Take Action: Call Your Senator in Support of These Key Budget Amendments

The State Senate will be voting on amendments to its FY 2019 budget next week. The budget makes some modest improvements to education and transit funding, but without new revenue sources, it remains in the same paradigm of underinvestment that has dominated for the past decade and a half.

Passing the Fair Share amendment on the ballot this fall will be a first step toward changing that.

But back to the budget…..

If you have only five minutes this week:

Call your state senator, as well as Senate President Harriette Chandler (617-722-1500) and Senate Ways & Means Chairwoman Karen Spilka (617-722-1640), in support of Amendment 1147 (Eldridge): Civil Rights and Safety.

The Legislature has so far punted and stalled when it comes to their responsibility to protect MA’s immigrant families from Trump’s xenophobic mass deportation agenda. The Safe Communities Act, which Progressive Mass and allies around the state have been fighting for over the past year, has remained stuck in committee.

This amendment contains key provisions of the Safe Communities Act:

1. No Police Inquiries about Immigration Status
2. Stop Collaborating with ICE
3. Provide Basic Due Process Protections

Let your senator know that you support taking action now in support of MA’s immigrant families.

And if you have a few more….

The amendment process is an opportunity to further the important causes of…

• Housing for All
• Quality Education for All
• A Clean Environment for All
• Justice for All

The following amendments will help Massachusetts tackle our affordable housing crisis:

• Amendment 3 (Creem): Community Preservation Act, which creates a surcharge for documentation at the Registries of Deeds to create a stronger and more stable funding source for the Community Preservation Act
• Amendment 683 (Eldridge): Alternative Housing Voucher Program, which increases the line item by $2.7m to $7.7m
• Amendment 686 (Eldridge): Homeless Individuals Assistance, which increases the line item from $46.18 million to $50 million

The following amendments will help Massachusetts deliver on the promise of quality education for all:

• Amendment 176 (Eldridge): Adult Basic Education, which increases the line item for adult basic education, which is of great importance to new citizens, by $3.5m to $34.5m
• Amendment 205 & 262 (Jehlen): Fiscal Impact of Charters, which address the important issue of the cost of charter expansion in school districts by ensuring that the state fulfills its obligation to fund charter expansion and to fully analyze charter funding impacts prior to expanding into a community
  
• Amendment 260 (Rush): Recess, which would which would mandate at least 20 minutes of recess for elementary school students

The following amendments will help guarantee our constitutional right to a clean environment in Massachusetts:

• Amendment 936 (Barrett): Minimum Monthly Reliability Contribution, which mitigates the negative impacts of a tax Charlie Baker imposed on MA homeowners who install solar panels on their houses
• Amendment 968 (Cyr): Environmental Justice, which strengthens the line item for environmental justice coordination by underscoring the importance of public health
• Amendment 991 (Eldridge): Plastic Bag Reduction, which bans single-use plastic carryout bags

The following amendments will help deliver on the promise of justice for all:

• Amendment 776 (Barrett): Workforce Training for Ex-Offenders, which increases the line item from $150,000 to $500,000
• Amendment 992 (Creem): MLAC, which increases the line item from $19 million to $23 million
• Amendment 997 (Creem): Data Reporting, which adds juvenile and adult reporting requirements, and requires that all the data (the old and the new) be disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, age, etc.
• Amendment 1015 (Brownsberger): Prison Re-entry, which increases the funding for community based residential re-entry
  
• Amendment 1042 (Eldridge): Resolve to Stop the Violence Program, which appropriates $300,000 for a restorative justice program in the Department of Corrections with proven benefits for reducing recidivism
• Amendment 1125 (Friedman): Criminal Justice and Community Support Trust Fund, which would help boost funding for jail diversion programs for people experiencing behavioral health crises
• Amendment 1147 (Eldridge): Civil Rights and Safety, which upholds the constitutional rights of immigrant communities and makes sure that local law enforcement isn’t deputized to ICE

Can you call or email your Senator today in support of these amendments?