Background
Straus, William M. was born on June 26, 1956.
Straus, William M. was born on June 26, 1956.
Middlebury College; Harvard Kennedy School. Harvard University; Georgetown University Law Center.
He represents the 10th Bristol District comprising the towns of Fairhaven. New Bedford: Ward 3: Precinct A, Ward 4: Precincts Doctorate, East. Marion. Mattapoisett.
And Rochester.
Representative Straus received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College in 1978 and his Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1982. He received a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. From 1978 to 1981 he worked for former United States. Senator John Culver (Doctorate-Iowa).
From 1982 to 1988 he was an Assistant District Attorney in Bristol County, Massachusetts.
Representative Straus currently serves as the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation. In the 2009-2010 legislative term Representative Straus serves as the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Environment and Agriculture.
In prior sessions of the Legislature he has served as Vice Chairman of the Transportation Committee and as Chairman of the Committee on Election Laws. Straus has been very involved in the South Coast Rail project through his work on the Joint Committee on Transportation.
He has also filed legislation to make public the MBTA pension system finances.
Representative Straus also vote in favor of the 2011 law that authorized casino gambling in Massachusetts.
He later served as a member of the Massachusetts Hazardous Waste Facilities Site Safety Council and the Mattapoisett Conservation Commission. During the 2005-2006 term of the Massachusetts Legislature he was a member of the Joint Committees on the Environment, Consumer Protection and Bonding-Capital Expenditures.