The State Budget Is Late Again. That Means You Can Still Contact Your Legislators.

Happy July!

July means warm weather, vacations, and picnics, but it is also thestart of the new fiscal year. And, as has been the case each year for over a decade, Massachusetts is without a budget, as the MA Senate and MA House are still stuck in negotiations about final details.

These recurring delays are bad for the commonwealth, as they harm the ability of cities, towns, and departments to plan. In short, we all deserve better.

But when they delay, that also means that you have more time to contact them, so take advantage of that.

Can you email your state legislators today about key budget priorities?

Here are some of the important provisions being negotiated as you read this email:

  • Early Education and Child Care: Advancing the Common Start vision of a more robust early education and child care infrastructure with greater stability for providers, better pay for educators, and more affordability for families, as reflected by various parts of both the House and Senate budget
  • Universal School Meals: Fully funding universal school meals
  • Access to Counsel: Implementing a statewide Access to Counsel pilot program to increase access to legal representation for low-income tenants and low-income owner occupants in eviction proceedings
  • Cash Assistance for Low-Income Families: Increasing cash assistance for the families most in need
  • No Cost Calls Funding: Creating a dedicated funding source for implementing no–cost calls in prisons and jails
  • No Cost Calls Reporting: Fixing No Cost Calls reporting requirements so that policymakers have the information they need to effectively monitor free communication
  • Voting Access: Eliminating barriers to voting access by ending MA’s outlier status as the only state where if a voter doesn’t return the annual municipal census, they’re placed on the Inactive Voter list
  • New Flag, Seal, & Motto: Continuing the work to develop a new state flag, seal, and motto

Can you email your state legislators today about key budget priorities?

Support Key Amendments to the Housing Bond Bill

On June 24, the MA Senate released its redraft of Governor Healey’s housing bond bill (S.2834). Although the bill contains important provisions like legalizing accessory dwelling units, creating a process for sealing eviction records, establishing an Office of Fair Housing, and banning broker fees, it fails to meet the urgency of the housing crisis and leaves out key policies, such as a local option real estate transfer fee.

The bill can — and must — get better, so write to your state senators in support of the following amendments:

#119, Air Quality for Homes (Jehlen), which would create a task force to address identification and remediation of indoor air pollution and indoor mold contamination.

#141, HOMES Judiciary Committee Bill (Eldridge), which would substitute the eviction sealing language in the bill with language reported out of the Judiciary Committee which would also allow tenants whose case is dismissed or who win to petition to seal their eviction case. While 11 states have successfully adopted eviction record sealing protections, there is nothing right now tenants in Massachusetts can do now to seal their eviction records. In Massachusetts, the moment an eviction case is filed, a tenant has a permanent and publicly available eviction record on the Trial Court’s website. Even if a tenant paid off the rent, won the case, or did nothing wrong, they are rejected from housing regardless of the outcome of the case.

#150, Establishing local-option rent stabilization (Jehlen), which would allow cities and towns to pass rent stabilization ordinances. Cities and towns need an array of tools to combat displacement, and rent control is a key tool.

#214, Foreclosure Prevention Program (Gomez), which would create a statewide mediation program to prevent foreclosures, which is critical for homeowners across Massachusetts and particularly low-income, working-class, and new homeowners.

#235, Encouraging homeownership (Jehlen), which would give tenants the right of first refusal to buy their building when the owner decides to sell. This is critical to address the high cost of housing, to keep tenants in their homes, and to stabilize our communities.  

#242, Local Option Transfer Fee (Comerford), which would give cities and towns the ability to put a small fee on high-end real estate transactions to raise dedicated funds for affordable housing. We have to give cities and towns in Massachusetts all the tools possible to tackle the housing crisis, and the real estate transfer fee, only for the towns that want it, will give them the much needed resources to do just that.

Sponsored by

Progressive Mass

Tomorrow: MA Senate to Vote on Climate Omnibus Bill, House to Vote on Maternal Health Bill

Happy Juneteenth! Today is a reminder of both our country’s original sin of slavery and the importance of continual work to undo systems of oppression, correct historic inequities, and deliver on the promise of liberty and justice for all.

Tomorrow at the State House, the MA Senate and MA House both have an opportunity to further this work. Read on for what you can do.

Email Your State Senator about Climate Justice

Tomorrow, the MA Senate will be voting on a climate omnibus bill (S.2829) that takes steps to reform energy permitting, decarbonize buildings, electrify transportation infrastructure, expand the state’s electric vehicle charging network, and among other steps.

We know that if we are to have a just transition to renewable energy, then we need to center the communities that have been most harmed by the climate crisis and pollution.

Join the Mass Power Forward coalition in calling on State Senators to co-sponsor key amendments that accelerate our transition away from fossil fuels and address the historic and present harms faced by BIPOC communities.

  • #116 Accurately Assessing Community Impacts (DiDomenico), which would strike a clause from the definition of cumulative impact analyses that would limit the analysis to only assessing the risks and exposures attributable to the proposed new pollution source (thus making it NOT a cumulative assessment).
  • #100 Improving Outdoor Air Quality (Jehlen), which would create a technical advisory committee for air quality, direct the Department of Environmental Protection to identify at least 8 pollution hot spots, install air monitors, and reduce the air pollution by 50% by 2030.
  • #14 Protecting the Commonwealth from Gas Expansion (Gomez), which would halt large gas infrastructure expansion projects from being approved by the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB).
  • #15 Halting the Expansion of Large Gas Pipes (Gomez), which would stop the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) from approving gas companies to expand into new towns & cities not already served by gas.
  • #16 Protecting the Climate and Ratepayers from Gas Expansion (Gomez), which would halt both large gas infrastructure expansions approvals by the EFSB (Amendment 14) and gas territory expansions by the DPU (Amendment 15).

Check out the Mass Power Forward action guide for more information.

Email Your State Representative about Birthing Justice

Tomorrow, the House will be taking up a bill to address our urgent maternal health crisis and racial inequities (H.4773). The bill incorporates evidence-based solutions, including those that integrate midwives and birth centers into our healthcare system.

Join the Bay State Birth Coalition in advocating for key amendments to to ensure health equity and strengthen midwifery and birth center provisions in the bill:

  • #8 Equitable Reimbursement for Certified Nurse Midwives (Fluker Oakley)
  • #9 Low-risk Pregnancy Definition filed (Fluker Oakley)
  • #15 Promoting Equitable Birth Center Leadership (Cruz)

Moreover, urge your state representative to oppose amendment #20, which would introduce severe restrictions on individual birthing choice and impose blanket fixed prohibitions instead of allowing regulations to follow current, evidence-based best practices for maternal care.

Check out the Bay State Birth Coalition action page for more information.

Take Action: Our State Budget Is Being Finalized Right Now.

In April and May, the MA House and Senate voted on their respective budgets for the next fiscal year. As they reconcile the differences in a Conference Committee, it’s vital that chambers put aside the inter-chamber jockeying and procrastination that so often characterizes these negotiations and instead commit to embracing the best of both budget proposals.

What would that mean? It would mean doing things like the following:

  • Early Education and Child Care: Advancing the Common Start vision of a more robust early education and child care infrastructure with greater stability for providers, better pay for educators, and more affordability for families, as reflected by various parts of both the House and Senate budget
  • Universal School Meals: Fully funding universal school meals by dedicating $190 million to School Meals For All (Line Item 1596-2422)
  • Access to Counsel: Providing $2.5 million for implementation of a statewide Access to Counsel pilot program to increase access to legal representation for low-income tenants and low-income owner occupants in eviction proceedings (item 0321-1800 in the House FY 2025 budget proposal)
  • No Cost Calls Funding: Dedicating $35M in the Communications Access Trust Fund for no–cost calls in prisons and jails (item 1595-6153 in the House FY 2025 budget proposal)
  • No Cost Calls Reporting: Making technical fixes to the No Cost Calls reporting requirements, so that policymakers have the information they need to effectively monitor free communication (Section 29 A&B of the Senate FY 2025 budget proposal)
  • Voting Access: Eliminating barriers to voting access by ending MA’s outlier status as the only state where if a voter doesn’t return the annual municipal census, they’re placed on the Inactive Voter list (an amendment included in the Senate budget that also earned the support of a majority of representatives)

Can you write to your legislators to urge them to express their support for these provisions to the budget negotiators?

Take Action: The MA House Should Listen to the Public on Housing

Yesterday, UMass Amherst and WCVB released a poll on what voters think about different solutions to our housing crisis, and voters were clear that we need to use every tool in the toolbox.

Here’s just one example: by 3 to 1, voters supported allowing cities and towns to levy small fees on high-end real estate transactions to raise dedicated funds for affordable housing.

Governor Healey agrees, and in her housing bond bill (the Affordable Homes Act), she included a local option real estate transfer fee, allowing communities to choose to impose a small fee on high-end real estate purchases to build and preserve affordable homes if this tool is important to them in preserving their community.

Cities and towns across MA have shown that they want to do this. And it’s not hard to see why. In Nantucket, for example, you need to be earning 7x the area median income to afford the median value home. That’s why voters, including local realtors, support this proposal.

But, unfortunately, the the House left this key tool out of the housing bill that it’s voting on TOMORROW, capitulating to the heavy lobbying from the real estate industry. But the fight isn’t over.

Can you write to your state representative in support of Amendment #165 to add the local option transfer fee back into the bill and ensure that it’s flexible enough for all communities across the Commonwealth?

Data Brokers Don’t Need to Know Your Weekend Plans.

I hope you were able to enjoy the long weekend.

But do you know who doesn’t need to know what you did over the weekend? Data brokers.

Currently, there is no law in Massachusetts or federally to prevent the sale and purchase of cell phone location data. Every day, companies collect and sell sensitive location information from cell phones, revealing information about where we live, work, and socialize.

Here’s just one example: Politico recently reported that a data broker company tracked people’s visits to nearly 600 Planned Parenthood clinics in 48 states, including Massachusetts. The company sold that data to inform one of the largest anti-abortion ad campaigns targeting specific individuals. If anti-abortion extremists can use cellphone location data to target abortion seekers with ads, they can also use that data to target, harass, or threaten patients and providers in our state.

The Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cyber Security recently reported out the MA Data Privacy Act, a comprehensive data privacy bill that includes provisions to limit data collection and sharing, treat sensitive health and biometric data with extra care, and prohibit the sale of our cellphone location data. But getting out of committee is just step one. The Legislature needs to pass this before the end of July.

Can you email your state legislators in support of the MA Data Privacy Act?

Take Action: Your Legislator Needs to Hear from You about the Housing Crisis

Massachusetts has a housing crisis. It’s true all across the commonwealth, and it registers as a top priority in every poll.

We know that in order to address our housing crisis, we need every tool in the toolbox. Unfortunately, because of heavy lobbying from the real estate industry, one of those vital tools is under attack: the real estate transfer fee local option.

Under Gov. Healey’s housing bill, a community could choose to impose a small fee on high-end real estate purchases to build and preserve affordable homes if this tool is important to them in preserving their community.

Has your state rep heard from you yet in support of this?

Cities and towns across MA have shown that they want to do this. And it’s not hard to see why. In Nantucket, for example, you need to be earning 7x the area median income to afford the median value home. That’s why voters, including local realtors, support the transfer fee for housing.

House Speaker Ron Mariano recently dismissed this urgency, but what that means is that state legislators are not hearing enough from the majority of voters who want to see real action on the housing crisis.

Tell your state representative to vote “yes” on the transfer fee for real estate to give municipalities an option to fund local housing solutions. It is time to give communities a choice, and a chance to preserve their hometowns for all residents – not just the wealthy.

Will MA Do the Right Thing on Housing?

In poll after poll in Massachusetts, the #1 issue on voters’ minds is housing. And it’s no surprise why. Escalating rents and soaring housing prices have forced people out of their communities or out of the state entirely. That’s not sustainable, and we need robust policy action to address this growing housing crisis.

Over the past few months, the MA Legislature has been working on its main piece of housing policy this session: Governor Maura Healey’s H.4138, the Affordable Homes Act (known as the “housing bond bill”), with the House expected to vote soon. 

Among the key provisions of the bill are a real estate transfer fee local option, which would provide cities and towns a critical tool for addressing their local housing crises, and allowing for accessory dwelling units (ADU) as of right, a way to boost the supply of affordably priced housing.

Your legislators have been hearing from a well-funded real estate lobby trying to block the transfer fee proposal.

And your legislators have been hearing from those who want to preserve the exclusionary nature of their local zoning laws.

But the question is: have they been hearing from you?

Can you write to your state legislators in support of comprehensive action to address our housing crisis?

Happy Earth Day! Here’s How to Take Action Today and Beyond

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day serves as a reminder of the fragility and interconnectedness of our planet and how much more we need to do to protect our common home.

A few years ago, Massachusetts set a commitment to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. For us to meet that goal (or a more ambitious one), then we need bold and comprehensive action on climate from our state legislature. 

That means putting a pause on new gas infrastructure so that we aren’t building new pipelines and compressor stations that create a lock-in effect for fossil fuels and divert time, attention, and resources away from a plan for a just transition.

And that means reforming our energy siting process to expedite the siting of renewable energy and to ensure that we are centering equity and not reproducing historic environmental justices.

Can you write to your state legislators today about the importance of taking action on climate this session?

House FY 2025 Budget Action Alert

Last year, Massachusetts passed critical legislation to guarantee free communication in prisons and jails, the most comprehensive such legislation passed in the country so far. With No Cost Calls in effect, the number of calls made from MA’s prisons rose by more than 60% in January relative to just a few months prior, and the number of electronic messages sent nearly tripled, meaning that people who are incarcerated are better able to stay connected with their loved ones back home.

But the larger work of keeping families connected is not done. We need to make sure that there is robust reporting to ensure full and effective implementation by the Department of Correction and county jails, and we need to build on the win of No Cost Calls by improving access to in-person visitation as well.

Please contact your state representative by next Tuesday (4/23) to urge them to co-sponsor the following amendments to the FY 2025 budget:

  • #975 and #986, amendments to No Cost Calls (These amendments make technical fixes and improvements to reporting requirements with the aim of maximizing effective implementation of free communication in prison and jail)
  • #1263, “Strengthening Community Connections”  (This amendment mirrors legislation to improve access to in-person visits)

Email your state rep

Other amendments worth highlighting for your state rep:

#788, “Lift Kids out of Deep Poverty” (This amendment would provide 10% grant increases for very low-income families with children, elders, and people with disabilities.)

#1479, “Access to Counsel” (This amendment would clarify that the Access to Counsel pilot would be statewide, that it would be for full legal representation, and that the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, the fiscal administrator, would in consultation with an advisory committee, determine how to implement the program)

788, “Lift Kids out of Deep Poverty” (This amendment would provide 10% grant increases for very low-income families with children, elders, and people with disabilities.)

1479, “Access to Counsel” (This amendment would clarify that the Access to Counsel pilot would be statewide, that it would be for full legal representation, and that the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, the fiscal administrator, would in consultation with an advisory committee, determine how to implement the program)