Send People Checks. Make It Simple. Do It Now.

Dear Chairman Hinds, Chairman Cusack, and Members of the Joint Committee on Revenue:

Progressive Massachusetts is a statewide, grassroots advocacy group with 16 chapters across the state committed to working toward the goals of equity, justice, democracy, and sustainability.

We are writing today to urge you to give a favorable report to the following bills:

  • 4634 (Miranda): An Act providing emergency access to equity and justice for all in response to COVID-19
  • 4726 (Barber / Farley-Bouvier) / S.2659 (Eldridge): An Act to provide equal stimulus checks to immigrant taxpayers
  • 4727 (Gouveia): An Act providing for emergency cash assistance in response to COVID-19

It has been more than two months since Governor Baker issued a state of emergency due to the outbreak of COVID-19, and in the ensuing time, we have seen record levels of unemployment in Massachusetts. Such statistics, moreover, understate the economic insecurity that exists, as they ignore those who have been out of the workforce for too long, those whose unemployment claims have not yet been processed, those who have had difficulty navigating an overburdened system, and those who are underemployed. The essential workers who remain employed are forced to pay extra money for public health precautions and have to constantly debate the tradeoffs between their economic security and their health.

People are having difficulty paying rents and bills, and although the recently passed eviction and foreclosure moratorium is a much-needed stopgap, it foretells the wave of housing insecurity to come after the moratorium is lifted.

Beyond all this is the question of economic recovery. If people have accumulated debts that they cannot pay, they will be unable to spend money on needed goods and services, which will lead to a prolonged recession and sluggish recovery.

There is no silver bullet to any of these problems, and the Legislature needs to be taking far bolder and more comprehensive action. However, there is a simple step that the Legislature could take that would go far: direct cash assistance.

The federal CARES Act provided critical support in the form of a $1,2000 rebate to many taxpayers. However, this one-time rebate will not be enough to stem the wave of economic insecurity, and the CARES Act also had major omissions. In particular, the cash assistance it contained only applied to individuals with Social Security Numbers, thus excluding families in which any family member lacks a Social Security Number. This exclusion harms mixed-status families, including families with U.S. citizen children, many of whom have filed tax returns using an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) rather than a Social Security Number, as well as families composed of two ITIN filers. The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center has estimated that there are approximately 57,000 persons in ITIN taxpayer households in Massachusetts.

Many of these excluded families are also ineligible for Unemployment Insurance even though they have paid into the UI system, having filed tax returns using an ITIN and paid the same share of income taxes as those with Social Security Numbers. These families, many of whom contain members who are essential workers on the front lines, deserve the same assistance as other taxpayers.

These bills would address both of these problems. H.4634 and H.4727 would provide additional rounds of economic assistance, and H.4726 and S.2659 would authorize the Commonwealth to provide an equivalent rebate to that found in the CARES Act to those who had been excluded. 

We ask you to please act swiftly to give a favorable report to H.4634, H.726, H.727, and S.2659 to guarantee economic security in a time of unprecedented instability.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Chair, Issues Committee

Progressive Massachusetts

Mass Incarceration is a Threat to Public Health

Testimony in support of Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa’s, bill HD.4963/H.4652
An Act Regarding Decarceration and COVID-19

Thank you for taking testimony in support of this critical bill during this terrible crisis.

My name is Caroline Bays, and I am testifying on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts as well as on behalf of those who are behind bars and do not have the ability to testify for themselves.

This has been a hard time for our state. We all have found this time difficult and sometimes even scary. Imagine if you had to live through this without any control of your surroundings. Imagine if you had to live with your ability to stay safe completely in the hands of others — and imagine if those others are people who have previously shown no indication that they care about your welfare or well-being. This is a truly scary time for men and women in the prisons in Massachusetts.

In addition many in prison are more vulnerable to this disease. Those who are not fed appropriately or allowed appropriate exercise, are more likely than most to have comorbidities, a fact which increases the likelihood that they will die from this disease. Whatever reason they might be in prison for, nobody was sentenced to illness or death. When the state incarcerates someone, the state becomes responsible for ensuring their well-being.  Well, that is what the state needs to do. And that means releasing as many people as possible in order to ensure that these tragic deaths do not continue and spiral out of control.

Other states have released people from prison.  Iowa has released over 800 people and is still expediting releases. Hawaii has granted early release to almost 700 people. Even Louisiana is releasing people from prison early! (To see what other states are doing in both jails and prisons you can go here: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/virus/virusresponse.html)

Why haven’t we joined these states? Instead, the governor has remained silent while this insidious virus works its way through the prison system. We witnessed how fast this virus made its way through our community. We know that it silently plowed through our state, making us one of the worst affected in the country. There is a strong likelihood this will happen in our prisons. That is why we need to get people who will be vulnerable to this disease out, now. We don’t want to join Ohio in the catastrophe that is happening inside prisons there.

We pride ourselves on being a humane state. We pride ourselves on not having the death penalty. Well, now it’s time to act on our values and release these men and women from prison and allow them to endure this pandemic in a safe place. Because allowing them to stay in unsafe conditions when we can easily release them is the very definition of inhumanity.

As of this writing there have been 7 deaths in Massachusetts prisons, and last week alone we had 130 new cases, up from 37 the week before https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/05/01/a-state-by-state-look-at-coronavirus-in-prisons. Please — before it is too late — release all those who we possibly can before tragedy strikes our prisons.

Sincerely,
Caroline Bays
Board President, Progressive Massachusetts 

Voting Rights Advocates Applaud Emergency Election Legislation; Call for Additional Actions

VOTE

Common Cause Massachusetts, MassVOTE, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, Progressive Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Voter Table today praised emergency legislation allowing municipalities to delay their spring elections until June, and expanding absentee and early voting by mail, among other reforms.

The bill, S. 2608, was passed yesterday and is expected to be signed by Governor Charles Baker imminently.

“Yesterday’s bill is a strong first step. However, there is no guarantee that the coronavirus crisis will have receded by September 1, when Massachusetts state primaries are scheduled, or even for the November elections,” the groups said. “The Election Modernization Coalition urges the Legislature to recognize that this crisis is of indeterminate length, and that we must also act quickly to ensure that the fall’s elections take place as scheduled, maximize participation, and maintain public health. To that end, the Legislature must protect the ability of all eligible voters to cast ballots from home in all elections, and ensure that in-person voting is as safe and participatory as possible.”

The full statement is below.

Voting Rights Advocates Applaud Emergency Election Legislation

The unprecedented outbreak of coronavirus has required Massachusetts officials to respond to many urgent issues surrounding public health, the economy, and more. Yesterday, the Legislature stepped up to the plate to address one of these core issues: protecting the integrity of Massachusetts’ spring elections in this time of a global pandemic.

On Monday, the Legislature passed and today Governor Baker is expected to sign into law an emergency bill that will allow more voters to participate in our elections from the safety of their own home by expanding absentee and early voting by mail in the Commonwealth. The bill also allows cities and towns to postpone spring elections, some of which would have begun next week, until June. Related legislation postpones four state legislative special elections until May and June.

This delay is critical to enable all eligible voters to participate in our democratic process.  It will allow election officials to prepare for a surge in mail ballots.

We also applaud the legislature’s reduction of the voter registration black-out window. Massachusetts law currently requires voters to register or update their registration 20 days in advance of an election, after which eligible voters are unable to register or adjust their registration. The bill cuts that deadline down to 10 days for elections this spring.

Yesterday’s bill is a strong first step. However, there is no guarantee that the coronavirus crisis will have ended by September 1, when Massachusetts state primaries are scheduled, or even by the November elections. The Election Modernization Coalition urges the Legislature to recognize that this crisis is of indeterminate length, and make preparations for the fall elections well in advance. In order to ensure that the fall elections take place as scheduled while maintaining public health and public participation, the legislature should act to expand absentee balloting rules to allow all eligible voters to cast ballots from home, and ensure that in-person voting is as safe and participatory as possible. Expanded absentee voting should include sending ballots to all voters, re-paid postage for responses, and counting ballots postmarked on Election Day. Necessary in-person voting reforms include expanding in-person early voting windows and implementing procedures that create social distancing such as drive-in voting.

The Legislature should also build on the precedent that was set by yesterday’s legislation and  reduce the voter registration cutoff for all elections, not just for this spring’s. Election Day voter registration, already law and working well in 21 states, is the gold-standard reform and should be adopted here in Massachusetts.

Pam Wilmot, Common Cause Massachusetts
Rahsaan Hall, ACLU of Massachusetts
Janet Domenitz, MASSPIRG,
Cheryl Clyburn Crawford, MassVOTE
Beth Huang, Massachusetts Voter Table
Jonathan Cohn, Progressive Massachusetts
Patricia Comfort, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts

We Cannot Achieve Shared Prosperity Under Water

Climate underwater

The following testimony was submitted to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy on Tuesday, January 14, 2020.

Chairman Barrett, Chairman Golden, and Members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy:

 I, Jonathan Cohn, Co-Chair of the Issues Committee of Progressive Massachusetts, am pleased to offer this testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. Progressive Massachusetts is a multi-issue, grassroots, member-based advocacy organization committed to an agenda of shared prosperity, racial and social justice, good governance and strong democracy, and sustainable infrastructure and environmental protection.

Progressive Massachusetts would like to go on the record IN SUPPORT of bills H.2810.

As a coastal state, Massachusetts is especially vulnerable to climate change. To put it bluntly, we cannot achieve shared prosperity under water.

More than a decade ago, the Global Warming Solutions Act was signed into law, committing the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% below the 1990 baseline in 2020 and by at least 80% in 2050. However, as advocates have often pointed out, and the Supreme Judicial Court ruled recently, Massachusetts is not on track to meet its own goals.

After President Trump moved to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, elected officials from both parties in Massachusetts condemned this misguided move and said that Massachusetts would continue to push forward with climate mitigation. But we need more than just rhetoric. We need concrete policies that enable us to realize and build upon our current commitments.

H.2810 is such a policy. A 2014 study prepared for the Department of Natural Resources found putting a price on carbon in a scheme akin to that of this bill “would reduce state GHG emissions to a larger degree than most other Massachusetts programs that currently operate for this purpose.”[1] Indeed, it could reduce economy-wide emissions by 5-10%, with much of this reduction coming from the transportation sector.

The environmental benefits of such a pricing scheme are not limited to climate mitigation. The reduction in air pollution resulting from the price incentive could save over 300 lives over the next twenty years.[2]

We are pleased that H.2810 takes important steps to counteract any potential regressive economic effects of a carbon pricing scheme, making sure that low-income residents are not bearing the burden of climate mitigation. We also underscore the importance of the bill’s allocation of 20% of collected funds for a new Green Infrastructure Fund that would facilitate the decarbonization of the transportation sector and increase investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate resilience. Getting the price right is just the first step in the critical task of mitigating climate change.

The situation at the federal level for climate policy ambitious enough to meet the challenges before us is grim. It has thus become increasingly important for states like Massachusetts to redouble their commitments. We must do so to avoid regression, and we must do so to provide models for national policies as our state so often has.

Please Give a Favorable Report to H.2810.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Chair, Issues Committee

Progressive Massachusetts

[1] www.mass.gov/eea/docs/doer/fuels/mass-carbon-tax-study.pdf

[2] https://climate-xchange.org/public-health-study/

We Need to Use Every Tool in the Toolbox

The following testimony was submitted to the Joint Committee on Housing on Tuesday, January 14, 2020.

Chairman Crighton, Chairman Honan, and Members of the Joint Committee on Housing:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the chair of the Issues Committee of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.

It is because of those values that we write today in support of H.3924 (An Act enabling local options for tenant protections) and S.773 (An Act supporting affordable housing with a local option for a fee to be applied to certain real estate transactions).

Massachusetts has a lot to offer, but that does little if people can’t afford to live here. The US News & World Report’s annual state rankings put Massachusetts at #41 in housing affordability (and #43 in cost of living).[1] A worker earning minimum wage in Massachusetts would have to work 91 hours a week to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home at market rate (and 113 hours for a modest two-bedroom).[2] Monthly median rents have gone up by more than one-third since 2010, outpacing income growth.[3]

Clearly, Massachusetts has an affordable housing crisis. This is unsustainable. It has led to expanding economic inequality, increased homelessness, and damage to our economy, as talented workers often leave the state for less expensive regions.

Solving this affordable housing crisis will require us to use every tool in the toolbox.

That requires zoning reform that encourages the creation of walkable, sustainable, and inclusive communities.

But it also requires public investment. Over the last ten years, the need for affordable housing has increased, while funds for affordable housing have decreased at both federal and state levels.

And it requires strengthening tenant protections that ensure that communities can remain affordable, inclusive, and stable.

However, municipalities across Massachusetts are blocked from taking the necessary steps to address the housing crisis. The misguided statewide ban on rent stabilization policies and a stringent home rule system that prevents municipalities from passing their own laws to govern the basic aspects of civil affairs hamstring municipalities.

H.3924 provides the appropriate redress. It repeals the outdated and misguided statewide ban on rent stabilization policies and enables cities and towns to pass policies aimed to regulate rents, limit condo conversions, prevent landlords from evicting tenants without just cause (e.g., failure to pay rent, illegal activity), require landlords to inform tenants of their rights, and take other steps to protect tenants and ensure long-term affordability.

S.773 also removes barriers that cities and towns face in addressing the housing crisis. It would enable cities and towns to raise additional revenue for affordable housing by levying a small fee on real estate transactions (with the ability to establish exemptions as appropriate in each municipality).

There is no silver bullet to solving our affordable housing crisis. But if we are to have a chance at solving it, we must empower municipalities to take action. We thus encourage you to give a favorable report to H.3924 and S.773.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Chair, Issues Committee

Progressive Massachusetts  

[1] https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/opportunity/affordability

[2] http://nlihc.org/oor/massachusetts

[3] https://www.zillow.com/ma/home-values/