Happy election season, friend!
Like store windows filling up with wreaths and candy canes in October, I swear election season starts earlier and earlier every year.
Then again, maybe it’s partially our fault; Act on Mass just opened our application for endorsements – a whole month earlier than last time around so we can maximize our candidate support at the tender beginning of a campaign. We’ll be announcing endorsements on a rolling basis, so as they say, watch this space.
Lest our eyes wander off the sitting legislators as we fantasize about electing new ones, let’s check in: what have our intrepid state legislators been up to this week?
Hey, politics is a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.
As many of you may know, this week was school vacation week here in the Bay State, which always becomes an unofficial vacation for the Legislature (of which there seem to be dozens). The Senate hasn’t met in a formal session in three weeks, but the House is never to be outdone: they haven’t met formally in five. At informal sessions, just a handful of legislative leaders meet to advance small, local matters (sewers in Deerfield, etc.).
Not like we have anything more pressing to do.
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State House Scoop
“No” to new taxes, Healey proposes online lottery to raise revenue
January marked the sixth month in a row with lower than expected tax revenue, and February’s not looking much better. As we’ve explained in the last few Scoops, this revenue downturn (not to mention the $1 billion tax cut bill that just went into effect) is resulting in cuts to social services and programs. These cuts affect both the current budget (those horrific 9C cuts announced last month) as well as the newly proposed FY2025 budget.
As Governor Healey made clear in a recent interview, she is not considering new taxes to raise the revenue necessary to stave off budget cuts. But what does seem to be on the table? Authorizing an online lottery, which she included in her budget proposal.
Massachusetts legalized online sports betting just last year (a bill with no momentum for years but suddenly rushed to the top of the to-do list when Speaker Mariano took the gavel). Because of this, gambling addiction experts warn that we may be hurtling towards a public health crisis, especially among young people: “...from Boston to Springfield, treatment clinics are experiencing an influx of young people — some as young as 14 — seeking help for gambling problems.”
Adding an online lottery to the list of online gambling options might be a means to raise revenue – up to an additional $230 million per year, to be exact. But you know what else would raise $230 million per year? Not having cut taxes this past fall. In fact, the “single sales factor” corporate tax cut, the estate tax cut, and the short term capital gains tax cut all together will cost Massachusetts taxpayers $347 million per year.
Our question is this: why would Beacon Hill rather raise new revenue from working class people and put vulnerable adolescents at risk of gambling addiction than by taxing wealthy people and corporations?
Defying orders from leadership, some lawmakers comply with the legislative audit
In an interview with WCVB last weekend, State Auditor Diana DiZoglio gave the public an update on her office’s bid to audit the Legislature. She revealed that despite legislative leaders’ instructions to their members, several lawmakers’ offices have reached out to her to comply with the audit. DiZoglio pledged in the interview that her office would publish those findings, though she did not offer a timeline.
The interview did not reveal which lawmakers were complying, likely because they face severe retaliation for defying leadership’s orders. So if your legislator ends up being one of the ones who is complying with the legislative audit, prepare to give them a HUGE kudos.
But hopefully, eventually, lawmakers won’t have to go rogue to comply with the audit; the ballot petition to enshrine in law the Auditor’s ability to audit the Legislature is very much still alive. After clearing the first hurdle (collecting a cool 75,000 signatures this past fall) the ballot question now sits in the Legislature as a bill. The Legislature can choose to take it up and pass it of their own volition (when Hell freezes over, that is), or kick it back to the campaign which then has to collect an additional 12,000 signatures. And when that happens (check back with us in May) you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll be there to collect them.
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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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Healthy Youth Act likely to pass the Senate next week… for the fifth session in a row
In their first formal session in 4 weeks, the Senate is poised to vote on the Healthy Youth Act next Thursday. If this bill rings a bell, it’s probably because you’ve heard of it at some point in the past 13 years it’s been kicking around the Legislature. Or maybe you saw something in the news about the previous four times this bill has been passed by the Senate. Perhaps you heard that our archaic curriculum was updated by DESE last year for the first time since 1999, and the subsequent call to codify these updated frameworks into law.
For the uninitiated, the Healthy Youth Act is the bill that would require schools in MA that provide sex and relationship education to provide information that is medically accurate, consent-based, and LGBTQ+-inclusive — yes, that’s correct, we don’t currently require any of the above. So why has this bill continued to languish in “deep blue” Massachusetts despite over a decade of advocacy and eight years of being passed by the Senate? It keeps dying by one of the leading causes of death on Beacon Hill: death via House Ways + Means.
Session after session, the Healthy Youth Act has landed in the House Ways + Means committee only to be sent to study, or to go completely untouched by the end of the session.Who are the decision makers responsible? Well, a few noteworthy leaders in the House have long had the power to bring this bill to a vote, namely Ways + Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz (who has had the post since 2019) and current House Speaker (and former Majority Leader) Ron Mariano. Neither of them have indicated support.
With the Senate poised to pass the Healthy Youth Act yet again, it’s imperative that we keep the demand for medically accurate, consent-based, and queer-inclusive sex ed loud and clear. So with that, I invite you to…
CALL YOUR SENATOR IN SUPPORT OF HYA >>
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Take Action
Email your senators in support of the Sunlight Act!
Lead sponsored by transparency champion Senator Jamie Eldridge, this comprehensive legislation includes several transparency reforms, including requiring all recorded committee votes to be posted on the Legislature's website, requiring that committee hearings be scheduled at least a week in advance, making written testimony submitted to committees publicly available, and subjecting the Governor's Office to the state's public records law. The bill has received a favorable report from the Rules Committee, and now sits in Senate Ways & Means - the last hurdle before it can be brought to a vote and passed.
Tell the Legislature: It’s time to move on the Archaic Language Bill
Did you know that Massachusetts General Law is riddled with anti-disability slurs? There’s been a bill to remove the offensive language from state law for over a decade now, and yet it has languished session after session without progress. H.4396 recently received a favorable report from the Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities and then the House Steering, Policy and Scheduling Committee. With this momentum, the bill is closer than it has been in a while to actually crossing the finish line and making it to the Governor’s desk. Contact your legislators today to let them know you support this bill and want to see it passed without further delay!
Join Act on Mass at the Andover Activist Afternoons on Sunday, March 10th
Join us at the Greater Andover Indivisible Activist Afternoons on Sunday March 10th for a phone bank in support of the Sunlight Act. We will be meeting from 3-4:30pm at 33 Central Street in Andover. This is a great way to take action and enjoy some quality time with fellow like-minded activists. Hope to see you there!
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That's it for this week! For those of you finishing up your vacation week, I hope it was glorious and restful. For those of you not on vacation this past week, I hope you get to take one soon. 😉
Until next time,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass