Good evening, 

Sending this while rain-soaked and enjoying a warm tea after an afternoon of demonstrating for our democracy in Boston with a massive crowd. It was so inspiring to see so many folks taking action to defend our values as a Commonwealth and stand up against attacks on our most vulnerable residents. I imagine many of you were there or taking action in your own communities. 

If you'll allow me one more pitch for your time, I'll give a final reminder that we'll be gathering in Concord tomorrow for our from 3:30 pm to 5:30 for our "Growing our Democracy" spring fundraiser! For those who are able, please join us for some good food, drink, conversation about the next steps for our movement, and a plant-themed silent auction. 

JOIN US ON APRIL 6th IN CONCORD>>

I have some other good news: with 1 day before the deadline, we are currently just $600 away from our goal right now. I am so filled with gratitude at the support we've received so far. If you can't make it tomorrow, can you help us get across the finish line and unlock our matching funds? 

HELP AOM REACH OUR GOAL>>

And if you've already supported us, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Hope to see many of you tomorrow! And now for the Scoop. 

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State House Scoop

3 months into Trump admin, Senate finally reacts to repeated calls for action with underwhelming “Response 2025” 

After three months of Act on Mass and progressive allies beating the drum that state leaders needed to start working on a response to the Trump administration’s wholescale disruption of our federal government, we finally saw action this week! …Sort of. 

As you may remember, we gathered with 14 fellow progressive organizations a few weeks back to send a joint letter to House and Senate leadership, urging them to pass joint rules and get to the work of lawmaking. As much as we desperately need the transparency changes that the Conference Committee on Joint Rules is currently negotiating, we also need policy action. While MA residents are snapped off the street by ICE, House and Senate are sitting on critical pieces of legislation, like the Safe Communities Act, that could make our residents safer today. In our letter, we urged our state house leaders to swiftly come to a decision on rules and start passing needed legislation. 

Many of you joined in this push using our “Take Action” guide, telling your own legislators: it’s time to get to work. Our efforts got the attention of some of the state’s biggest media outlets, including the Boston Globe and State House News Service. Finally, our voices were too big to ignore. The Senate released an official response to our letter this week and held a press conference Tuesday to unveil their plan for a Trump response: “Response 2025.” 

"Response 2025" plan betrays lack of planning

First, I’d like to take a moment to appreciate the fact that after having 3 whole months to brainstorm, the best name they could come up with was… “Response 2025.” Unfortunately, this choice of label is a good fit for their delayed effort. Since they appear to have done zero contingency planning in the 5 months since Trump’s election, they are indeed condemned to “responding” rather than proactive or forward-thinking action on behalf of our Commonwealth and its’ residents. 

Then, when we get to the content of “Response 2025,” we find that it’s about as hollow as the name itself. In a momentous-seeming press conference with a shiny “Response 2025” sign, Senate President Spilka detailed the plan, which consists of appointing the existing Senate Committee on Steering and Policy to coordinate a Trump response by “meet[ing] with the Senate chairs, to come up with policies.” 

Multiple news agencies have noted that meeting with other senators to discuss policy is “already the job description of the Steering and Policy Committee.” Jonathan Cohn of Progressive Massdescribed the move as “comical” and “underwhelming,” noting that “they held a press conference to let the public know that an existing committee is going to do the work that it should have already been doing.”

Reporting from 22 News notes that “while senators did name Trump policies they are specifically concerned with, and they spent time naming past accomplishments, they did not disclose any specific policies or areas of focus for the committee, and no related bills are being filed today.” Although Spilka insisted that the plan was “concrete,” it seems like “Response 2025” might be better described as “concepts of a plan”. 

Reporters also questioned why the Senate’s showy effort is coming now, a full 3 months into the legislative session and more than 2 months into Trump’s presidency. Said Spilka, “this takes a little while to gather.” You’re reading that right: an existing committee– with no policy recommendations– which was supposed to start work on January 1st took “time to gather.” Only in #mapoli…

As a transparency advocate, I also have to raise some questions about the secrecy involved in this “plan.” The Senate Committee on Steering and Policy does not typically consider bills or host public hearings. In fact, this committee featured in Boston Globe reporting last year about the 12 legislative committees that come with big leadership stipends ($40k for this one) while performing no visible work. Although Senate leaders claim to be reacting to public concern with “Response 2025,” it seems curious that they would do so through a committee that historically keeps its “work” out of the public eye. 

With Trump and Elon Musk’s policies causing uncertainty across Massachusetts, we need clear communication from our lawmakers about the policy steps they’re planning, while taking public concern seriously. If the Senate’s best answer is that they’ll appoint a shadowy committee to arrange closed-door meetings between lofty Senate chairs, I have some serious doubts that either process or product will be sufficient to meet the moment. 

Still, I should give the Senate some credit on articulating a response to the outpouring of public pressure, even if they don’t seem to have been fully prepared. As some of the reporting points out, the answer from the House is still crickets. MASSter List quotes Speaker Mariano as saying his team is “looking at a couple of things,” which… inspires many things, none of them confidence. 

Some work started, with no Rules 

Meanwhile, still no word on Joint Rules negotiations. Two weeks after they started negotiations, the Conference Committee tasked with reaching an agreement has yet to schedule a follow-up meeting (paywall). Despite promises to keep negotiations public this time around, state leaders’ explanation of their lack of action was that staff is working behind the scenes and that “notice of the next meeting will be posted when this process is completed.” So, the sun has not yet set on the practice of legislators doing all their work behind closed doors without a clear timeline and only making it public once it’s done. 

Some joint committees have started getting to work, with hearings this past week in several joint committees including the Joint Committee on Public Health and the Joint Committee on Election Laws. You can go to the legislature’s website to see upcoming hearings along with the bills they will consider, and sign up to submit testimony. Due to the fact that Joint Rules have not been updated, these committees are largely operating based on Rules set in 2019. This means that new transparency changes promised this year, such as plain language bill summaries for every bill and public committee votes, are not active.  

Some committee chairs have taken the step of declaring the adoption of certain new rules for their committee operations. Chairs of the Joint Committee on Revenue and the Joint Committee on Public Health have both announced that certain aspects of their operations will align with House-proposed aspect of the Joint Rules. Big surprise: as far as I know, none have declared that they will voluntarily make their committee votes public. Legislative leaders have had 3 months– and, really, 5 since the election– to sort out the differences between their preferred rules changes. Until we have a consistent standard set for all committees, the public’s call for increased transparency will go unanswered. 

Lastly, our allies in the climate movement are rallying this week around a hearing happening at 11 AM on Tuesday. Tuesday’s hearing of the Joint Ways and Means Committee is the only opportunity that ordinary members of the public have to comment on the state’s $62 billion budget proposal. Climate groups are using this hearing to call on the legislature to close the loophole that specifically exempts the sale of private jets from the state’s sales tax. While federal cuts threaten social programs that keep ordinary Bay Staters afloat and state leaders scramble for additional funding, we don’t need to be subsidizing the luxurious, polluting habits of the wealthy. Scroll down to our “Take Action” section to learn more!

If you haven’t reached out to your legislator yet to urge them to pass joint rules and get to work, I encourage you to do so. One of the most concrete things that “Response 2025” demonstrates is that public pressure works. When we refuse to let legislative delay and inaction go unnoticed, our legislators are forced to “respond." Especially when we act together. 

Additional reading

Some interesting reporting that caught our eye this week! 

Also: local news launch alert. This week, a pair of local journalists launched the Flip Side, a nonprofit newsroom which aims to fill gaps in local news coverage through a focus on communities of color in the Boston area. Strong local news coverage is one of the best tools we have in holding powerful state officials accountable, and the Flip Side got right to it. I recommend subscribing, or finding a local news outlet that speaks to you in your area!

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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 Education Funding Cuts

An unfortunate update on last week's Sprinkles: after threats, the Trump administration has officially cut funding for Massachusetts’ schools and the cuts are quite substantial. 

In total, Trump has cut $106 million in kindergarten through 12th grade grant funding via the Education Stabilization Fund. This goes directly against the assurances that the Trump administration had given in February, saying that Massachusetts had until March 2026 to spend their federal grant funding. 

It is true that the funding came through pandemic-era grants, however, the funding was intended to address the continuing learning loss in this post-pandemic era, among issues such as school security and professional development for educators. 

With the grants already accounted for in the schools’ budgets, districts are now left without the funding they need to “empower” the states, as Trump and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon have argued was one of their goals. 

The school districts that are most affected by these cuts include New Bedford, Springfield, Fitchburg, Revere, and Everett. 

With these unexpected budget cuts, schools across the state are now not at risk of, but rather facing cuts to programs for students with disabilities, security systems in schools, literacy, STEM, bettering learning environments, addressing gaps in education due to the pandemic, and other issues head-on. 

So far, New Bedford has reported that the school district received a letter from McMahon, which states that, “even though the COVID pandemic and the liquidation period under the applicable regulations have ended, the Department will consider an extension to your liquidation period on an individual project-specific basis."

While New Bedford has been able to secure their day-to-day operations and appeal for project-specific funding, this can’t be said to be the case for all school districts in the state. It is clear that while the Trump administration had somehow campaigned as champions for states’ rights and the betterment of education and literacy in the United States, their actions say otherwise. 

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Take Action

Ground the Private Jet Loophole! 

Mass Sierra Club: "Even as our state approaches a budget crunch, Massachusetts state house leadership is gearing up to cut funding for healthcare, food assistance, and housing before they remove this tax loophole for their rich buddies. They always say there’s not enough money for our priorities, but somehow they can give a tax break to their donors buying private jets." 

TELL YOUR REP: NO LOOPHOLE FOR JETS>>

SIGN UP TO OFFER TESTIMONY>>

Growing our Democracy - Act on Mass Spring Fundraiser, 4/6 3:30 - 5:30 pm

Join us to celebrate spring and democracy with our dear allies in Concord on Sunday April 6th and contribute to our people-powered movement! 

JOIN US TO "GROW OUR DEMOCRACY">>

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That's all for this week. Enjoy your weekend and hope to see you tomorrow. 

In solidarity,

Scotia

Scotia Hille (she/her)

Executive Director, Act on Mass