This week, the Legislature re-passed their omnibus climate bill from last session, An Act creating a next-generation roadmap for Massachusetts climate policy, rejecting all of the amendments from Governor Baker that would have weakened the bill.
In the Senate, which voted on Monday, Ryan Fattman was the sole NO vote.
In the House, which voted on Thursday, the vote on re-passing the bill was 145 to 14, with 13 Republicans and 1 Democrat–Colleen Garry (D-Dracut)–voting no.
The current legislative session in Massachusetts ends in just three short weeks, with a few holidays in between.
And there’s a lot left to do.
The Legislature has to reject harmful amendments proposed by Republican Governor Charlie Baker to weaken police accountability legislation and strike vital language on equitable abortion access and prison oversight from the budget.
Important climate and housing legislation has been languishing in secretive conference committees while crises fester.
Key protections for workers like emergency paid sick time and for our immigrant communities like the Safe Communities Act and the Work and Family Mobility Act (driver’s license bill) were voted out of committee months ago but remain stuck in limbo.
Election Day is just twelve days away. Can you believe it?
On your ballot statewide here in Massachusetts, you’ll see two ballot questions.
YES on Question 1: Right to Repair 🚙🚙
In 2012, Massachusetts voted for a Right to Repair ballot initiative that required automobile manufacturers to provide non-proprietary diagnostic information as well as safety information directly to consumers so that they can choose who repairs their car (rather than being dependent on the manufacturer itself). Technology has advanced in the past eight years, and Question 1 updates the legislative compromise that resulted from the 2012 ballot initiative accordingly. Curbing monopoly power and protecting consumers is a win for all of us.
YES on Question2: Ranked Choice Voting 🗳🗳
Our first-past-the-post system forces ordinary voters to weigh whether they can vote for their preferred candidate or whether doing so would lead to a “spoiler effect” that gives a candidate they like less a clearer path to victory. This same dynamic can lead candidates and their supporters to try to force similar candidates out of a race due to a fear of “vote splitting.”
Within the current system, the ultimate winner may command less than a majority support, a contradiction of a basic tenet of democracy and a far too common occurrence in Massachusetts elections. We have some of the least competitive elections in the country, and candidates can win with small pluralities and then stay in office for decades. Ranked Choice Voting would eliminate these problems by enabling voters to rank the order of their preferences on the ballot and ensuring that whoever wins does so with majority support.
📢Find opportunities to volunteer with Yes on 2 here. 📢
📢Join Ayanna Pressley for a phone bank for Yes on 2 next Monday at 5:30 pm. 📢
Climate & Democracy Ballot Questions
Some state representative districts across the commonwealth will see non-binding advisory ballot questions. We are supporting a YES on two of them in particular.
YES on 100% Renewable Energy ☀️☀️
Question: Shall the representative for this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would require Massachusetts to achieve 100% renewable energy use within the next two decades, starting immediately and making significant progress within the first five years while protecting impacted workers and businesses?
YES on Transparent Government 🗳🗳
Question: Shall the representative for this district be instructed to vote in favor of changes to the Legislature’s rules that would make the results of all votes in Legislative committees publicly available on the Legislature’s website?
It’s simple: if we want a livable planet, we need to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels. And our legislators represent us, so we should be able to know how they are voting.
In July, the MA House and MA Senate both passed police reform bills (of varying ambition). And the House passed a climate bill (the Senate had done so back in January).
In each case, there are six-member committees of state senators and state representatives (“conference committees”) working to come up with a final bill.
So where are they?
The short answer: We don’t know.
The long answer: Conference committees are incredibly secretive processes. But the more your legislators hear from you about the need for the strongest bills possible on both fronts, the better the odds are that we will see better final products — or any final bills at all.
Environmental justice language to protect vulnerable and historically marginalized communities that have borne the brunt of pollution and other environmental harms
An accelerated timeline for emissions targets because we are already so far behind
Increased renewable electricity generation because we need to be shifting away from fossil fuels and toward clean, green energy for us to even meet those targets
A clear equity focus in any carbon pricing scheme that comes out of the bill so that the communities most impacted by environmental injustices can benefit from a sustainable transition
Police Reform Bill
Strong reforms to qualified immunity as well as the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act, as in the Senate bill, to ensure that victims of police brutality can have their fair day in court
Breaking up the school-to-prison pipeline by granting schools discretion over whether or not to have school resource officers and ensuring that student information is not being passed on to police or ICE
Reinvestment in communities because strong, thriving communities are the bedrock of any real vision of public safety
Restrictions on the government use of facial surveillance because such tools are notoriously racist and inaccurate and violate basic privacy rights
