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
