"This bill will encourage landlords and tenants to find solutions and avoid long vicious litigation which helps no one," Schloming said.
The Opposition
Rep. Jarrett T. Barrios '90 (D-Cambridge), responded to Schloming's remarks and the entire bill with some reservations at the Monday hearing.
"What you're doing with this legislation is taking the right away from the tenant to dispute the rent they're escrowing," he said.
"It seems a radical departure from what I know as justice in this country," he added.
Most tenants agree that SB 541 would make it economically infeasible for them to bring many cases to court.
"It's the only instance where people must pay to have their claims heard by court," says Cambridge tenant Kevin Bradley, a member of Cambridge's Eviction-Free Zone, a tenants' rights organization.
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