These Bills Passed in July. Why Are They Still in Conference Committee?

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.

Can you contact your state legislators this weekend with four key asks for each bill?

Climate Bill

  1. Environmental justice language to protect vulnerable and historically marginalized communities that have borne the brunt of pollution and other environmental harms
  2. An accelerated timeline for emissions targets because we are already so far behind
  3. 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
  4. 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

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. Reinvestment in communities because strong, thriving communities are the bedrock of any real vision of public safety
  4. Restrictions on the government use of facial surveillance because such tools are notoriously racist and inaccurate and violate basic privacy rights

Go Big or Don’t Go Home

In a mere eleven days — on Friday, July 31st, at 11:59 pm — the legislative session in the Massachusetts State House comes to an end.

The bills that didn’t make it past the finish line this year will disappear into the ether or return like a phoenix from the ashes in January next year, only to face the same grueling process.

But there are many policies that can’t wait until January. Indeed, passing them now is already far later than should have been done. And, frankly, the Legislature shouldn’t get to leave session until they finish.

What priorities are we talking about?

  • Passing the Safe Communities Act so that state and local law enforcement aren’t being deputized as ICE agents
  • Passing the Work and Family Mobility Act because mobility is a basic right, regardless of one’s citizenship status
  • Passing the ROE Act because MA needs to strengthen reproductive rights here at home as they remain under attack on the federal level
  • Passing the 100% Renewable Energy Act because we can’t keep stumbling forward into climate chaos
  • Passing Emergency Paid Sick Time so that no worker has to choose between their health and their job security
  • Passing guaranteed housing stability for at least one more year ​because if we want people to stay at home, they need a home to go back to
  • Passing a budget that raises Progressive Revenue by making sure that corporations and the rich are paying their fair share

The Legislature can’t keep punting session after session and patting themselves on the back.

Can you call or email your state legislators about taking real action before the session ends — or staying in until they do?

Go Big or Don't Go Home

Four Weeks Left….

Unless anything changes, four weeks from today — Friday, July 31st — the formal part of the 191st Legislative Session of the Massachusetts General Court will come to an end.

That means that there are four weeks for the MA Legislature to up its game on pretty much every single front.

Four weeks for them to take action in support of immigrants’ rights, such as passing the Safe Communities Act and the Work & Family Mobility Act.

Four weeks for them to take action in support of reproductive justice by passing the ROE Act.

Four weeks for them to tackle the systemic racism in policing and the criminal legal system.

Four weeks for them to tackle our affordable housing crisis (and just over a month for them to take action before the eviction moratorium passed earlier this year expires).

Four weeks for them to take action to address climate change because Mother Nature doesn’t care about self-imposed deadlines.

Four weeks for them to pass Emergency Paid Sick Time so that workers don’t have to choose between their health and their job security in a global pandemic.

Four weeks for them to pass a budget that lives up to our values by raising progressive revenue to avoid deep, harmful cuts in public services.

None of this will happen unless your legislators hear from you — loud and clear — that they can’t keep procrastinating. That they can’t keep punting issues to later and later in the session until each session runs out. And then the cycle of excuse-making and delay continues.

Can you call your legislators to demand action in these final four weeks?

Find their contact information here, and then save it for next time.

Take Action: The MA Senate Votes on Climate Action This Week

This decade — the 2020s — will be the decade in which our collective actions determine whether or not we’ll continue to have an inhabitable planet. And that means we need to start taking action–fast.

Tomorrow, the Massachusetts State Senate will be voting on omnibus climate legislation (for a good overview, read this).

The bill is strong in many ways, but it can be bolder and more equitable.

And that’s where you come in.

Can you call your state senator today in support of the amendments below?

100% Renewable Energy

  • #53 2035 Renewable Portfolio Standard (Eldridge) – Increases the RPS to 100% by 2035 and prevents wood and trash burning from being eligible in the RPS

Environmental Justice

  • #11 Regulations to Protect Low Income Households (Friedman) – Adds in language about low and moderate income protections 
  • #89 Giving Energy Sector Workers a Voice (Feeney) – Adds language to protect workers displaced by advancements in the renewable sector
  • #105 DPU mandate (Chang-Diaz) – Adds “equity” to the DPU’s mission statement
  • #113 Energy efficiency advisory council (Eldridge) – Adds environmental justice and youth representation to the energy efficiency commission 

Equitable Investment in Green Infrastructure

  • #80 Re-investing in greenhouse gas emission reduction, and our communities (Chang-Diaz) – Requires that at least 30% of revenue generated from a market-based mechanism be spent on green infrastructure and at least 40% of that revenue benefit low and moderate income people

Other Amendments that Support the Mass Power Forward Coalition’s Vision

  • #33 Net Zero Stretch Code Improvements (Comerford) – Pushes up the implementation date for the net zero stretch code
  • #54 Inclusion of combustion of fuel in emissions count (Eldridge) – Requires that burning any combustible fuel be counted towards state’s emissions

Take Action:

(1) Find your State Senator’s email address here, and then email them to urge them to support the amendments listed above.

(2) Follow up by calling your State Senator and ask that they support the amendments that you emailed them

Here’s a sample script:

My name is [ first name], and I live in [town/city].   I am with a broad coalition of environmental groups called Mass Power Forward and we’re calling about Senate climate legislation, specifically, S.2477 and amendments that have been filed to that bill. I sent an email to your office with the amendment numbers that achieve our goals of Environmental Justice, 100% clean and renewable energy for all, and creating equitable investments through carbon pricing.  

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/

💯% Renewable Energy: We Have the Technology. We Need the Policy.

The following testimony was submitted to the TUE Committee on July 22, 2019.

*********************************************************************

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

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the chair of the Issues Committee of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy organization devoted to advancing progressive policy in the Commonwealth. As such, we are committed to fighting for an energy system that reduces pollution, promotes clean energy, reduces greenhouse gasses and protects our natural climate and environment.

The 100% Renewable Energy Act (S.1958/H.2836) will help us achieve that, and we urge you to give these bills a favorable report.

As a coastal state, Massachusetts will be hit especially hard by climate change; indeed, we already have. According to the latest report from the IPCC, we have to start acting fast if we want to avoid climate chaos, slashing global greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050. The clock is ticking.

Although we have been a leader in energy efficiency, we still get most of our power from dirty fuel, particularly natural gas. Our current Renewable Portfolio Standard only requires utilities to source 14% of electricity from renewable energy, and this was only modestly increased in the last session.

We can do better, and we need to do better.

Renewable energy has been a win-win in Massachusetts, creating new job opportunities and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. We’re generating more than 240 times as much solar energy in Massachusetts as we did just 10 years ago. Offshore wind as well as new technologies like electric vehicles, energy storage, and air source heat pumps augur well for the future.

But we can’t sit passively by and hope that such a more ecologically sustainable future comes to pass. We need policy to make it happen.

These bills will accelerate the growth of clean energy and set out clear, enforceable requirements to ensure we stay on track to achieve 100 percent renewable energy. Moreover, these bills acknowledge that the energy transition must be a just one, containing core provisions to ensure that displaced workers and the low-income communities and communities of color that have faced the brunt of fossil fuel pollution have a seat at the table.

Mother Nature doesn’t wait. The more we delay the bold, comprehensive climate action that we need, the worse we will fare in the future. It’s time to pass the 100% Renewable Energy Act.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Chair, Issues Committee

Progressive Massachusetts

Take Action: Here’s How to Keep it 💯, Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, people shouldn’t have to sue to make progressive change happen, but too often, that’s been the case. Two and a half decades ago, parents sued the state for failing to guarantee a high-quality education for all children, and they’re doing so again today. Similarly, lawsuits have been necessary to force the state to take the bold action on climate change that’s required for a resilient and sustainable future. 

It shouldn’t have to be this way. If our elected officials were bold enough, they would be proactively passing the bills to move us forward, not waiting until they’re forced to.

That’s where you come in.

Keeping It 💯 on Education

Four years ago, the Massachusetts Legislature created a commission to figure out how to update the state’s funding formula for local aid to schools, which hasn’t been updated since 1993.

The commission made clear that the state is short-changing schools due to outdated assumptions about the costs of health care, special education, English Language Learner education, and closing income-based achievement gaps.

The Legislature knows exactly what they need to do. They just need to do it.

The PROMISE Act (S.238/H.586) is the only bill before the Legislature that follows through with those recommendations.

But House Leadership has been intransigent. In particular, House Leadership isn’t interested in funding education fully for low-income students, those who need that extra funding the most. And that’s not acceptable.

Any good education funding bill — like the PROMISE Act — would raise the low-income rate up to 100% for the 10th decile. In lay terms, this means spending twice as much as the average per pupil amount per low-income student in a high-poverty district. If we want to close achievement gaps, we need to be spending extra money on the students that need it most in the communities that can’t make up the difference in funding themselves.

Can you call your legislators to urge them to support the PROMISE Act and demand that any education funding bill provides the full resources that low-income students need to succeed?

Keeping It 💯 on Climate

As a coastal state, Massachusetts will be hit especially hard by climate change. According to the latest report from the IPCC, we have to start acting fast if we want to avoid climate chaos, slashing global greenhouse gas emissions 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050.

Although we have been a leader in energy efficiency, we still get most of our fuel from dirty energy, particularly natural gas. That needs to change.

The 100% Renewable Energy Act (S.1958/H.2836) will help make that happen.

This bill would accelerate the growth of clean energy and set out clear, enforceable requirements to ensure that Massachusetts stays on track to achieve 100% renewable energy, while ensuring that the displaced workers, low-income communities, and communities of color that have been most impacted by fossil fuel pollution have a seat at the table.

How can you make that bill into a law?

  • Testify — or simply show up: The hearing for the bill is just around the corner: next Tuesday (July 23) at 1 pm at the State House (Room B2). If you can go, please do to show your support.
  • Make your voice heard: But whether you can or cannot go in person, you can still make your support known to your legislators.

Can you call your legislators to urge them to support the 100% Renewable Energy Act?

Click the links above — and again here — to find out if your legislators are already supportive (and to find their contact info if you don’t already have it). Whether or not they are already supporters, they need to hear from you. Your calls, emails, and visits matter.

CommonWealth: A resolution for Legislature: Finish last year’s work

“A resolution for Legislature: Finish last year’s work” — Jonathan Cohn, CommonWealth 

DATE: 12/29/2018 

IN A FEW short days, the next legislative session in the Massachusetts State House will begin. New legislators will be sworn in. The governor will give his State of the State address. The mad dash to file bills and secure co-sponsorships will start—and end—in the blink of an eye.

But we’re not there yet. Now is the time for reflections on the past and aspirations for the new. And in that spirit, I’d like to propose a New Year’s resolution for the Massachusetts Legislature: finish last year’s business.

The Legislature will have a lot on its table soon, and indeed, new issues arise all the time. But if they want to avoid the chaotic spectacle that the final days of a legislative session too often are, then it’s good to start early.

Read the rest here.

Take Action: The Legislative Session Ends in One Week

The Legislative session here in Massachusetts ends one week from today, and there’s still a lot to get done.

Find your state representative’s contact info here, and then give them a call on these key issues. 📞📞📞📞.

Fully Funding Public Schools for All Students

  The world has changed a lot since 1993. But one thing has remained the same: the funding formula that Massachusetts uses for local aid to schools.

A 2015 Commission from the Legislature (“Foundation Budget Review Commission,” or FBRC) found that we are shortchanging local aid to schools by $1 to $2 billion a year due to outdated assumptions about the costs of health care, special education, English Language Learners, and closing income-based achievement gaps.   In May, the MA Senate unanimously passed legislation to update the funding formula for these four categories. However, when the House took up an education bill earlier this month, they left out English Language Learners and low-income students. Massachusetts should not be leaving the most vulnerable students behind.   The bills are now in Conference Committee. Urge your state representative to fight for the inclusion of English Language Learners and low-income students in the final bill.

🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫

Leading on Climate Change

Last month, the MA Senate unanimously passed the most comprehensive climate change legislation in the country. However, as Andrew Gordon from 350 Mass explains here, the House dropped the ball, passing a much weaker bill that does not rise to the level of the climate crisis at hand.   In these last two weeks of the legislative session, a Conference Committee will be working out the final details of a consensus bill. Urge your state representative to lobby the Conference Committee to support the following:

  1. Increasing the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 3% so that we can reach 50% renewable energy by 2030 and be 100% renewable by 2050. 
  2. Fair access to solar (incorporated as Amendment 43 to the Senate energy bill), to require MA to ensure access for low-income communities, renters, and residents of environmental justice communities.

🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎

MA Needs to Stand up for Immigrant Families

Last week, the House and Senate passed a Conference Committee budget that LEFT OUT vital protections for immigrant families.

In May, the MA Senate passed four key immigrant protections (taken from the Safe Communities Act) as part of their FY2019 budget:

  •     Bar police from asking about people’s immigration status unless required by law;
  •     End 287(g) contracts that deputize state and local law enforcement as ICE agents;
  •     Require that immigrants be notified of their due-process rights; and
  •     Ensure that Massachusetts does not contribute to any registry based on religion, ethnicity, citizenship, or other protected categories.

But the House let us down. Urge your state legislators to pass vital Safe Communities Act protections before the session ends next week. (Need your senator’s #? You can find that here.