Good morning,
Well. It’s been a week.
With the slew of scary things coming out of the federal level this week, it can be hard to stay centered. I hope you were able to take some time this week to unplug from the news, spend time with loved ones, enjoy the midwinter sunshine– whatever grounds you. It will take lots of energy to keep up the fight for our progressive values during the next few years, and energy must be replenished, too.
This week it was easy to get overwhelmed and despair about the injustices committed by the powerful. In those moments, I do my best to remind myself of what I can do. Right now, that’s doing the most I can to make sure that the powerful in our state government cannot operate with impunity. We need bold state leaders to defend our values and protect our most vulnerable residents. We need to put our Democratic super-majority to work to pass common-sense progressive legislation and provide a meaningful alternative to conservative backsliding.
I know that we have an incredible community of advocates and organizers among our Scoopreaders who are engaged in this very mission. And actually, as we’re preparing our watchdog strategy for this legislative session, we wanted to tap your wealth of knowledge for input and feedback.
Every legislative session, Act on Mass selects a slate of “Priority Bills” to follow through the convoluted legislative process. Different from an endorsement, these are pieces of legislation that we think would be passed if our legislature was the transparent, democratic, and representative institution it ought to be– if our legislature was responsive to the progressive values of its constituents.
Do you have a favorite piece of proposed progressive legislation that you've been promoting for years and have struggled to get traction in the legislature? Is there a bill that you think would benefit from some watchdog scrutiny? Lastly: given the added pressures from the federal level, is there anything missing from our list of priority bills? We want to hear from you!
GIVE US INPUT FOR PRIORITY BILLS>>
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State House Scoop
30 progressive organizations to Spilka and Mariano: the public decides what “transparency” looks like
Speaking of holding our state leaders accountable, Act on Mass was thrilled to participate this week in a joint effort with 29 other progressive organizations to respond to Senate President Spilka and Speaker Mariano’s early-session promises of “transparency” rules reforms.
Remember back to New Year, New Legislature (Part 2), where we discussed Spilka and Mariano’s references to transparency in their opening remarks for the 194th legislative session? To summarize: Mariano was vague, referencing rules reforms to “bolster public confidence” in the legislature; Spilka was a bit more specific and listed a slew of potential reforms, some which would make things better (public committee testimony!), and some which might actually make things worse (permanently removing the July 31 deadline for conference committee reports).
We got together with some allies to tackle this. We were worried that legislative leadership would pull out a playbook they’ve used before when under pressure about transparency reforms: making small, meaningless concessions in their rules, and then quickly declaring themselves “transparent,” leaving intact all the opaque and anti-democratic structures the public was actually concerned about.
The public has been clear about the sort of transparency they expect from our legislature– look no further than the 87% who support public committee votes, or the 72% who support a legislative audit. Many of you may have participated in conversations with your representative about key transparency reforms that the rules committee could make right now. We wanted to say: look, if you say you want to be transparent to the public, here’s what it looks like.
We also wanted to emphasize that rules reforms are but one small part of the changes that need to be made if they want to meaningfully deliver on a legislature that is transparent, democratic, and accountable. Truly reforming the broken culture and snail-pace inefficiency of Beacon Hill will require deeper reforms than can be accomplished through a single rules vote– particularly, reforms that would challenge the concentration of power in leadership.
Also, I’ve said it before: one of my favorite things about this movement is that it unites advocates from every key issue area of the progressive sphere. We all have a vested interest in making the state house a better place for us to organize in. That was made crystal clear with this joint letter, which united organizations from climate, to labor, to criminal justice reform, to anti-war– the list goes on.
But I’ll stop teasing it– here is a link to read our joint letter to Speaker Mariano and President Spilka.
We have a list of demands that serve as a “transparency benchmark” as the rules committees of the two chambers deliberate the reforms that will make it into their final packages. They are grouped into four categories:
- Improving Public Access to Information → including publicizing committee votes & testimony!
- Increasing Opportunities for Public Engagement in the Legislative Process → such as providing adequate notice of hearing schedules!
- Creating a More Open, Robust, and Timely Committee Process → including requiring a public committee session & publishing committee reports!
- Provide More Time to Read Legislation → an end to bills being released 4 hours before the vote!
If you’d like to back our efforts, you can send an email to your legislator using this link. This is particularly impactful if your legislator is a member of the temporary Rules committees– click here for House, and here for Senate.
When these committees release their rules packages and House and Senate convene for the rules debate, we'll be keeping this benchmark close at hand to assess their true commitment to "transparency!"
Sneak peek: next week's Scoop will cover the Big Budget
The other big legislature news this week was that Governor Healey released her sprawling $62 billion state budget proposal for the year. We're taking time to review this budget & have conversations with allies about its high and low points, so expect a deep dive next week. In the meantime, check out the analysis put together by our friends at MassBudget!
Also worth reading!
An interesting piece that caught our eye this week!
- Political Notebook: The empty seat inside the State House press gallery by Gin Duncius for Commonwealth Beacon
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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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Syd's Sprinkles
Syd’s Sprinkles: Massachusetts Fails to Protect Against Trump’s Attacks
Trump’s first week in office has already seen the beginnings of attacks on important programs and issues at the federal level, but what does that mean for us here at the state level?
A major priority that Act on Mass has been tracking is the state of immigrant protections and legislation. The Safe Communities Act – one of our priority bills from last session – would have protected all communities in Massachusetts – even those that are not within migrant communities.
What has made this week especially frustrating is knowing that Massachusetts lawmakers have had ample time and opportunity to enact the Safe Communities Act, which has been filed session after session since Trump’s first administration. Donald Trump has not held back in stating his plans for immigrants and immigration processes in the United States since 2016, yet our state has done little to enact protections that would act as state law and provide a stronger legal basis to combat the attacks that are coming from the federal government.
Although deportations were carried out under the Biden administration that existed earlier this week, the new Trump administration has increased the scope of ICE operations, has begun to question the country’s obligations under international law, and is now targeting sanctuary cities with legal investigations into their non-compliance with ICE.
In Trump’s first week in office, he has signed two major executive orders that target asylum seekers and refugees, has had his Department of Justice officials launch investigations into sanctuary cities and their compliance with ICE operations, has sent over 1,000 troops to the southern border with more to come, and has taken anti-terrorism task forces under the Department of Justice and directed them to target immigration.
Along with Governor Healey’s blatant betrayal of her campaign promise to make Massachusetts a better and safer place for immigrants, she has also failed to use her executive authority to bring the Safe Communities Act to be voted on by the legislature and actively combat Trump’s recent attacks on our communities. Had the Safe Communities Act been treated as a priority by the legislature, local and state law enforcement would have had a better foundation to defend their noncompliance with ICE – a federal agency. Instead, she has decided to focus on reworking our one-of-a-kind right-to-shelter law to bring to the legislature as the new presidential administration is targeting refugees and denying them their promised right to fly to the Untied States and asylum seekers by threatening to send them back tot hei countries of origin without having had the opportunity to defend their status, given that Trump has cancelled all government appointments to certify their status (which is a disgraceful shirking of international law with no sound legal backing like his arguments used during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic). With Trump’s cancellation of appointments to discuss options or certify their status in order to access vital resources, communities across the state are struggling without assistance that has been promised to them under international law.
Sanctuary cities across the country are facing an increased ICE presence and our own greater Boston community is no exception to Trump’s targeting.
Arrests have already been made in Chelsea, Everett, and East Boston. With the targeting of migrants in our communities, people of color will also increasingly be profiled by law enforcement and the overall safety and comfortability of our communities will decrease. Many community members have already begun to feel unsafe, which could have been avoided had the Safe Communities Act been passed and signed into law. Instead, we are now suffering the consequences of our legislature’s inaction under a new federal administration that is looking to target states like ours.
As disheartening as this past week has been, now is not the time to give up on fighting for what is right and to protect our state from Trump’s attacks. You can take action right now by calling your legislators and the governor’s office to hold them accountable.
We cannot continue to let Governor Healey go back on her campaign promises to the detriment of residents of Massachusetts.
Scroll down to the Take Action section for info about how to hold our leaders accountable to stand up to Trump and protect MA residents!
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Take Action
Tell your state legislator: I know what transparency looks like!
Support our joint letter with an email to your legislator letting them know that their constituents are paying attention and we expect meaningful reforms! Click the next link to auto-generate and personalize an email to your legislator:
TELL YOUR LEGISLATOR: MEANINGFUL REFORM ONLY>>
Hold state leaders accountable to stand up to Trump and protect our immigrant neighbors!
While the Trump administration's agents invade MA neighborhoods, Gov. Healey breaks campaign promises and the Legislature continues to stall on the Safe Communities Act. Now is not the time to abandon our values or our fellow residents. Tell our leaders you want action today.
Save the Date!
FreeHer Virtual Campaign Kickoff - January 27, 6 pm
Our friends with the FreeHer campaign to stop new women's prison construction & improve the conditions for incarcerated people around Massachusetts are hosting their campaign relaunch this Monday! Register at the link below:
PDM Forum - MA Legislative Dysfunction: How It Affects Us All - Jan 31, 10 AM
At the end of this month, Progressive Dems of Massachusetts is hosting a virtual forum on legislative dysfunction, featuring Act on Mass' own Scotia Hille (aka me) as moderator! Join us to hear from expert panelists Alan Palm of the Better Future Project and Mark Martinez of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute about the myriad of issues slowing progress in our legislature and what we can do about it.
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Thanks for reading! Until next time.
In solidarity,
Scotia
Scotia Hille (she/her)
Executive Director, Act on Mass