Barbara L'Italien

L'Italien is the first State Representative to represent the 18th Essex district, which was created by redistricting following the 2000 census. She held office from 2003 to 2011.[3]

In the district's first campaign in 2002, L'Italien defeated Republican Kathleen Sachs and unenrolled candidate Alfred DePietro, winning by less than 1,000 votes (47–41% over Sachs). In 2004, she defended the seat against Republican Maria Marasco, winning with 58% of the vote. In 2006 and 2008, Republican Lawrence Brennan ran against L'Italien, but she defeated him with 56% of the vote in 2006 and 55% in 2008. In 2010 she was defeated for re-election by Andover Republican Jim Lyons, who won with 53% of the vote.[4]

Representative L'Italien was the author of the landmark legislation on Autism insurance coverage, House Bill 4935 (formerly H. 3809), which requires insurance companies to provide coverage of evidence-based, medically necessary autism therapies, such as applied behavior analysis.[5]

After her House term ended in January 2011, she became director of government affairs for the newly elected Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts, Steve Grossman until 2012.[6]

L'Italien was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in November 2014 to succeed Barry Finegold in the 2nd Essex and Middlesex seat.[7] She defeated Andover Republican Alex Vispoli in the general election (winning 50% of the vote). She took office January 7, 2015. In the 2016 election, she defeated Lawrence Republican Susan LaPlante winning in all four towns with over 63% of the vote. She currently serves as the Chair of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure and the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, as well as the Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Bills in the Third Reading.