(State House, Boston)  Senator Cynthia Stone Creem (D/Newton) was appointed this week to co-chair the Legislature’s conference committee that will develop final language for a major criminal-justice package, making broad changes to the state’s laws on criminal sentencing and on access to criminal records.  Senate President Therese Murray chose Senator Creem for this position in recognition of her years of dedicated work on the issues covered by this landmark legislation, which she sponsored.

“I am honored to receive this appointment,” said Senator Creem, who is also the Senate Chair of the Judiciary Committee.  “In this position, I will work to ensure that the final product reflects the best efforts to get smarter on criminal justice while at the same time continuing to protect public safety.”

The conference committee will be tasked with reconciling differences between the Senate version of the bill, which passed last November, and the House version, which passed last month. 

Both measures bring sweeping changes to the way so-called CORI reports on criminal records are made available for background checks, mostly in the context of applications for jobs or housing. 

The two houses differed on sentencing matters, with the Senate incorporating a provision from Senator Creem to allow certain non-violent drug offenders to seek parole after serving two-thirds of their sentences, as most other inmates are eligible to do.

The House has yet to name its members of the conference committee, but the panel is expected to settle on compromise legislation that can be enacted before the July 31st close of the current legislative session.

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