive side of the position within government.
“People sometimes forget that what lobbyists are lobbying for can be beautiful things. Teachers have lobbyists, and museums have lobbyists, and you know I have worked a lot with a group called the Charles Group and they’re working with Mass Fair Housing and Mass Mentoring,” Duffy said. “So yes, lobbyists have influence and you have to always think about who you’re talking to…you always have to balance who you are talking to.”
Duffy noted when working in the State House she was proud to be representing Holyoke and Western Massachusetts as she noted there can be impressions from those unfamiliar with the area that Western Mass. is mainly farmland and not much else. She added this was a reason why it was so important for her to be a representative in the state house.
“Where that becomes more of a challenge is that we’ve got housing struggles here, of course, but Metro Boston is one of the most expensive places to live,” Duffy said. “A lot of times when they’re talking about, we need to do this or that and the other thing, we out here in the Pioneer Valley are like, ‘hey, I mean we don’t have the same scale but this solution you see is not going to work for us.”
Duffy said overall she maintains excitement to continue working on behalf of her constituents and working towards getting things done for Western Massachusetts.