Source:
Boston.comTreasurer Timothy P. Cahill, the independent candidate for governor, said yesterday he wants to create a law that would bar employers from using credit checks to screen job applicants.
Cahill conceded that it’s probably too late to pass such a law this year, with the legislative session set to end Saturday, but said he would like to make the change next year to help people get back in the workforce. “Prospective employers are looking at their credit history and using it as a job qualifier or job disqualifier,’’ he said at a news conference on the steps of the State House. “And we think that’s wrong.’’ Cahill said that with unemployment “a major issue’’ for middle-class residents, the legislation would increase the hiring prospects for people with past credit problems.
He cited figures from the Society for Human Resource Management showing that 60 percent of employers run credit checks, up from 40 percent in 2006.
Read more:
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/07/28/cahill_seeks_law_to_ban_firms_from_checking_job_seekers_credit/
NB this is a state bill, MA-only. But it's something I wish would get more national attention.
Cahill was a Democrat with a lot of political connections who is now running as an I because he and the governor (Deval Patrick) can't seem to work together (does this sound familiar to DUer's from Florida?). So now it's a 3-way race for Governor among Deval Patrick (D), Cahill (I), and Baker (R). Cahill supports a flat income tax.
Baker ran a huge health insurance company for a long time, but the level of corruption in the D-controlled state house is so high at this point that his "have you had enough yet?" campaign is getting some traction, and Cahill is tapping off a lot of voters who normally vote Democratic.
Why isn't an
actual Democrat working for stuff like this?