Friend,
I owe you and your loved ones belated well wishes for a recent holiday, a cherished American tradition: the Saturday Scoop’s two year anniversary!
I hope you didn’t go overboard celebrating in the traditional manner: eating as much ice cream as you can and then calling your representatives.
What, did you think I meant something else? 🦃
Silliness aside, I do want to take a moment to thank you for reading the Scoop over these last few years (and to the newer Scoop readers, welcome!). While it started small, it has grown into a major part of our watchdog work and a part of my job I really love. I’m so grateful that Act on Mass gets to provide a service like this, especially for free. Thank you for reading, and an enormous thank you to our donors for making it possible.
(My sign-off from our proto-Scoop from 11/6/2021)
And lawmakers are celebrating the Scoopiversary in their traditional manner: by taking a six week break from formal sessions. That’s right — the last formal session of the year was November 15th (and it was a doozy — more on that below). This means that any lawmaking from now until the Legislature reconvenes in January has to be done through informal sessions where decisions must be unanimous; any single lawmaker can put the kibosh on a bill.
All right, enough foreshadowing. Let’s get into it.
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State House Scoop
Legislature’s procrastination, infighting leaves migrants and public employees in the lurch
Well, we knew this day would come: Massachusetts’ emergency shelter system has hit capacity, and we are now turning migrant and refugee families away despite our state’s mandate to shelter families. In fact, we’ve known this day was coming for months; Governor Healey requested $250 million to address this shelter crisis in a $2.8 billion supplemental budget bill back in September. After dragging their feet, the House and Senate finally passed versions of this bill last week, each including the $250 million for shelters that Healey requested. The problem? The two branches disagree on how she should spend it.
The House was prescriptive; their bill requires Healey to make an overflow site for the families on the waitlist within 30 days. The Senate wants to give the administration more flexibility to use that money how they see fit. If they failed to pass a compromise before the hard deadline of midnight 11/15 (the last day of formal sessions of 2023) the bill would have to be passed in informal sessions where a single person (read: Republican) can block it.
But there’s no way our Democratic supermajority would put something as vital as keeping migrants off the streets as winter approaches in jeopardy by handing power over to the Republicans who voted against the bill in each chamber? Right??
Oh, friend. That’s exactly what they did. Despite dragging the last formal session of the year to nearly 1:00AM (thoughts and prayers to the underpaid, union-busted staffers who had to be there), the Legislature did not come to an agreement, leaving the fate of this funding and a possible requirement for an overflow site in limbo.
If you’re an avid Scoop reader, this might sound familiar, like the time the Legislature didn’t pass the prison construction moratorium with enough time to override Baker’s veto, or the time they couldn’t agree on how to spend ARPA funding before the deadline, giving Republicans leverage in informal sessions, and the time, and the time…
Worse, migrants and unhoused folks aren’t the only ones suffering the consequences of this snafu; also tied up in the $2.8 billion supplemental budget are pay raises for over 100,000 public employees. It’s no wonder, then, that hundreds of state workers and union leaders rallied outside the State House on Monday demanding that the bill be passed immediately. Their main chant, directed towards the State House, just about sums it up in three monosyllabic words: “Do your job!”
No Cost Calls to go into effect Dec. 1st
T-minus 5 days until the long-fought battle to make phone calls free for incarcerated people finally comes to an end. This is an enormous victory for incarcerated people and their families, many of whom have had to pay as much as $6 for a 15 minute phone call to stay connected with their loved ones. This victory also belongs to the Keeping Families Connected coalition who have advocated for this policy for years. And let’s be clear: this would have happened months ago if Governor Healey hadn’t amended the policy when it was passed in the FY24 budget this summer. Scratch that, it would have happened last session if the Senate hadn’t capitulated on Baker’s “tough on crime” amendment to No Cost Calls in last year’s budget.
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Missed a Scoop or two? You can find a full archive of all past Saturday Scoops on our blog.
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Flag & Seal commission disbands without a recommendation
First proposed in the 80s, and finally established in January 2021, the Massachusetts Flag & Seal Redesign Commission officially disbanded this week without any recommendations. The commission was tasked with studying the features of our state flag and seal that are “unwittingly harmful” (i.e. racist and violent against Native peoples) and to make recommendations for a new design.
This process has been a perfect illustration of how Beacon Hill works. Or, rather, doesn’t. Let’s take a look at the timeline of this commission:
- January 2021: Commission is formed with a deadline of October 1st, 2021. They are not allowed to receive state funding. The October deadline comes and goes without action.
- December 2021: Commission is reported to have met twice; has no recommendations.
- January 2022: Commission asks for an extension through December 31, 2022. The extension was granted the next month, over 3 months past the initial deadline.
- April 2022: Commission requests another extension through March 31, 2023.
- September 2022: Commission flounders with no funding. Their sole decisive action since their formation at this point was to conduct polling about potential flag and motto replacements, with intentions of releasing that poll in October 2022.
- November 2022: Commission gets $100,000 in funding, but members are unsure what to do with the funding with less than seven weeks until their deadline.
- August 2023: Commission released a public survey (nearly a year later than they announced it would be released) where residents can have “a voice in creating a seal and motto that represents the history and aspirations of Massachusetts.”
- November 2023: Commission disbands permanently, with the recommendation that the Secretary of State create a working group to study the seal and motto.
Audit the Legislature and other ballot questions announce they have enough signatures
WE DID IT! The ballot question to explicitly allow the State Auditor to audit the Legislature has enough signatures to make it on the ballot next November. Thank you to everyone who collected signatures over the last few months to make this possible! Next stop: campaigning to ensure it passes at the ballot box. Stay tuned to learn how to get involved with the next phase of this fight.
The campaigns behind the ballot questions to cancel the MCAS graduation requirement, and legalize psychedelics for therapy, respectively, have also announced they have the signatures needed to make it on the ballot.
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Take Action
Tell your legislators to cosponsor the MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda
Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the erasure of Native cultures. Take action this week by voicing your support for the MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda and email your legislators in support of these five crucial bills: Remove Racist Mascots, Honor Indigenous People's Day, Celebrate and Teach Native American Cultures & History, Protect Native American Heritage, and Support the Education and Futures of Native Youth.
Join our Letter to the Editor Workshop next Thursday
As part of The Sunlight Agenda to Restore Democratic Integrity on Beacon Hill, we’re bringing back our Letter to the Editor workshop on Thursday, November 30th at 6PM. In this 1-hour training, you will learn how to successfully pitch, write, and publish a letter to the editor (LTE) or op-ed for accountability and transparency at the state house. Can you join us?
Can’t make it or have attended one of our LTE workshops in the past? Use our handy LTE’s/Op-Eds for State House Transparency toolkit to guide you through the process from brainstorming to publishing.
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That's all for now! I hope you had a restful, delicious, and family drama-free Thanksgiving. (I knew I was forgetting something earlier!) And hey, two out of three ain't bad.
Happy digesting,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass