By Talia Lissauer
Boston University News Service
From tourism to preparations for the 2030 census, state Sen. Paul Mark is addressing a range of issues through his nine committee assignments, all of which he said are vital to the people of Western Massachusetts.
For the second time, the Democrat from Becket is the Senate chair of the Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development, a panel that will be in the spotlight for its subcommittees on two timely topics — the upcoming 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the commission on the Women’s History Trail.
“It’s a committee that the subject matter is extremely important to the Berkshires, especially because of the economic development that it presents,” Mark said.
He’s also the vice chair of the Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets and vice chair of the Committee on Transportation, both for the second time. He’s debuting on both the Senate and Joint Ways and Means Committees, both known for seeing a high volume of bills.
“I’m excited about Ways and Means,” Mark said. “It’s a tough budget year. As they say, they’re giving us the keys to the vault when there’s no money in it, but at least it’s good to be there and be part of the process.”
Senators select the top five committees which they want to chair and others on which they are interested in serving. From that, the Senate president makes nominations that all members vote on.
While nine is a typical number of committees for a senator, it’s a jump from Mark’s 12 years in the House of Representatives, where he served on a maximum of four committees at a time.
“How do you balance it? It’s a lot,” he said. “There I had three sessions where I was only on one, which was much easier. But then you come over to the Senate, and because it’s the same number of committees, even though there’s only a quarter as many members, you end up on a lot of committees.”
Last session, he served on eight committees and found one of the biggest challenges to simply be overlapping meetings. When that happens, he said he checks the agenda to determine which meeting would be the most beneficial use of time.
Knowing the importance of tourism to the Berkshires, Mark said it’s a “good win” for the region to have the chair of the tourism committee be from there. During budget season, he said he hopes to use his position as chair to be a “strong advocate” for general items like the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Office of Travel and Tourism.
“Last session we were able to get some extra funding for the Tourism Trust Fund,” he said. “We were able to get the highest level of funding for the Mass Cultural Council ever, and the money they get goes into grants that come directly to every region of the commonwealth.”
Among the highlights for Mark this session is the bill to protect libraries and librarians from potential book bans, which became an issue for residents of Great Barrington when a police officer entered a classroom looking for a book in December 2023. The bill was pushed forward last session, but is before the committee again.
Knowing the interest the Berkshire has in economic development, Mark said he’s also joined that committee.
“We have a lot of opportunities and we have a lot of potential, but, boy, we really need to start tapping into it,” he said.
Back at the House, Mark was the chair of the redistricting committee and oversaw the census in 2020. Even though the next full census is five years away, he’s excited to begin preparations to ensure everyone is counted.
“It’s not glamorous, but I’m back on it,” Mark said. “With the chaos at the federal level there’s already a lot of questions. What is this administration going to build up until they leave office in 2029 that is gonna set the stage for the census to happen in 2030.”
No matter the committee, Mark said his goal is to tailor it to be beneficial in some way for the people of Western Massachusetts.
“Every bill that comes through, whether it’s a bonding bill, a budget bill or policy bill, what I find my role to be is how do I put the stamp of our region into each of these bills,” Mark said. “So how do I make sure we’re getting our fair share of funding? That we’re getting our fair share of attention, and that policies, even with the greatest intentions, are being tailored to make sure that they’re not unintentionally harmful to our regions?”
This story originally appeared in The Berkshire Eagle.
