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Date: 11/11/2020
WESTERN MASS. – State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa is approaching the end of her first term in office and is excited to continue much of the work that she has been doing for another two years.
She represents Southampton, Westhampton, Northampton, Hatfield and Montgomery.
Before becoming the first woman to hold the 1st Hampshire District seat, aside from advocacy and activism, Sabadosa ran her own business – a translation firm that specialized in legal and financial work. She said she ran for state rep because she wanted to bring her experience with activism and organizing into the legislature.
“We need more people who work to bring people together to work to a common goal in politics. An organizing background helps with that,” Sabadosa said.
Being the first woman to hold the seat, she said she is proud to bring a different perspective and voice.
“We just need a diversity of voices in the state legislature. We don’t have enough women. I think we just hit 30 percent, we don’t have enough people of color in office at all, we don’t have enough people of Asian, Pacific Island descent. Those are all of the things that I am excited to see change, I am happy to be part of that change,” Sabadosa said.
She added that it would be great if someday, asking how it feels to be the first was no longer a question.
Sabadosa is a member of three legislative committees, the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, Joint Committee on Election Laws, and the Joint Committee on Transportation. She said they have all been very active.
“For example, the Election Laws Committee wrote the legislation that allowed for mail-in voting this year and worked on campaign reporting laws. The Transportation Committee passes a transportation bond bill that will fund projects for years to come as well as a transportation revenue bill that will generate the revenue we need to complete those projects and invest in green infrastructure,” she said.
Her biggest accomplishment is working with her colleagues, she said, because no one gets things done alone – she noted stopping a cooperate tax loophole which saved the state $32 million, and recently passing legislation that extends unemployment benefits for people who received less than $100 a week.
Sabadosa said everyone is working on the budget right now. One item she and her team is making sure stays in the budget is raft funding, which is Residential Assistance for Families in Transition. This funding helps people who may be facing housing insecurity, owe back rent, or have issues with their mortgage. She said it is a little bit of help that people get, and believes it is important that it stays in the budget.
She is also interested in making sure free legal counsel like Community for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) is still available for those who need it. She said she knows the eviction and foreclosure moratorium ended so they will see an uptick in cases.
Sabadosa said she has a bill on changing the state flag and seal to something that represents the values the state has right now.
“When you look at it, it is a Native person with a sword over his head and it is not particularly – I think – representative of where we would like to be in 2020,” she said.
She said anything that tries to look out for the most vulnerable in the state is something she is interested in and is hopeful that she can do more while being state representative.
“I am really hopeful that we will have the ability to do more, really based on how the federal election goes. I had a moment yesterday thinking about food insecurity and I don’t think people think about the federal election when they think about food insecurity but how much money we get from the federal government really matters,” Sabadosa said.
She added that right now there are rules that say that homeless people can get snap benefits but the benefits cannot be used for hot food.
“It’s great that we are handing out food but if you are only handing out food that is cold and you do not have the ability to buy something warm and precooked which might make more sense for you, we are not really helping people. I am hopeful we will see a federal election where we have counterparts who are willing to step up and then we can start passing laws in the state that meet that actual need,” she said.
Besides passing bills, she is busy answering phones and helping people with things like unemployment, people who have lost their license to the RMV, and housing.
Going into her second term, a goal of hers is getting a bill to pass that focuses on policing and only calling in officers for situations they are needed and not calling them when a crisis response team would be more appropriate.
Sabadosa said her favorite part of the job is getting out and speaking with people in the district.
“Getting to hear people’s stories, it is just an honor when someone is willing to share anything about their life with someone they do not really know,” she said.
Because of the pandemic, she said she now gets that human interaction a little bit when she speaks to people about their unemployment claims and they share what is happening and how she can make it better.