Spring holidays are a time to reflect on the themes of liberation and of new life. Themes that are especially relevant when it comes to our transition away from fossil fuels toward a renewable energy future, and away from a punitive, costly, and ineffective carceral system toward a system rooted in humanity and second chances.
MA Senate Climate Bill: Free Our Energy System from Fossil Fuels
Last week, the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made clear that it’s “now or never” to act on climate change. Every country (and every state, and every city) needs to enlarge its ambitions, as we build a world free from fossil fuel dependency. A world with cleaner air, better transit, and healthier lives. A world that with its cleaner air, healthier lives, and better transit will be better for all.
Tomorrow, the MA Senate will be voting on a new climate bill: S.2180, An Act Driving Climate Policy Forward. The bill takes many positive steps forward, but it does not do enough when it comes to accelerating our transition from renewable energy, improving the energy efficiency of our buildings sector, and investing in public transit.
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What the Judiciary Committee Can Do This Week
Prisons are fundamentally unsafe environments, designed for punishment not rehabilitation. Warehousing people in settings rife with human rights abuses, price gouging, and isolation does not make anyone safer; indeed, our system makes us all worse off.
We know what works and what doesn’t from years of study and from the organizing and advocacy of impacted communities. We need to avoid entrenching a flawed system, we need to ensure that individuals who are incarcerated can maintain a connection with loved ones outside, and we need to ensure that young people have second chances, rather than being cut off from opportunities for life.
This Friday is a key deadline for the MA Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee in making that better vision a reality.
The members of the Judiciary Committee need to hear from you about these bills in particular:
- No Cost Calls: H.1900: An Act relative to inmate telephone calls, which would prevent prisons and jails from charging individuals who are incarcerated for phone calls to loved ones.
- Prison Moratorium: H.1905: An Act establishing a jail and prison construction moratorium, which would prevent the state from building new prisons and jails and from thereby locking in a carceral system through increased capacity.
- Raising the Age: S.920 / H.1826: An Act to promote public safety and better outcomes for young adults, which would raise the age of criminal majority to 21, allowing offending youth to have better access to treatment and educational services and thereby reducing recidivism.
- Juvenile Expungement: S.980 / H.1531: An Act relative to expungement of juvenile and young adult records, which would expand access to expungement to ensure young people who are on the right track can have better access to education and employment opportunities.
Are your legislators on the Committee? If so, send them an email / give them a call asking for a favorable report for these bills.
Not sure about your legislators? Look them up here.
Senate Judiciary Committee
Jamie Eldridge: James.Eldridge@masenate.gov / (617) 722-1120
Eric Lesser: Eric.Lesser@masenate.gov / (617) 722-1291
Sonia Chang-Diaz: Sonia.Chang-Diaz@masenate.gov / (617) 722-1673
Cindy Creem: Cynthia.Creem@masenate.gov / (617) 722-1639
John Velis: John.Velis@masenate.gov / (617) 722-1415
Patrick O’Connor: Patrick.OConnor@masenate.gov / (617) 722-1646
House Judiciary Committee
Michael Day: Michael.Day@mahouse.gov / (617) 722-2396
Chynah Tyler: Chynah.Tyler@mahouse.gov / (617) 722-2396
Chris Hendricks: Chris.Hendricks@mahouse.gov / (617) 722-2305
Susannah Whipps: Susannah.Whipps@mahouse.gov / (617) 722-2090
Colleen Garry: Colleen.Garry@mahouse.gov / (617) 722-2380
Jon Santiago: Jon.Santiago@mahouse.gov / (617) 722-2450
Brandy Fluker Oakley: Brand.FlukerOakley@mahouse.gov / (617) 722-2400
Adam Scanlon: Adam.Scanlon@mahouse.gov / (617) 722-2080
Jay Livingstone: Jay.Livingstone@mahouse.gov / (617) 722-2575
Alyson Sullivan: Alyson.Sullivan@mahouse.gov / (617) 722-2305
