This Wednesday is an important deadline for our Legislative Agenda. That’s because it’s what’s known as Joint Rule 10 Day, the date by which every Joint Committee in the MA Legislature must make a decision on the bills in its purview.
That can mean a favorable report (a yes), an adverse report (a no), or an extension (a punt until later). But it has to be something.
If you have time before Wednesday, please email key legislative committees about our priority bills and some of the bills from our close allies.
Joint Committee on Housing
Email the Committee about these important bills.
Real Estate Transfer Fee (S.868 / H.1377): An Act empowering cities and towns to support affordable housing with a fee on certain real estate transactions (Comerford – Connolly), which would enables cities and towns to assess a fee of 0.5-2% on residential and commercial real estate transactions, with the funds allocated to affordable housing trust funds.
Tenant Protection Act (S.886 / H.1378): An Act enabling local options for tenant protections (Gomez – Connolly/Elugardo), which would enable cities and towns to pass tenant protections such as rent stabilization laws, just cause eviction, limitations on condo conversions, etc.
Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (S.890 / H.1426): An Act to guarantee a tenant’s first right of refusal (Jehlen – Livingstone/Consalvo), which would provide tenants of small, medium, and large multifamily properties with right of first refusal when the owner plans to put a building on the market. Right to Counsel (S.874 / H.1436): An Act promoting housing stability and homelessness prevention in Massachusetts (DiDomenico – Day / Rogers), which would provide legal representation for low-income tenants and owner-occupants in eviction proceedings.
Joint Committee on Public Safety
Email the Committee about these important bills.
Safe Communities Act (S.1579 / H.2418): An Act to protect the civil rights and safety of all Massachusetts residents (Eldridge – Balser/Miranda), which would limit local and state police collaboration with federal immigration agents, bar law enforcement and court personnel from inquiring about immigration status, and ensure due process protections.
Curbing Solitary Confinement (S.1578 / H.2504): An Act to provide criminal justice reform protections to all prisoners in segregated confinement (Eldridge – Miranda), which would expand the rights of those in solitary confinement, including requiring treatment for those with serious mental illness and monthly reviews for eligibility to return to the general population.
No Cost Calls (S.1559): An Act relative to inmate telephone calls (Creem), which would prevent prisons and jails from charging individuals who are incarcerated for phone calls to loved ones.
Alternative Crisis Response (S.1552 / H.2519): An Act to Create Alternatives for Community Emergency Services (ACES), which would create a grant program through the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to increase the availability of non-law-enforcement, unarmed community-based response options for calls to 911 (Chang-Diaz — Sabadosa)
Joint Committee on Education
Email the Committee about these important bills.
Common Start (S.362 / H.605): An Act providing affordable and accessible high quality early education and care to promote child development and well-being and support the economy in the Commonwealth (Lewis/Moran – Gordon/Madaro), which would etablish a universal system of affordable, high-quality early education and child care for all Massachusetts families, over a 5-year timeline.
CARES Bill (S.365 / H.584): An Act relative to anti-racism, equity and justice in education (Lewis / Elugardo – Uyterhoeven), which would create a commission to develop curriculum materials with a social justice perspective of dismantling racism and ensure that ethnic studies, racial justice, decolonizing history, and unlearning racism is taught at all grade levels using a critical approach and pedagogy that is age-appropriate.
Joint Committee on the Judiciary
Email the Committee about these important bills.
Eviction Sealing (S.921 / H.1808): Housing Opportunity and Mobility through Eviction Sealing bills (HOMES) (Boncore – Moran), which would protect tenants from being unfairly branded with an eviction record, especially if they don’t have a judgment against them, if they weren’t actually evicted, or if they didn’t do anything wrong.
No Cost Calls (H.1900): An Act relative to inmate telephone calls (Tyler), 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 (Tyler), which would prevent the state from building new prisons and jails, which would lock 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 (Boncore – O’Day/Khan), which would raise the age of criminal majority to 21, allowing youth to have better access to treatment and educational services and thereby reducing recidivism.
Joint Committee on Transportation
Email the Committee about this important bill:
Work & Family Mobility Act (S.2289 / H.3456): An Act relative to work and family mobility during and subsequent to the COVID-19 emergency (Crighton – Farley-Bouvier/Barber), which would enable all qualified state residents to apply for a standard Massachusetts driver’s license or identification card, regardless of immigrant status.
Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, & Energy
Email the Committee about these important bills.
Building Justice with Jobs (S.2226 / H.3365): An Act providing for building justice with jobs (Pacheco – Robinson/LeBoeuf), which would put thousands of MA residents to work retrofitting 100,000 homes each year to improve energy efficiency and health outcomes, and reduce utility bills and carbon emissions. Siting Reform (S.2135 / H.3336): An Act Relative to Energy Facilities Siting Reform to Address Environmental Justice, Climate, and Public Health (Boncore – Madaro), which adds environmental justice, public health, and climate to the factors that the Energy Facilities Siting Board must consider in its deliberations; requires community engagement prior to filing for environmental or Siting Board review of a petition to construct an oil, gas, or substation facility; among other steps.
Joint Committee on Revenue
Email the Committee about these important bills.
HERO Bill (S.1853 / H.2890): An Act providing for climate change adaptation infrastructure and affordable housing investments in the Commonwealth (Eldridge – Elugardo), which would doubles the deeds excise tax on home sales to provide a funding stream for the Global Warming Solutions Fund, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and the Housing Preservation and Stabilization Fund.
PILOT Reform (S.1874 / H.3080): An Act relative to payments in lieu of taxation by organizations exempt from the property tax (Gomez – Uyterhoeven), which would enable cities and towns with nonprofits owning total property valued at or above $15 million to require them to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) equal to 25% what they would have owed without the exemption.
