We at Act on Mass talk a lot about all the vital progressive bills that don’t pass the state house. To be fair, it’s for good reason; popular progressive bills die on Beacon Hill for years or decades before they pass, if they ever do. We believe, and I believe, it’s important to urge our state to do better for the people of Massachusetts.
The other side of the coin is that we ought to celebrate when those progressive victories do happen! (Although few and far between they may be.) And this week, we have a reason to celebrate: the House passed the Work & Family Mobility Act!
Lastly, when we celebrate victories like this one, we must remember that they don’t come out of thin air, or even from House leadership epiphanies. Rather, they come on the heels of relentless and courageous advocacy led by the communities on the front lines of the issue at hand.
All right, all right, I'll put away my soapbox. Let's get to the Scoop.
State House Scoop
Work & Family Mobility Act passes the House
A bill that would allow all qualified Massachusetts residents to obtain a state driver’s license, regardless of immigration status, passed on Wednesday with a vote of 120 - 36. This historic victory comes after decades of organizing and activism from the immigrant rights movement. I’d be remiss if I didn’t highlight the incredibly powerful demonstrations by Cosecha Massachusetts and allies last session, including an encampment on the State House steps and a hunger strike.
The bill passed the House with a veto-proof margin, easing concerns that the Governor would block it down the line. Next, the bill heads to the Senate for a vote.
After almost two years, State House to reopen to the public Tuesday
In other “it’s good that it finally happened but it took way too long” news, Speaker Mariano and President Spilka announced last week that the Massachusetts State House will finally reopen on Tuesday February 22. The state house has been closed to the public for 718 days -- longer than any other capitol in the U.S.. This is great news for activists, journalists, and constituents who have only been able to access reps by requesting zoom meetings for the last two years (and we know some reps have a nasty habit of ignoring these requests).
Masks and either proof of vaccination or a negative covid test within a day are required to enter.
Baker signs $101 million Covid relief bill
Last Saturday, Governor Baker signed the $101 million Covid relief spending bill that swiftly passed the House and Senate earlier this month. Baker left the text of the bill mostly unchanged, save for vetoing what he called “unrealistic” deadlines. In addition to funding for masks and vaccine outreach programs, this bill also established September 6th as the primary election date – mark your calendars! Hopefully we’ll have same-day or Election-day voter registration by then, but that’s a whole other story.
Another day, another deadline extension
For good measure, the Covid relief bill also included a provision to again extend the deadline for the commission to redesign the racist Massachusetts state flag. Indigenous leaders and activists have been demanding a new flag, which currently depicts a colonist's arm holding a sword over a Native American man, since the 80's. Formed in early 2021, the commission has only just begun meeting regularly. While their pace is discouragingly slow, the redesign is happening…I think.
A bit of housekeeping
Check out our new News & Media page
If you've ever thought to yourself “I wish there were a place where I could find news articles, columns, and press releases about the movement for State House reform!”, boy do I have a solution for you. Click through our new News & Media page to stay up-to-date and to dig through a mini media archive of the movement for state house transparency and democracy starting with our first campaign in 2020.
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Take Action
Join our Ballot Question Campaign
This spring we are going to be collecting signatures to run our second non-binding ballot question campaign. In order to get our transparency question (essentially “do you want to instruct your rep to make committee votes public?”) on a ballot, we need to collect 200+ signatures per district.
The signature gathering period is May through the end of June, and we’re going to need all hands on deck to reach as many voters and reps as possible. Join the campaign below:
SIGN UP TO COLLECT SIGNATURES >>
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And last, a not-so-fun-fact to kick off your weekend
Happy election season! For years Massachusetts has had the least competitive state elections in the country; only a small percentage of incumbents face a primary challenger, and open seats are rare. In other words, most of the time when Massachusetts voters go to the polls they only have one option for their state rep and senator. What’s worse, our election competitiveness is actually declining.
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Stay warm out there, and remember – just three more weeks until daylight savings. So close, and yet so far.