It’s bill filing day on Beacon Hill as lawmakers around Massachusetts rush to file their proposed legislation for consideration this session. Democratic State Representative Smitty Pignatelli of the 3rd Berkshire District is among them. After the county lost its fourth House seat in redistricting due to declining population, Pignatelli’s Southern Berkshire stronghold was consolidated westward and expanded to the north. Retaining his status as the Berkshires’ longest serving state politician in November, Pignatelli says his bills for 2023 are aimed at improving rural road infrastructure funding and requiring first responders to carry NARCAN. Pignatelli spoke with WAMC.
PIGNATELLI: Well, it's an exciting time anyways. It’s the start of a new session, we have, obviously, a new governor. So, we're still feeling our way through to see what their priorities are going to be. But with the bill filing deadline this week, clearly, we're filing some of our ones that are refiles from last year and some new initiatives. And then there's, keep in mind, there’s like 24 new House members that’ll be filing their own ideas. So, we'll have to see what happens. But it's an exciting time to have the new session begin all over again and get rolling here.
WAMC: Now, have you put forward any bills for consideration during this session, Smitty?
Yeah, we're going to- We got pretty close with our Chapter 90 conversation, which is our road and bridge money back in the district. I think the formula is seriously flawed and has been flawed for quite some time. So, to try to address that, I've been working with other colleagues about refiling my bill about changing the formula. And then I'm a co-file of a bill to form a commission to really take a deeper dive into the Chapter 90 formula, try to address dirt roads especially in the rural communities. So, I'm excited about those things. And I'm finally my HOPE Act again, this is the requiring all first responders in the commonwealth, large cities or small towns, to carry Narcan. It’s clearly been proven to be a lifesaving tool, and we've seen the number of overdose opioid deaths rise during COVID, the highest numbers we've seen since before COVID. So clearly, there's a need there and as a concern, and having first responders – police, fire, and ambulance – carrying Narcan I think is a is a smart move. We had good momentum last year with this, it got voted out favorably by the committee. But we had a couple of hiccups with the clarification from some of our first responders. So, we've addressed that early on. We have the Police Chiefs Association endorsing the bill, we're working with the fire departments. But I'm very optimistic that we have to address this first and foremost early in the session, hopefully, in the idea of saving lives.
One of the big narratives this session in Boston is the dueling plans from Governor Maura Healey and Senate President Karen Spilka about expanding community college access. I'm interested- In the House, what are you hearing about this concept of expanding free community college? And how do you feel about the two plans that have been put forward by Healey and Spilka?
Well, the you know, the devil is always in the details. I'm always intrigued that, we've got to do something to address student debt. Community college is people leaving there with student debt that we have to try to address as well. Whether it's free or not, I'm not sure if I'm there yet, but I'm certainly willing to listen to it. When you think about community college versus our four-year institutions, community college is still a very affordable opportunity for a lot of folks. So, to have the over 25- I think that's a smart move in many ways. It helps to retool our workforce, get them retrained and back to school. But we can't ignore the 18- to 22-year-olds either that are going to college and trying to figure out how to pay for that. So, the devils in the details. I haven't heard a lot of buzz about that at the statehouse just yet. Some of us were kind of caught by surprise when Governor Healey addressed it in her, at her swearing-in. But I think it's a topic worth pursuing, and we have to do something for students that is just getting to be overbearing. When I talk to young people and they have $300,000, $400,000, or $500,000 of student debt, I think it's going to be very problematic going forward on how to pay down that debt. I really wish the federal government would wake up. And you know, prior to the inflationary factors we’re going through right now, I bought a house three years ago, got a 30-year fixed rate for 2.5%- But yet my daughter who was paying student debt of 6%, 7%, 8%, and 9%. You know, that just that just doesn't make sense and I wish the federal government would address that. But I think it's wise for Massachusetts, which is rich with over 100 institutions of higher learning to try to address that early on in the session. So, I'm really excited about that possibility.
Now, Governor Healey also talked about tax reform and tax relief in her inaugural address. Talk to me- From your perspective, what kind of changes to the Massachusetts tax system would most benefit your constituents out in Berkshire County?
Well, in my district, especially in compared to other parts of the Berkshires, you know, it's the property tax that's gone, it’s skyrocketed. And that's because of the value of homes. People who came into the Berkshires during COVID, what better place to do natural social distancing. And they bought real estate, some of them turn into bidding wars, and in some cases $75,000, $100,000 over asking price. What that does, though, that raises the valuation of their next-door neighbor, who could have been there for 20 or 30 years. So, I think property taxes is the biggest issue we'd have to try to address. I'm not sure what's the best approach to do that, other than trying to address the local aid formulas and educational formulas on how much money goes back to cities and towns. But I think property tax, which goes back to the Deval Patrick days, there is no easy solution to provide relief because those are dollars that are spent at the local level, but If we can come up with a good plan to fix our roads and bridges, our dams, fund schools, I think there's a great opportunity if the state plays a bigger role in that there will be less burden on local taxpayers through the local property tax. So, we've got to do something because I think we're squeezing people out of my district in the Berkshires, especially, because of the inability to afford a safe, clean, affordable house in Berkshire County.
Maura Healey’s cabinet features extremely little Western Mass representation. Any thoughts on that? Obviously, it's an ongoing concern in the region. I wanted to know what you thought about the relative lack of representation among the governor's top advisors.
Well, I mean, I think the jury's still out. I think she still has a lot of appointments to make. I've been a big advocate of regional equity, and I think any administration needs to be representative of the entire state, not just heavily concentrated in Boston or the big cities. The fact that the Secretary of Economic Development [Yvonne Hao] actually has a home in the Berkshires, graduated from Williams College, even though she doesn't live here full time now, I think that's an opportunity to talk to someone who is familiar with the Berkshires, thought enough of that at college to actually buy a home in the Berkshires. So, I think that would bode well for us. But there's still several appointments that have to be made. And I'm hopeful that, you know, it'll be reflective of the commonwealth and not just, you know, certain large cities and that level of degree.
