The Work & Family Mobility Act is Good for Safety and Good for Justice

Monday, June 21, 2021

Chairman Boncore, Chairman Straus, and members of the Joint Committee on Transportation:

Progressive Massachusetts would like to go on record in support of S.2289 / H. 3456: An Act relative to work and family mobility during and subsequent to the COVID-19 emergency.

Progressive Mass is a statewide, member-driven grassroots organization committed to fighting for a vision of shared prosperity, racial and social justice, good government, and environmental sustainability in Massachusetts.

This bill (the Work and Family Mobility Act) would enable all qualified state residents to apply for a standard Massachusetts driver’s license, regardless of immigration status, to increase road and public safety and allow for greater mobility across our Commonwealth.  

Immigrants are a core part of the fabric of our community, but regressive laws still on the books hinder their ability to fully participate. Notably, our state still prevents undocumented residents from obtaining driver’s licenses, hindering their ability to work and to engage in the community. 

This is bad for our economy and bad for public safety. In 2016, undocumented immigrants contributed $8.8 billion to the Massachusetts economy, and not being able to obtain a driver’s license prevents their full participation in the economy, especially as our underfunded public transit system too often provides irregular hours and insufficient reach.

Moreover, this situation is bad for public safety. All drivers on the road should have the appropriate training that comes with a license: that makes everyone — fellow drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians — safer. 

But a true definition of public safety is much broader. In the first two years of the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of people with no criminal convictions more than tripled, fueled by a fivefold increase in arrests of immigrants who’ve been charged with an offense but not yet convicted. The most common charges were traffic offenses. Although the Trump administration has passed, we cannot wait for a slow-moving federal government to take action to overhaul its approach to immigration enforcement. We can and must act now.  

Other states have realized that changing the law so that immigration status is no longer a barrier to obtaining a license is common-sense policy. More than a dozen states have already passed such laws, including our neighbors in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. It’s past time that we do too. We urge a prompt favorable report for S.2289 / H. 3456: An Act relative to work and family mobility during and subsequent to the COVID-19 emergency.

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn

Chair, Issues Committee

Progressive Massachusetts 

Boston Globe: Weighing in on Sonia Chang-Díaz’s Run for Governor

Emma Platoff, “State Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz, veteran progressive lawmaker, launches bid for Massachusetts governor,” Boston Globe, June 23, 2021.

Chang-Díaz had a leading role in “every major progressive accomplishment the state has had” during her tenure, said Jonathan Cohn, elections committee chair for the group Progressive Massachusetts, which has yet to make an endorsement in the race.

“She’s the candidate who excites progressive activists,” he said. “The universe of people who volunteer on campaigns know who she is.”

Here’s How MA Can Strengthen Democracy for Our Local Elections

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Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Chairman Finegold, Chairman Ryan, and Members of the Joint Committee on Election Laws:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I chair the Issues Committee at Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to fighting for progressive policy here in the Commonwealth. A core part of our platform is an electoral system that expands voting, the electorate, and its trust in candidates and elected officials.

Accordingly, we urge you to give a favorable report to S.485/H.825: An Act providing a local option for ranked choice voting in municipal elections.

When voters get to the ballot box, they can face complicated choices. Our first-past-the-post system forces ordinary voters to weigh whether they can vote for their preferred candidate or whether doing so would lead to a “spoiler effect” that gives a candidate they like less a clearer path to victory. This same dynamic can lead candidates and their supporters to try to force similar candidates out of a race due to a fear of “vote splitting.”

Within the current system, the ultimate winner may command less than a majority support, a contradiction of a basic tenet of democracy and a far too common occurrence in Massachusetts elections. Ranked Choice Voting would eliminate these problems by enabling voters to rank the order of their preferences on the ballot and ensuring that whoever wins does so with majority support.

Although the ballot initiative to implement Ranked Choice Voting for state and county elections did not pass last year, the measure did pass in 78 municipalities in varying parts of the Commonwealth. If such municipalities wish to adopt Ranked Choice Voting for local elections, they should not have to face undue hurdles to doing so.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Chair, Issues Committee

Progressive Massachusetts