001[Music] hello I'm Jack Patrick Lewis state representative here in Ashland also one of the state reps in Framingham and welcome today to Beacon Hill briefings today this show is being recorded uh with waca TV and Ashland but also something new uh as a podcast uh that will be playing later on Spotify YouTube and waca TV so if you want to take a break from looking at my face or my wonderful guest today you can actually switch over away from the video and tune in on YouTube today my guest is uh one of my colleagues that I've served with for the last eight years in the legislature uh he predates me in the legislature by about a decade and a half uh Senator Jamie Eldridge thank you so much for joining me again jack thanks you
002thanks for having me on I know I've been on before thank you always for having me I appreciate it I'm grateful you made the trip from your District to be here uh last time we recorded we didn't have these podcast mics this is really nice it does feel really nice but admittedly I feel like Rush Limba or like Glenn Beck uh but I'm going to try to channel I don't know somebody other than a far right radio personality today say you're the opposite I I know I am true um I don't know who can I who can I Channel instead well we'll figure out somebody Howard Stern maybe no not Howard Stern we both need to keep our jobs uh Jamie has been in the legislature for 22 years yes uh serving in the house
003I believe for five years for six years six years okay you what are numbers among legislators uh six years and then has been serving in the Senate since then yes yes and we are both chairs of our Progressive caucuses we are which means we get to work together not just as Metro West legislators not just as friends who enjoy each other's company but also as Progressive leaders on Beacon Hill uh you represent more towns than I had the chance to remember this morning I know there's Marboro Harvard Berlin not Berlin not Berlin okay 12 communities Marboro Acton a boxboro Hudson Littleton mayard Stow Sudbury Wayland Harvard and Southboro yes that's right I was going to quiz you but I was afraid if you only could remember 11 then you know poor air I do it
004geographically east to west but yep so Senator eldrige you have served in the legislature now for 22 years eight of those as my colleague uh looking back though at those years other than you know the opportunity to to work with me as closely as we have what are some of the highlights that have stood out to you yes well I would would say that the Criminal Justice Reform package that we we voted for in 2018 that was something that was very meaningful not only because of the difference that it made that it was very comprehensive but also that it really was a very powerful Coalition and show the fact that people can organiz organize around a difficult issue and and make progress so I I know you and I have visited a fair amount of
005jails including MCA Framingham there's still a lot of work to be done but it was really a major reform so very proud of that I I would say the the student Opportunity Act uh you know we both represent uh at least one you know very very poor Community you Framingham me malro and really seeing the benefit that millions of more dollars has made uh to those communities and and a few others in my district uh and then I would say going way way back and part of my my memory goes back to a couple nights ago uh former uh representative Byron rushing was honored was the fight uh for marriage equality which began in my first first term uh and Byron rushing really LED that effort and got to just see his speech the other
006night at the ACLU dinner so that was very inspiring and that was an effort where we were against the odds and and were successful over about four years so I uh I don't know if I shared the story with you so when that ruling came down I was a student out in Utah at the University of Utah uh had just it was in the midst of my my first year of college uh had not come out yet fully to myself and certainly not to anyone else uh and I remember cuz I was I still am a political nerd watching CNN and then C-SPAN uh for the extended coverage uh learning that the Supreme Judicial Court had struck down the same-sex marriage ban in Massachusetts was huge and for the first time in my life I
007could imagine like living my authentic life truly uh and The Dominoes just started falling all of these uh barriers I thought were in front of me uh just started falling down and it was that moment where I said you I don't know where I'm going to go next but one day if I can make it to Massachusetts then maybe I can do even more of the things I've dreamed about but the the part that I want to share with you because you were around back then uh is I watched the cpan I watched the coverage from Utah and so I saw folks like yourself uh and David Linsky uh and uh Sarah Peak uh legislators that didn't have to make the right choice where society and thousands of years of tradition uh and and and
008forces against equality breathing down your necks you found a way uh to come together in the legislature to to collaborate to build alliances uh my husband works for the Unitarian Universalist Association which used to be just one door down from the state house that's where we would meet yes and so hearing them talk about this being the 20th anniversary and how proud they were to host that group of folks that didn't have a snow no Ball's chance in hell of being successful but were uh and so you know now that I'm married and have a couple kids and you know living the ideal dream uh on the best of days I say thank you uh and on the hardest days of being married and as a parent I I try to thank you uh but
009but in 22 deers you you've done a lot and I think your your highlights touch on how much this job requires that we uh are generalist in lots of things there are things that oh absolutely get your heart pumped that that get you out of bed in the morning but there are also things that just because of the nature of the job you have to work on uh things that maybe you aren't as passionate about as as other things uh I'm CU you don't get the headlines you don't get the headlines yes I think of the bill and appreciate in your in the chairmanship of the committee on the house side the bill to dedicate uh money uh raised from the rainy day fund to match federal funds that's going to make a tremendous difference
010for the whole state and it got very few headlines yes uh uh my my committee as a chairman had a bill this year and it was my first year as a chairman and uh we got the bill across the fish line the governor signed it but like a lot of what we do it is going to have a huge effect on the state and our families but print media being what it is right there weren't a lot of papers for it to be on the front page of and those papers that still exist uh covered it you know section e page 47 uh looking back though over the last 22 years are there things that have surprised you uh it's a weird job I I try to think of a more professional way to describe
011it but it's it's a job that requires that we H have an Eclectic uh interest and talent and a variety of different things and it means we work with people in various places in their lives uh anything that you're willing to share uh that that has surprised you over the last couple years well I think the mystery for me is that there are bills that you and I you know file and fight for every year and and then suddenly something happens or there's some sort of consensus and we make progress um I think of this year uh Universal School meals which I think was advocated for for about eight or nine years and suddenly it moves forward and makes a difference and then there are other bills where we work on them including dare I
012say the solar rooftop Bill and somehow it doesn't break through and and and the fact that you just have to keep advocating for every single Bill and they make a breakthrough and then we make a make a difference yep um and just the mystery of you know there's not even always a clear rational explanation for why that's the case and that's why we we do our jobs and keep advocating as somebody who inadvertently made international news when I tweeted about an effort to work with my kids Cub Scout Den on a state Dinosaur Project which overnight became like picked up by the Associated Press and CNN and if you Google my name in Russian script or or Chinese script like it's Jack in the D dinosaur uh not what I had intended to be the
013first line of my my future obituary uh but sometimes those things happened where yeah student State dinosaur Bill worked with 35,000 kids and teachers on a project yeah it was during the pandemic between the 70th and 75th hour of my work week you know I worked on this this project but other bills that I spend maybe 20 hours a week on right just right haven't got to Prime Time yet uh but but they'll they'll find their time uh yes yes exactly we're recording this in mid October the legislative calendar is not over no matter what such an important P point to make yep that we sometimes talk about end of July being the end of formal session which I will never talk about again because it has never been the true end of a session
014this year there were things that still needed to be finalized and um we're finalizing them so while the session is not over and we I think have two maybe three bills will be taking up in the next week or two huge bills that you've had your hands in uh and your fingerprints are all over in a good way uh looking back over the last 20 21 months what have we done so far that you're most proud of this session yeah and I think the important thing which I was talking to some constituents about the other day is that so many of the bills are part of bigger bills right so I talked about the universal School meals that was in the budget on the Criminal Justice Reform front the no cost calls that was all
015also in the budget um talking about you know our our session now is that I think we're days maybe hours away at least on the Senate side from passing the climate Bill uh so very proud of the climate Bill uh that we'll pass um and then the economic development bill which has literally dozens of bills in it I hope that some of them see the uh the the the end of the tunnel I I know that um on the Senate side on the Criminal Justice Reform front I've been very passionate about uh Senate President spilka's uh main priority the raised age bill for for juveniles so I hope that that can become become law but certainly the the gun the gun reform law which really you know keeps us at the Forefront of gun safety
016in in the country uh I don't think it's gotten as much attention I thought it would get more attention but uh that was something that I worked a bit on and uh really give a lot of credit to to rep uh rep day the the the chairman of Judiciary Committee that I co-chair so those were very very significant uh We've passed some major health care bills on long-term care maternal Health hopefully a couple more bills including around prescription drugs and uh and the issue that just directly affected my district the role of private equity in in in hospitals is what are my hospitals closed just a couple months ago the noova Valley Medical Center so so those are some of the things that I'm proud of or I think we are soon to be proud
017of uh the hopefully will pass into law I think uh what you said at the beginning there about yes it may appear that we've only passed X number of bills and and some print media love comparing that to previous years or comparing it to other states but like if if we pass 200 bills that are each 200 pages long as opposed to 500 pill bills that are all one page long like it for whatever reason our culture at legislature has moved in the direction of larger bills that address uh a topic one Topic in a very robust way and so contained within the safety law were many many bills that people filed including a bill I filed with David Linsky uh our bill is in the final bill I I'm not standing behind the governor
018when she's signing the the larger Bill I'm not getting the parchment delivered to me because it's not my bill it's not just my bill it's not just your bill the final product is something we have all worked on uh and it makes it hard because when you want to decorate your office with all the bills of yours the governor has signed and in my case uh maybe n of the 10 pieces of legislation I've prioritized successfully are contained within larger bills right right not as much to decorate the office with uh but luckily I think most of our constituents know that we don't do this work because we want to see our name on the top of something we don't need to see our name as nice as it is sometimes in the paper for
019good things uh but but there are still folks who haven't quite yeah realize that right exactly the critiques can be difficult because one wants to counter misinformation but uh you mentioned the Senate President who you've served with your entire time in the legislature yes yep I uh and I know she first got into politics running for school committee here in Ashland uh around the issue of Equitable education funding mure Ashland got his fair share of public uh public education funds and then has made that a key part of her mission on Beacon Hill and so you mentioned the student act which has helped all of our communities uh but also for her has been sort one of the many highlights of seeing her career over the years uh and working not only with Senators but
020working with house members as well to make sure that all the bills we craft that one in particular uh help all of our communities in ways that I think we won't know until our kids you know those of us with kids maybe if their kids have kids or their kids it mhm investing in people today we may we don't know when it'll bear fruit uh in a in a tangible way uh but you and I both you know our elders invested in our educations and we've turned out all right yes uh with any luck we can at least give that level of support to to this new generation and uh one day they'll they'll come for our jobs but one day we'll have to eventually reti soon not too soon no no yes retirement's too
021far away uh so you talked about uh criminal justice uh you talked about Progressive caucus uh you talked about uh an environmental Bill we've worked on together I know you're a co-chair of an environmental caucus as well right clean energy caucus yeah tell us more about that yeah that is you know I I will say that energy policy is very complicated I don't claim to be you know an expert on it but you know there is the need in my opinion to not only have the committee of telecommunications utilities and energy uh ay co-chaired by ref Jeff Roy and Senator Mike Barrett but I think there's a role of a caucus to to apply some pressure to do some advocacy um you know I'm I'm pleased that the bill that that we'll be voting on
022is is more comprehensive um and I think part of that is is a caucus weighing in to say you know we need a a strong strongest bill as possible I think also there's so much at the state Administration side uh doar dpu Mass clean energy center of implementing the bills we past you know we we passed these big bills especially around climate over the past five or six years but the implementation of it you know how do we make sure that more solar is built how do we reach our carbon emissions reductions goals of the of the road map uh law um how do we help our communities uh that want to do the right thing on climate action but they don't know how to access state grants they don't know how to to do
023their own actions to reduce their own carbon emissions so so I really see the caucus as sort of educational as well and we try try to bring in you know experts to talk about these things uh not to mention all the clean energy jobs many of which are are in in this area of of Metro West so so I see that the RO that is the role of the the caucus and uh you know similarly with the Criminal Justice Reform caucus as well are there so Progressive caucus Criminal Justice Reform caucus clean energy caucus are there any other caucuses that you're actively involved in that I there are some that that speak to the challenges of of some of the bigger issues that we both support is Medicare for all caucus still a real challenge
024of how do we move to making healthc care a right uh in the state versus health insurance as a right which is which is different uh and then interestingly uh because of a lot of the independent pharmacies in my district I am the relatively new chair of the pharmacy caucus yes you'll have to add me to that email list I'll happily join the pharmacy caucus uh which reminds me after these interviews I'm supposed to pick up prescriptions at uh at CBS So you you're in your District you're advocating for families and students and businesses in your District on Beacon Hill you're actively involved in these caucuses uh but the Senate President and your colleagues in the Senate have also appointed you to some serious leadership positions you're the chair of the uh joint committee on
025Judiciary yep yep uh and you're the Senate uh Vice chair of the joint committee on environment and natural resources that's right and then I think you're on four additional communities but right I'm proud of myself for remembering the other two uh tell me about those committees you're the chair of the one the vice chair of the other how many years have you been in those roles what what do you see your role as the committee chair being yeah yeah I am in my third term as the chair of the Judiciary which is uh relatively rare because it is a committee we have the most bills of any committee so we had 705 bills so over 10% of all the bills filed go through Judiciary and while certainly there's a lot of Criminal Justice Reform bills
026there was also you know Reproductive Rights government surveillance civil rights so the the the parentage ACT uh to to protect the rights of of all parents including those uh maybe that have kids through adoption or surrogacy uh that was a bill that went through our committee uh it's been filed I think this was the third term I think it was filed um but really didn't get a lot of momentum till this session so very proud that Governor Healey signed that into law um the bill around um government surveillance was was reported out is there's a lot of concern about facial surveillance uh the ability for police to use you know video cameras to to police people uh that's a bill that came out of committee it hasn't it hasn't passed into law yet uh and
027then uh fairly significant uh Bill around um coercive control of of okay there is different forms of abuse amongst Partners amongst part amongst couples including sort of psychological mental abuse and so that now is is a way for someone who's being victimized to get a to get a restraining order and that was a bill I worked very closely on with uh rep rep day uh to get that passed so that's that's Judiciary environment I would say was not as active though though one of my big bills is the plastic bag band bill that that that has passed the Senate uh we're getting ready for next session for the environmental Bond bill um that committee is chaired by Senator Rous on the Senate side uh so we're we're we're getting different ideas for the Environmental Bond
028Bill uh passed for that uh and then um I was a big fan uh big supporter of the legalization of cannabis so I do serve on the Cannabis committee lots of headlines around the Cannabis Control Commission and getting it fixed I don't know exactly the answer but I I am a little embarrassed at some of the problems with the commission so would love to work on that to see to get that fixed all right uh Judiciary is one of those committees that have on occasion the like 12-hour hearings right like the the room is full and people are sweating and emotions are high uh it you the 7 saying 700 bills I think just doesn't do it justice because so many of the bills that touch anyone's lives find a way it seems to go
029through Judiciary gun safety law in as well uh so we have as I mentioned a couple more months before the session ends yes we're not done yet uh lots more that will still be done we we by the time of this airs there may have been a vote or two already on uh some big Omnibus bills but you just alluded to preparing for next session uh what do you what does that look like uh and what are you hoping next session you might be able to to move further down the field yeah and a lot of it is looking at why certain bills haven't made progress so so last night I was at TS University with the uh tup pit program which is a program to uh provide a college degree to returning citizens people
030that were just recently released from prison um their focus and it's it's a difficult bill but it's ending life without parole so you know uh does it make sense uh no matter how horrific the crime is to say you will never have a chance even if you rehabil rehabilitate yourself to have even a chance to go before the Pearl Ward so a lot of conversations about bringing back the jobs not jails Coalition which was instrumental to passing the 2018 reform so you know the really difficult decisions that you and I have to make that are kind of behind the scenes is strategically what bills are possible to pass what are while while Noble bills while good bills are unlikely to pass and therefore should they be more narrowly focused um looking at bills including you
031know our solar rooftop bill you know should we make changes to that bill uh you know how do we make that a priority if we want to do that for next session and then also you know given that we passed some bills this session what then will be the topics for next year so if we're tackling healthc care this year does that mean that we won't be as focused on Healthcare uh we'll be more focused on the environment we'll be more focused on um you know aspects of um you know looking at uh you know small sport for small businesses supporting immigrants um who knows but looking at what you know what didn't work out and then and then trying to work with the coalitions that be successful next session but through it all we
032as a legislature know how to walk and chew gum and play on our phones and daydream and work uh all at the same time so I'm confident that we're going to continue doing that and uh I think for folks listening if there is an issue you're passionate about uh if I'm your State Rep you feel free to reach out to me uh if if Senator Eldridge is your state senator or whoever if Karen spil is your state senator uh reach out tell us about the issues that are important to you uh there is and this is the part that I I think some folks just don't realize there is an advocacy group for every imaginable issue multi advocacy groups multiple that don't always agree with each other which is why sometimes bills don't happen uh
033but that you whatever you're passionate about there are other people who are also passionate about it and if there are enough of you there's a good chance there's an organization there might even be paid staff there could be an attorney and a lobbyist whose job is to move forward on that issue and so my advice is yeah reach out to us let us know your interest but if you're passionate about women's Reproductive Rights like a handful of wonderful organizations absolutely yeah that know when things are starting to move and you don't have to follow the legislative calendar 100% of the time you can sign up for their email list follow them on social media and they'll tell you when we need to most hear from you uh exactly if we already agree with you it's
034easy it's like oh yes good I'm doing the right thing but and that's such an important point because I don't know about you but I get request from constituents saying can you please let me know when is it important point a way in I say well you really should join one of these groups because you and I don't really have you know the staff or the time to tell every single constituent what to do at a certain time but these groups uh do play that critical role and well it's you know we filed the bills and we work with colleagues to move them across the Finish Line nothing emerges or passes in isolation but we have Partnerships with the folks in the building outside the building most of the bills I'm most proud of and
035I'm most excited to file grow out of ideas the constituents shared with me they then took them to there's a 988 uh Suicide Hotline bill that the house passed and I'm cauly optimistic it'll get across the Finish Line this session uh but it literally was a constituent who worked for Metro or volunteered with Metro West Suicide Prevention read that another state had done this had a meeting they emailed me I said let's file it uh and then from then you know Ashland high school has implemented something similar and so now hopefully we'll get across the finish line and I can go back and point to all of these organizations and all these folks who have been helpful along the way uh that's just one that is really close to the finish line and hopefully by
036the time this airs uh we can delete that whole segment because it will have already happened yeah no I think what's really unique about being a state legislator is exactly that that point is that a constituent could have a great idea approach any legislature and often you know get filed and and pass fairly soon yeah and I think in government we are the last state legislators are the last sort of people as you move up to you know next would be somebody at congress with with a whole you much larger District you they go to a farmers market or or for you like getting ice cream or you post a lot of pictures of you supporting your District's restaurants but like folks can find us like they they if Saturday morning Ashlin Farmers Market there's
037a good chance I'm going to be there if they need to meet with us they shoot an email to our office they call there's an expectation that someone's going to get back with them when you move sort of up into sort of larger places in government most folks don't have the assumption that they're going to run into their Congress person every week at the farmers market or that there's a world where their Congress person's going to call them back on an issue or file a bill like it just gets so much harder and so for us I think sometimes it makes our jobs a little harder because MH you know after us you know we're the manager uh and somebody wants to speak to somebody you know yeah including local issues including local issues that's
038what's fascinating it's not just federal or or state it's often State local issues too and we're always very very eager and happy to connect them with our local city counselors or select board members uh and if they have a passport or an immigration issue we can connect them with uh our various uh Congress people uh that represent our districts uh Senator alge it is a great honor to have you again on the show I'm going to have to watch our previous interview to see how you've a we've both aged uh over the last couple years uh anything in closing uh you wanted to share that I didn't get to in my Marathon questioning of you yeah I mean I would say Obviously at this point uh please remember to vote in the elections very very
039critical and that um to sort of what we've been discussing over the past few minutes you know get involved get involved in your community serve on a committee uh you know get involved in a campaign uh Join one of these groups that we talked about that Advocates because if you're not uh part of the solution then you're part of the problem and if you're not at the table sometimes you're on the menu there's a lot of lot of those good phrases uh thank you so much everyone for tuning in again I am so grateful uh to having colleagues join me on the show uh the Partnerships we have uh locally and with other state leaders allow bills to pass uh and our our shared values to to move forward uh for those tuning in at
040home until next time [Music] y [Music]