Dear friend, 

Remember a few months back, when we joined with fellow progressives organizations in a joint letter to Governor Healey, Senate President Spilka, and Speaker Mariano imploring them to take immediate, proactive action to prepare for the Trump administration? 

Our letter warned of “a radical right-wing restructuring of the federal government and an attack on basic rights and freedoms that we in Massachusetts cherish.” We urged state leaders: “we cannot wait until next January to get started… This extraordinary moment requires extraordinary action.”

Unfortunately, state leaders didn’t respond to our letter. And as I’ve absorbed increasingly distressing news from the federal level these past few weeks, I’ll admit it has become difficult to stomach some of the responses from those same state leaders. 

Said Speaker Mariano this week: “The speed with which these changes keep firing out of Washington is at a speed that is far faster than my simple brain can comprehend… People have to understand that… it is going to be very difficult for us to keep pace and replace everything that's being changed.” 

Senate President Spilka saw fit to make a joke about it: “I think if this keeps up, we’ll be all walking around with neck braces from whiplash.” You can see our Instagram post for more, but she actually seized the moment to take aim at State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, comparing the Auditor’s attempts to proceed with a legislative audit passed by 72% of the population to… Trump’s power-grab federal funding freeze?! 

With all due respect to Speaker Mariano’s “simple brain” and Senate President Spilka’s “whiplash,” they make a mockery of their constituents when they pretend that they couldn’t have prepared for this. We saw it coming– and demanded that they fulfill their duty as leaders. 

We’ve been hearing from folks who are disillusioned, frustrated, and not sure how to channel their energy. It can be easy to feel like your voice is being lost in our enormous media landscape. So, we’re putting on a Letter-to-the-Editor and Op-Ed workshop at the end of the month, hosted by our policy fellow Sydney! Sign up to join us on February 23rd at 2 p.m. and lend your voice to this moment. 

JOIN US FOR THE LTE WORKSHOP>>

---

State House Scoop

Reps restrict right to shelter without public input

While a new federal crackdown on immigration is upending the lives of law-abiding Massachusetts residents and striking fear in our immigrant communities, our State House finally moved with a sense of urgency: to restrict the right to shelter. 

You’ll remember that a few weeks back, Healey released a supplemental budget proposal to provide funding for the state’s beleaguered shelter system. Like most appropriations bills these days, the bill included policy riders: new restrictions on shelter access that would essentially end the state’s 40-year Right to Shelter. 

As with the regular budget process (which we review in the next section!) the supplemental budget has since been sitting in House Ways & Means. Reminder: because state house leadership holds onto their bargaining chips as long as possible, representatives have not yet received their committee assignments. Thus, this bill was vetted by a temporary committee, without a public hearing or any process for including public testimony [paywalled]. 

The House version was released Wednesday and representatives met in formal session Thursday to vote on it. They included many of Healey’s additional restrictions, including a requirement for families to prove legal status in the U.S. and an intent to remain in MA, an arbitrary cap of 4,000 families in the system (which currently serves about 6,000), and limiting families to 6 month stays.

Unlike most House sessions these days, the session actually included some meaningful debate – albeit mostly on Republican amendments that would have limited the shelter system even more. A few progressive representatives filed amendments to reduce the new restrictions, yet withdrew most of them without a vote– an unfortunately common tactic these days.

The bill ultimately passed 126-26, with two conservative Democrats joining Republicans in voting no. Unfortunately, it's a tale as old as time: anti-democratic processes produce anti-democratic policies. 

There will still be one more chance to ensure that we maintain the Right to Shelter in Massachusetts, because the Senate will be next to take up this supplemental budget, likely in the next few weeks.

DEFEND THE RIGHT TO SHELTER>>

Back to basics: budget season! 

Allies, advocates, and adversaries alike are now 2 weeks into poring through Governor Healey’s $61.5 billion state budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026. As a reminder, the Governor’s proposal is but the first step in a monthlong process that will eat up a lot of energy in the legislature for the next few months. And who knows, maybe this will be the year they finally submit a budget on-time – for the first time in 14 years! 

To get prepped for this budget season, let’s review the process– in all its un-transparent glory. 

1) Governor’s proposal: First, the Governor is allowed the first stab at setting policy and spending priorities via the budget proposal, which she has now done. We’ll get into the specifics of her proposal later. 

On top of earmarks, let’s remember that in our screwed up state political system, most actual lawmaking is now done by tacking “outside sections” onto giant appropriations bills like this one. Therefore, Healey’s budget includes not only budget stuff (attached to a dollar sign) but a number of substantive policy changes. As such, representatives, lobbyists, and corporate interest groups will be knocking down legislative leader’s doors not just for cash money ($!) but to remove Healey’s language or get their own choice policy language tacked onto the budget. 

2) House Ways & Means: Now the budget goes to the House Ways and Means committee, kicking off a feeding frenzy of representatives begging Chair Aaron Michlewitz to include their policy priorities and/or earmarks for their district in the House’s version of the budget or in final consolidated amendments. They also host public hearings on the budget around the state.

You wouldn’t be surprised to know that maintaining this level of power over the state’s budget and lawmaking process is great for busine– uh, I mean, campaign fundraising – for Mr. Michlewitz, who boasts the largest campaign account of any member of House or Senate despite never facing an election challenger. He’s currently sitting pretty at $1.3 million in the bank. Let’s check back in in July and see how many folks have conveniently just realized that he’s the best representative the 3rd Suffolk District has ever had. 

3) House budget “debate”: Once the budget is released from House Ways & Means, it is debated on and amended on the House floor. While this may seem like a more democratic step in the process, in reality it is still 100% controlled by leadership. Although any rank-and-file member can file an amendment, individual amendments no longer receive their own vote but are instead combined into massive “consolidated amendments” written by– you guessed it!– House leaders and passed with a single vote.

Last year, for example, the House budget saw 1,495 amendments filed to it, of which 829 were selected by leadership and smushed into 5 consolidated amendments, which were approved in 5 *unanimous* votes. Good luck finding out how your representative really feels about any of those 1,495 amendments! 

4) Senate Ways & Means: Once the House’s proposal is approved, it’s the Senate’s turn! A similar process of begging goes on in Senate Ways & Means, led by Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues and Senate President Karen Spilka. 

If history is any guide, we’ll be keeping an eye on the size of the earmarks directed to Senate leaders’ districts, particularly Senate President Karen Spilka’s. Last year, she got criticism for directing a wildly disproportionate amount of funds to her own district. 

And hey, if you’ve ever doubted my integrity as a watchdog, note that my own hometown of Natick is in Sen. President Spilka’s district and I still think this practice is messed up! 

5) Senate budget “debate”: Rinse, repeat on the floor of the Senate. The version handcrafted by Senate leadership is finally released to the full body for amendments and debate. In the Senate, amendments are “bundled” on the Senate floor (rather than a backroom) and debate is slightly more lively, resulting in a process that almost appears collaborative compared to the House, but which still wouldn’t pass an AP Gov. “Healthy Democracy” checklist. 

6) Conference committee: Of course, these two gargantuan processes result in utterly different versions of the budget being passed by the House and Senate. Did you really expect besties Ron and Karen to agree about the size of their earmarks? Thus, the budget passes to conference committee, where House and Senate leaders handpick six (6!) members to duke it out in private over their competing priorities. The conference report is then sent to the House and Senate for a final yes or no vote.

7) Reunion with Governor: Finally, the finalized version of the budget is kicked back to Governor Healey, who has 10 days to approve it, veto it, or submit line-item vetoes.

Phew! Right now we’re on the “House Ways & Means” stage of this process, which tends to last the longest. We’ll keep you posted as this progresses. 

Budget season also marks the beginning of a whole new era in the lexicon of legisplaining. If you reach out to your representative with a policy question in the next few months, don’t be surprised to hear something along the lines of “Sorry, so busy with the budget, I’ll get back to you soon!” 

Friend, unless your legislator is named Aaron M. Michlewiz, Ronald J. Mariano, Michael J. Rodrigues, or Karen E. Spilka, the likelihood that they have anything meaningful to do with the budget – other than sweet-talking leadership and showing up to unanimously approve amendments – is pretty slim. Send a follow up email! Ask them how their committee work is going! On, you know, the committees they’re actually assigned to. But don’t tell them I told you so. 

Also worth reading!

Some reporting that caught our eye this week! 

--

Missed a Scoop or two? You can find a full archive of all past Saturday Scoops on our blog.

--

Syd's Sprinkles

Syd’s Sprinkles: Trump’s Attacks on the LGBTQ+ Community

If there is anyone who could’ve used a comprehensive education on sexuality and reproductive health, it is our very own President of the United States. 

In the past few weeks – which have definitely felt more like years – the president has launched multiple attacks against members of the LGBTQ+ communities and garnered support using harmful rhetoric and instilling a misplaced fear in those who are supportive of his actions. Not only does Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ platform increase the fear and phobias in his supporters, it also increases fears for the safety of members of the LGBTQ+ community itself. 

Some of Trump’s most recent actions that target the LGBTQ+ community include:

  1. Only recognizing two sexes – male and female
  2. Banning trans-athletes from school sports
  3. Reinstating the transgender ban in the military
  4. Barring transgender individuals under 19 years old from accessing gender-affirming care 

Given how differences in understanding can lead to further rifts within our communities, fear is a response to this reality that shouldn’t be intensified into hate, but rather quelled with the help of important conversations and teachings. Even seeing the language used in the titles of these executive orders conveys the depth in misunderstanding of the LGBTQ+ lived experience. 

While this – promoting productive discourse with accurate information – is not something that Trump’s administration has historically done, Massachusetts lawmakers have had ample opportunity to constructively add to important discourses that can foster more allyship with the LGBTQ+ community starting with those who hold a great state in the future of our state. 

One of these opportunities came in the form of the Healthy Youth Act. This bill highlights and addresses the need for accurate and age-appropriate, consent-based, and LGBTQ+ inclusive sexual education, which all would help to increase understanding and decrease fear through comprehensive conversations. 

Regardless of the success in the implementation of these executive orders, the inflammatory rhetoric and fearmongering platform being used by Trump only increases misunderstanding and fear among those who have not had access to comprehensive education on sexuality and gender orientation. 

These executive orders set a harmful precedent and amplify harmful rhetoric that targets members of the LGBTQ+ community, regardless of the ways in which they are upheld by entities outside of the scope of the federal government. 

As Trump continues pushing his false narratives, Act on Mass would like to see Massachusetts lawmakers make adding to positive conversations with marginalized communities a priority in this new session and finally pass the Healthy Youth Act to create meaningful and lasting change.

---

Take Action

Stand up for the right to shelter!

Following the House's vote to restrict the right to shelter this week, stand up for your neighbors and let your representative hear from you! 

STAND UP FOR THE RIGHT TO SHELTER>>

---

Well, to borrow Speaker Mariano's phrase, that's all my "simple brain" could handle this week. Have a great weekend! 

In solidarity,

Scotia

Scotia Hille (she/her)

Executive Director, Act on Mass