State Rep. Gailanne Cariddi says the Legislature is taking on major topics.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Professional telemarketers soliciting for charities aren't always truthful about how much money is going to the charity — and how much is going in their pockets.

 

One of those solicitation callers felt bad that she was being forced to lie to people and crafted a law to stop it. State Rep. Gailanne Cariddi has taken that over and is heading the effort in the state house. She filed the bill requiring  solicitors to tell the truth when asked. Though it didn't pass, Cariddi will be refilling it again next session.

 

While the Legislature couldn't come to terms with that bill, Cariddi says it was able to tackle some major issues. From minimum wage to gun control, the North Adams Democrat said Beacon Hill tackled huge issues over the last two years.

 

With the formal session over, iBerkshires sat down with Cariddi to recap the last two years.

 

Q: What were some of the highlights of the last legislative session?

 

GC: Massachusetts, when you look at the country, may be a small-looking state but we are huge in terms of the legislation and policy that has been created. In this past session alone, when you talk about gun legislation, for instance, we are far ahead of the country in being proactive. We're tying mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence and criminalization of guns together to help move forward legislation that will help us address those topics while at the same time protecting individual rights to own firearms. That is a huge, huge thing. That comes to my mind most definitely because I was so active locally in getting the opinion and concerns of the residents of the 1st Berkshire District and bringing that to the state house.

 

No. 2 — again speaking to Massachusetts being huge in the nation despite being small as a state — minimum wage. We've increased the minimum wage. It is not quite a living wage but we're getting there. That will certainly help to put more money in the pockets of working families. At the same time, again, balance. It is not just putting up minimum wage but it is tackling the really complicated issue of unemployment insurance end for small businesses.

 

Small businesses had contacted me with a great concern. What it does there is that it freezes the unemployment insurance costs for a business for three years. Then, it puts in place a new schedule with how businesses pay the unemployment insurance. A lot of people don't realize that it is the businesses that pay it. The state administers it and has the rules and regulations for it but really, businesses pay for that cost. 

 

I think we are again far ahead of the curve with campaign finance reform in trying to address the 'dark money' issue and to put more transparency into the financing of campaigns. We're seeing it right now. Again, I think that is Massachusetts tackling policy issues that are on the minds of many people and putting laws into place that are hopefully going to help the citizenry. 

 

Veterans assistance — we've always been on the top of assistance for veterans. This year we passed the second Valor Act, which is going to help veterans in relief of property tax issues, enhances their employment and in fact, downstairs yesterday with the new office opening up, they told me that if a veteran comes in, they are a priority person. If a North Adams Regional Hospital employee is also a veteran, they are a priority for re-training.

 

Transportation reform — we've been trying to dig out from underneath the Big Dig for a long time. And, I think we've done that this year and addressed some long-standing financial issues that were in the [Department of Transportation]'s umbrella. We're going to continue to work on those bridges and build new road and I'm happy to say, continue with new bike paths. You can say those are jobs bills, too. Transportation infrastructure improvements will continue to keep well-paid workers getting a pay check.

 

I think those are huge. Massachusetts looks small on the map but huge in terms of policy and legislative matters being tackled and successfully solved. I am just finishing up my second term and I can't tell you how impressed I am — even as a citizen — how much the Legislature does to move forward on difficult issues.

 

Q: Can you talk about the state finances? What's the status?

 

GC: We passed a few supplemental budgets as the commonwealth finds that revenues continue to increase. They increase in a minor fashion and I think we continue to be very mindful in the public's dollars in that we're not overspending, that we're cautious. We want to be efficient. 

 

That's one thing I am so impressed with the House Ways and Means Committee. That the staff that work in there are really running the numbers and really making sure the books balance and that we are not overspending. That's why so many bills get hung up in Ways and Means.

 

Q: Which committees were you on and what were you able to accomplish?

 

GC: Two committees I had stayed with — the speaker appoints — were municipalities and regional government and environmental, natural resources and agriculture.

 

I was very honored to be appointed the vice chair of the municipalities and regional government committee. I think the speaker put me there because of my long-term experience on the City Council. That committee deals with a lot of those things. In the past year, we had the city of Pittsfield come before us with a home-rule charter change. Almost every community during a two-year session comes before the municipalities and regional government committee because of home-rule petitions and regionalization issues. 

 

The big piece of legislation in that committee would be the new revised zoning regulations. While it did not pass this year, it has been in play for about 30 years. It is a tough nut to crack. We've got tremendously closer to trying to solve a lot of the problems out there. At this point, there is only one group that is not satisfied — the realtors. So I think going through next year being able to tweak the bill we'll be able to put something out.

 

Environment was an exciting year because we had a environmental bond bill. The environmental bond bill put forth projects from sea to mountain, the whole commonwealth. We talked about sea walls and infrastructure down there and flooding issues to our parks and recreation, in which we have a huge amount in western Massachusetts. In that bill was the monies for the Hoosic River Revival and that was $8.7 million. There is $5 million for the Greylock Glen in that bill also. The things in that bill are long-term. It was passed this year but it might not get pulled out until year eight. 

 

Q: In this session, what were some of the things you had hoped to accomplished but hadn't?

 

GC: I had a bill I worked very hard on — it is HR 190 — it is a consumer bill. The official title is An Act Relative To The Do Not Call List Law to Regulate Certain Charitable Solicitations. Right now it is in the committee of third reading and if it is deemed non-controversial it can still pass in the last three months of the session.

 

Basically what it does is prohibits certain things. It prohibits calling residents listed on the do-not call list. If you are on the do-not call list, they're not supposed to call you or they can be fined. For others who are not on the do-not call list, they can only call within certain hours — between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. You can't send unsolicited faxes. Faxes are almost by the wayside but that is in there. They can't use recorded messages. That would be prohibited. Also prohibited would be the blocking of caller ID devices. 

 

It gets a little more complicated in that paid solicitors right now have to file with the attorney general's office on a form 10A. There are lot of questions on a form 10A and one of them is how much money do you intend to raise from the campaign — they might say $100,000. The next question is what will you tell the person that you are calling how much of that money will go to the charity. They can say 100 percent even though on another question they can say 20 percent. So, it is a truth in solicitation bill also. What they will tell you on the other side is that some times they do these things for publicity. But, they should also be adhering to the truth and abiding by the do not call list.

 

This is actually a controversial bill. It has gone to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court has said that you can't restrict their free speech. So, this last part that I talked about, is still dependent on the person being called to ask. They have to ask how much of my money is going to the charity. Then, it will pass the Supreme Court criteria. This is being looked at across the country. Right now it is in third reading and I pushed and pushed and pushed to get it out. But it didn't get out.

 

I didn't write it. It came to me like most bills come to almost every other legislator and that is from someone in the public. The idea came forward from a woman by the name of Pearl Cohen and she formerly worked for a telemarketing firm and saw what they were doing wrong and felt really bad that she was being made to lie to people. She decided to do something about it and this is part of what she's come up with.

 

Q: Looking forward to the next session, what will be some of your priorities?

 

GC: I like consumer protection. I like health issues, agricultural issues and to promote small businesses. Those are things I look at. The first thing I will do is look through the sponsored legislation from this year in those areas and if they haven't passed, I'll bring them forward again.

 

One was fracking, hydrolic fracking. I was a co-sponsor of that and there was a compromise made. The initial legislation wanted a forever ban and the compromise was to put it in 10 years. I believe that is in Ways and Means.

 

Another one was an act to protect puppies and kittens. That was the regulation of puppy mills, which I am very concerned about. I've had a number of people contact me in the last 3 1/2 years about receiving an animal the family took to and loved but found out it was not bred properly and had life-threatening illnesses. They had no recourse. This holds puppy-mill type operations accountable for the transfer of healthy animals. If there are problems, it provides for a resolution process.

 

My pepper spray bill was supposed to be part of the gun bill but I didn't see it in there. So, that's kind of held back so I am going to make sure we do get pepper spray and mace available to people who want it — especially now because there is a lot of talk about on-campus violence. It makes for an easy protective device.

 

I'll try to get the zoning moving forward again. Another committee I am on is the transportation committee and one of the things we were grappling with is privacy and the ability for law enforcement and private enterprises to read license plates and to keep and hold that information for longer periods of time than we think may be necessary. So, that's one thing. We have quite a few things.

 

Q: Are you working to craft any new legislation?

 

GC: Yes. I just haven't really put my mind to it yet. One of the things I've been interested in since I was elected was non-criminal disposition. Non-criminal disposition allows a community to write a ticket to a landlord for things like having too much trash around. So instead of a municipality having to wait until the problem is so bad they have to take them to court that they can be proactive. They write them a ticket. The first one may be a warning, the second a $50 fine and the third one may be $100 and then they take them to court. But, they have a track record of these fines. What I hear from municipal clerks is that people are not paying these fines.

 

I'm going to work with House counsel to devise some legislation that would tie that ticket to something else that person may want to do. Like right now you can't get a license for occupancy if you have outstanding bills with the city. It would be similar to that. If you want your CO you have to pay your real estate taxes and if you want your CO you are going to have to make sure those tickets are paid. It may bring some more compliance to the process. It needs to be looked into.