PM in the News

SHNS: Sunshine week meets shade on Beacon Hill

Colin Young, “Sunshine week meets shade on Beacon Hill,” State House News Service, March 15, 2024.

As Sunshine Week got underway, Progressive Massachusetts pointed out that the Massachusetts House has taken fewer than half as many recorded votes so far this session than it had in any of the previous six legislative sessions. The House took 202 roll calls by March 11, 2012; 297 roll calls by March 11, 2014; 206 roll calls by March 11, 2016; 313 roll calls by March 11, 2018; 164 roll calls by March 11, 2020; and 155 roll calls by March 11, 2022, the group said.

So far this legislative session, the House has recorded 81 roll call votes.

The trend has been similar, but not quite as dramatic, in the Senate. Progressive Massachusetts said the Senate had taken 186 roll calls by March 11, 2020, then 135 roll calls by March 11, 2022, and had taken 114 roll call votes so far this session as of the start of the week.

“So much of the legislative process occurs behind closed doors, and recorded votes are a critical opportunity for legislators to show the public where they stand. When the House refuses to bring up votes until they are unanimous and when legislators withdraw their amendments without discussion or debate, we lose out on opportunities to make progress on the many critical challenges facing the commonwealth,” Jonathan Cohn, policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, said.

transparency

PM in the News: State lawmakers holding fewer recorded votes

Christian Wade, “State lawmakers holding fewer recorded votes,” The Eagle-Tribune. March 12, 2024.

The number of roll call votes by the state House of Representatives has plummeted in recent years, prompting concerns from open government groups about a lack of transparency in Beacon Hill’s often secretive legislative process.

In the current legislative session, which got underway in January 2023, the House has held 81 roll calls that recorded how each lawmaker voted on specific bills, according to voting records from the House clerk’s office.

But the number of recorded votes has been declining for years, with 105 roll calls held during the preceding two-year session in 2021 and 2022, according to the data. In the 2017-18 session, the House held 313 roll call votes.

There has also been a decline of recorded votes in the state Senate, where 135 recorded votes were held during the 2021-22 session, according to the Senate clerk’s office. That’s compared to 186 roll call votes in the 2020-21 session.

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Jonathan Cohn, policy director of the group Progressive Massachusetts, said the lack of recorded votes deprives people of “opportunities to make progress on the many critical challenges” facing the state.

“So much of the legislative process occurs behind closed doors, and recorded votes are a critical opportunity for legislators to show the public where they stand,” he said in a statement.

transparency

PM in the News: Solidarity Lowell’s Advocacy for the Unhoused

Melanie Gilbert, “Lowell’s adult homeless shelter at peak capacity,” Lowell Sun, February 21, 2024.

There are more homeless people than available beds in Lowell, leading to people in need of emergency shelter being turned away, said Isaiah Stephens, managing director of the Lowell Transitional Living Center on Middlesex Street.

“People are coming into the shelter faster than we can house them,” Stephens told a group of service providers and advocates attending a remote meeting of Solidarity Lowell on Jan. 28.

Solidarity Lowell is a volunteer group of community members of Greater Lowell working toward social justice in areas such as housing and homelessness.

State House News Service: “City Council backs idea of debt-free college bill”

Chris Lisinski, “City Council backs idea of debt-free college bill,” State House News Service, January 31, 2024.

“Councillors posed for a photo with Higher Ed for All advocates and turned over the microphone to Jonathan Cohn, policy director of the Progressive Massachusetts group that’s part of the coalition pushing for higher education reforms.

“The bill that we’re fighting for this session, in particular the CHERISH Act, is something that builds on that vision with debt-free higher education so that students aren’t graduating with thousands and thousands of dollars in debt that makes it hard for them when they start out and is damaging for the economy of Massachusetts as a whole,” Cohn said in the council chambers.”

higher ed

PM in the News: “Midyear budget shortfall raises questions about Healey’s tax cuts”

“Midyear budget shortfall raises questions about Healey’s tax cuts,” WGBH, January 12, 2024.

Have Gov. Maura Healey’s tax cuts backfired?

That’s the argument coming from some on the left as Healey makes hundreds of millions of dollars in midyear budget cuts, just a few months after she signed off on the state’s first big tax-break package in two decades. But not everyone thinks the state’s current fiscal duress means the cuts were a bad idea.

Adam Reilly is joined by Mass. Taxpayers Foundation president Doug Howgate and Progressive Mass policy director Jonathan Cohn, who discuss the impact of the cuts and what they might portend for the future of budget-making in the state.

budget revenue tax fairness

PM in the News: Governor Healey defends “absolutely essential” tax cuts (But Are They?)

Chris Lisinksi, “Governor Healey defends ‘absolutely essential’ tax cuts,” State House News Service, January 9, 2024.

Progressive Massachusetts, which describes itself as a grassroots organization with local chapters, called itself “disappointed and disturbed” by the budget cuts, contending they will “disproportionately harm the most disadvantaged members of the Commonwealth.”

“Last year, advocates repeatedly stressed that now was not the time for permanent tax cuts, as signs of lower revenue collection were already coming. The Legislature refused to listen and instead passed a tax cut package that included regressive tax cuts almost equivalent in size to these draconian cuts,” the group said in an unsigned statement. “It should not be lost on us that we never see emergency pauses of regressive tax giveaways; the solution is always one that falls on the backs of the poorest.”

Chris Van Buskirk, “Gov. Maura Healey defends tax cuts as Massachusetts faces $1 billion revenue slowdown,” Boston Herald, January 9, 2024.

Progressive Massachusetts, a policy group, said 2023 was “not the time for permanent regressive tax cuts.”

“We remain disappointed that so many legislators chose not to listen,” the group said on social media in response to the financial headwinds.

revenue

PM in the News: “New Tax Cuts Prompt Debates about Affordability”

Sarah Robertson, “New Tax Cuts Prompt Debates about Affordability,” The Shoestring, November 21, 2023.

The child and dependent credit, described by Healey as the “most generous” in the country, was the largest single piece of the bill, representing $307 million in cuts. It is expected to provide around 565,000 families with a $440 annual tax credit per dependent, who can include children under 12 years old, seniors, and people with disabilities.

“I’m sure they can use it and welcome it, but we’re talking about a $440 tax credit like it’s somehow revolutionary for people when that’s not making a dent,” said Jonathan Cohn, policy director for Progressive Mass. “This state could be doing so much more by pooling money and investing in infrastructure to support parents rather than just giving people a check.”

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The bill also raised the threshold at which the estate tax kicks in from inheritances of $1 million to $2 million.

“They’re throwing money at people,” said Cohn. “Many people in this state will die in debt, and the idea of putting that much focus on cutting the taxes on multi-million dollar estates is crazy.”

Cohn said he was disappointed in the Healey administration’s “misleading” characterization of the cuts as a way to address affordability. “The cost of living is at a crisis point for so many people,” he said. “The tax bill does not meaningfully address that.”

tax fairness

PM in the News: “We Can’t Tax-Cut Our Way to an Affordable Commonwealth”

Jonathan Cohn, “We Can’t Tax-Cut Our Way to an Affordable Commonwealth,” Fenway News, November 2023.

If Massachusetts wants to be an affordable state—attractive for people to move to, a place where people can thrive—that’s where our focus should be. And I hope that’s where our Legislature turns its attention for the rest of the session—and that legislators don’t have the audacity to say they don’t have the money to help make living here more affordable.

tax fairness

Daily Collegian: Debating the Effectiveness of New Tax Cuts

Sam Cavalheiro, “Massachusetts passes first tax cuts in almost two decades,” Daily Collegian, October 23, 2023.

Jonathan Cohn, Policy Director at Progressive Massachusetts (a progressive policy advocacy group,) was disappointed at the new tax law as he felt it only focused on cutting taxes.

Cohn explains that Massachusetts voters, in the most recent election, voted out a Republican governor who was fiscally conservative and passed an increase on taxes on the wealthy, called the Fair Share Amendment.

“Shifting the entire discussion to cutting taxes feels like ‘Wait, what just happened in the last election?’ It’s just not the best use of that in the political moment,” he said.

Cohn argues that the tax cuts do little to make Massachusetts an affordable place, referencing the Child Tax Credit Expansion: “…raising that child tax credit of $440 is ultimately not going far for people given how expensive children are. In Massachusetts, the cost of childcare is over $20,000 a year and saying that their tax credit is [going to] go up from $140 to $440 over a few years, that’s not a significant amount.”

He also argues that the rental deduction will do little to make Massachusetts more affordable: “What the expansion of the rental deduction means maybe $50 more for many renters… and many people see their rent increase each year by more than $50.”

Cohn criticized the short-term capital gains cuts and estate tax cuts, which mostly affect wealthier residents. He questions who the tax cuts are benefiting.

“Is it disproportionately benefiting those who already have high incomes or is it benefiting the people who are really struggling with being able to afford to live in Massachusetts?”

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