Jarrett Barrios

Barrios has served as the Chief Executive Officer of various regions of the Red Cross in the USA since 2011. Barrios took over as CEO of the Red Cross of Los Angeles on March 3, 2014.[1] He has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross of Massachusetts since 2011. Barrios was credited with expanding and revitalizing the organization's mandate and leading it through two of Massachusetts' most serious disasters since the 1978 blizzard, namely the Boston Marathon bombings and blizzard Nemo in 2013. Since Barrios took the helm, the Red Cross of Massachusetts has expanded its volunteer base by 400 percent and doubled the number of Red Cross youth clubs in Massachusetts high schools.[1]

Barrios began his legislative career in 1998 when he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. The first major legislation he wrote was a law requiring hospital emergency rooms to provide interpreter services for non-English speakers. He also authored legislation creating a statewide affordable housing trust and establishing a low-income housing tax credit, which provides an incentive for developers to create affordable housing. He was the prime sponsor of a bill that enhanced state disaster relief efforts in coordination with the American Red Cross.

In 2002, the voters of the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex District - including parts of Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Revere, Chelsea and Saugus - elected him to the state Senate, and he was re-elected unopposed in both 2004 and 2006.

Barrios rose to national attention in 2006 when he proposed legislation to limit Marshmallow fluff in Massachusetts public schools after he learned his son's elementary school served Fluffernutters. In response, state rep Kathi-Anne Reinstein filed countersuit against this legislation by proposing the Fluffernutter be the state sandwich of Massachusetts. Barrios later dropped the proposal.[5]

As a state senator, Barrios successfully helped lead the legislative effort to protect marriage equality in Massachusetts, and is best known for a globally televised speech where he spoke on discrimination faced by his own family.[6]

Barrios chaired the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. He authored legislation creating a state witness protection program and establishing an anti-gang violence grant program known as the Shannon Grant. He also authored one of the nation's most comprehensive identity theft laws, which provided new protections to consumers whose personal data is stolen from retailers or other third parties. Barrios wrote a law updating state fire codes in the wake of a deadly night club fire in neighboring Rhode Island. He also authored an "anti-bullying" bill, which only passed the state Senate, directing schools to respond more aggressively to student reports of violence and "cyber bullying."

On other issues, Barrios authored a law designed to protect homeowners from foreclosure and to crack down on unscrupulous subprime lenders. The law created a first-in-the-nation requirement that mortgage bankers and brokers abide by the state Community Reinvestment Act, which previously applied only to credit unions and banks. He led Senate passage of legislation promoting "environmental justice," addressing health care disparities among minorities, and strengthening enforcement of "buffer zones" around women's health facilities.