Learn more about Carmine

Raised in Watertown, Massachusetts, Carmine was the first in his family to graduate college. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and his juris doctor from Suffolk University Law School. Prior to his election as a State Representative, Carmine represented children, parents and small businesses and regularly provided free legal services for adults and children in need through his Framingham law firm. While he has largely curtailed his practice to focus on his work as a legislator, his career as a lawyer has given Carmine an understanding of the wide variety of challenges faced by residents and businesses in MetroWest.

Carmine has always been very active in the local community and has a deep understanding of municipal budgets and the impact of state legislation on our communities. He has served as a soccer coach, Scoutmaster, Rotary Club President, and a member of the Sudbury Finance Committee, Board of Registrars, Planning Board, and the Town Manager Search Committee. Currently, Carmine is a member of the Sudbury Council on Aging, Vice Chair of the Sudbury Democratic Town Committee, Boy Scout Merit Badge Councilor, and Chair of the Sudbury Housing Trust.

Carmine and his wife, Linda, are longtime Sudbury residents and raised two children in the local public-school systems. Their commitment to the community has been passed on to their two children. When their daughter, Sara, was 12 she brought a successful petition article before the Sudbury Annual Town Meeting to bring ice cream trucks back to Sudbury after 20 years of banishment. Sara continued her community efforts at college and business school and is now an elder care and housing professional living with her husband in Wayland. Their son, Andrew, a former Eagle Scout, is a health care management professional who assisted Marlborough Hospital and UMASS Medical Center in ramping up for the COVID-19 surge. Carmine’s children and grandson provide him motivation to continue his work in service to the Commonwealth and the communities of the 13th Middlesex District. 

In the legislature, Carmine serves as Vice Chair of the Higher Education Committee and also as a member of several Joint Committees: Elder Affairs, State Administration and Regulatory Oversight, and Environment and Natural Resources. 

Carmine's priorities in the current session include curtailing the use of dangerous pesticides, improving care for seniors in the Commonwealth, combatting climate change, obtaining quality free higher education for all students, and overhauling campaign finance reform. 

On pesticides, Carmine has led the charge against Bayer and other manufacturers that have consistently put profits over people. In the prior session he successfully sponsored a measure to create a Commission to prepare a report on the herbicide Glyphosate, used in Bayer products such as Round-Up, which is an important first step in creating further regulations to keep residents safe from dangerous exposure. He has also filed bills to ensure that only persons properly licensed to apply pesticides could purchase and use glyphosate, that only pesticides which have been recognized by the U.S. EPA to be proven safe be allowed to be used on schoolgrounds, and that local communities have the authority to ban certain pesticides on their own authority. 

As the longest serving member on the Elder Affairs Committee, Carmine is determined to improve senior living in the Commonwealth. He has fought for better rates for home care and other human services providers, property tax abatements for senior citizens, and secured substantial funding for the towns and cities in his district to improve senior centers. 

On campaign finance reform, Carmine was recognized by former Speaker of the House, Robert A. DeLeo, for his leadership on the issue. Following the November 2018 general election and adopting of that year’s ballot question #2, he was appointed by the Speaker to the Massachusetts Citizens Commission Concerning a Constitutional Amendment for Government of the People (“the Citizens Commission”). This Commission is tasked with considering and recommending potential amendments to the United States Constitution to establish that corporations do not have the same Constitutional rights as human beings and that campaign contributions and expenditures may be regulated. Carmine has also filed major resolutions calling for both an Article V Convention and for Congress to pass an amendment proposed by the Citizens Commission, to undo Citizens United v. FEC. 

Some of Carmine's most impressive achievements from his tenure as State Representative include: 

• Passing legislation with Representative Natalie Higgins to test, track, and report in real time to survivors the results of sexual assault kits. He was later able to obtain millions of dollars in funding to centrally store the kits, cover the cost of testing and successfully advocate for continuing funding for the program within the Executive Office of Public Safety. 
• Working with Sen. Julian Cyr to pass employee ownership legislation to dramatically expand the Massachusetts Center for Employee Ownership and create an advisory council to the Governor.
• Successfully advocating for special education, including obtaining school district partial reimbursement for special education transportation expenses and working in close partnership with Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian to secure $10 million in funding for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who turned 22 during the pandemic to continue receiving compensatory educational services. 
• Passing legislation with Representative Lindsey Sabadosa, Senator John Velis and Senator Jamie Eldridge  that allows municipalities to use their Community Preservation Act funds for land acquisition for rail trails.