Good evening,

I’m pretty tired of writing about legislative inaction. 

After almost 6 full months of lawmaking, we’ve made it to a full 6 laws passed, thanks to a sick leave bank approved for a single state employee last week. A bleak reminder of where our healthcare system is at in America: that the full weight of the state legislature must be brought in to allow hardworking people to donate their sick days to an ill public servant who has used all of theirs. Heck, if you have the power of the pen, why not just give more sick days? Also, should that even count as a law?! 

This week, legislators did reach an agreement on the $1.3 billion extra in Fair Share funds for fiscal year 2025. With... about 10 days left in the fiscal year. And, for the verdict we’ve all been waiting for, Speaker Mariano’s $25 million earmark for a single parking garage in downtown Quincy DID make the final cut. 

Meanwhile, we had a wonderful time tabling and chatting with folks in downtown Boston and Boxborough this week, rounding out stops #6 and #7 for Transparency on Tour! Next week, we're heading west to table in Pittsfield, with stops in July to follow in Weymouth, Brighton, Worcester, and East Boston– at least. If any of those are your district, come out to say hi! 

JOIN US ON THE ROAD>>

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State House Scoop

Honoring MN House Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband 

Before I get to the Scoop, I did want to address the tragic news from our counterparts at the state level in Minnesota this past weekend. For those who missed it, the former Speaker of the Minnesota House and highest ranking Democrat, Representative Melissa Hortman, was murdered by a gunman in her own home on Saturday, along with her husband. It is apparent that the shooter was intentionally targeting Democrats. Another party leader, Senator Philip Hoffman, was shot with his wife but survived. 

As someone who follows the legislature in Massachusetts closely, I was shaken by this event, even though it happened many states away. Just one day before the shootings, I was speaking with someone who was learning about the problems in the MA legislature for the first time. They asked me if there was an example of a state where legislative work is done well. The first one that came to mind was Minnesota. 

Despite razor-thin majorities in House and Senate (among the thinnest in the entire country!), Minnesota is a national leader in legislative effectiveness and, in fact, passing progressive policy. When MN Democrats gained a trifecta for the first time in years, they passed "a generation’s worth of liberal reforms in just four months," with single-seat majorities– including some that took years to pass in supermajority Massachusetts. 

Representative Hortman deserves a lot of credit for Minnesota’s reputation on this front, having led the Democratic caucus in their House of Representatives since 2019. By all accounts, she seems to be have been a tireless champion of progressive values and a skilled lawmaker. Her death is a tragedy, and her legacy of effective, progressive lawmaking is one that will stay with me. 

As legislative inaction extends into summer, immigration raids continue to strike fear in MA communities 

While our state legislature takes their sweet time getting around to the work of policy-making, federal immigration authorities are busy targeting Massachusetts’ residents for disappearance. ICE’s focus on Massachusetts was so explicit that the operation was named: “Operation Patriot.” ICE announced at the beginning of June that they had detained 1,500 immigrations in Massachusetts in just May alone. ICE admits only half of those detained can be linked to alleged criminal activity. 

The impacts of these arrests in communities across Massachusetts has been deeply felt, especially those with significant immigrant populations. In Milford, where 18-year-old Marcelo Gomes da Silva was detained by ICE on his way to a volleyball practice, residents report “anxiety” and “fear.” One construction worker reported that “people are afraid of driving vans with letters on the top, because they're targeting vans and commercial vehicles.” New reporting out of New Bedford suggests that ICE is intentionally targeting male breadwinners in an attempt to force families to leave entirely. 

A recent blog post by Sydney provided us with a deep dive into Massachusetts law governing the cooperation of local law enforcement with ICE. TLDR: the SJC ruled in 2017 that MA law enforcement cannot make arrests on the basis of immigration status, but noted that the legislature needed to update the statute to provide more clarity on cooperation with immigration enforcement. The legislature has neglected to take action to update our law since then, even despite the popularity of bills like the Safe Communities Act. 

Now, 5 months into the Trump administration, state resources are being used in ICE’s mass deportation effort. Detainees are being transported in record numbers by the Plymouth County sheriff’s office, which has contracted with ICE since 2009. ICE also rents beds at the Plymouth County jail, so Massachusetts is in fact also making money off of the recent surge in immigration detention. Meanwhile, the jail’s $70 million budget is funded entirely by the state. 

In the midst of all this, the legislative body tasked with delivering policy solutions to the people of our Commonwealth has yet to muster a response.

On the bright side: while we wait for a response from our state leaders, some municipalities have taken it upon themselves to use the powers at their disposal to protect their populations. In Boston, Mayor Wu signed an executive order directing the city to make FOIA requests of ICE, to unveil some of the secrecy around their raids. Meanwhile, Burlington, MA is exploring a potential zoning violation for inhumane conditions at an ICE field office. These actions show that creative policy avenues can be used to protect our Massachusetts residents. Here’s hoping our state-level leaders will follow their example.

Transparency on Tour: Progress Report

7 down, 33 to go! In our stops so far, we have had hundreds of meaningful conversations with Bay Staters, reconnected with volunteers in new districts, and met allied organizations across the state. And, our first State House 101 workshop this week was a great success! 

Coming up, we've got tabling dates in 5 districts, with more on the way! 

  • Pittsfield Farmers Market, June 28th - 9 am - 1 pm at Pittsfield Common in Pittsfield
  • Weymouth Farmers Market, July 9th - 4 pm - 7 pm in Weston Park, Weymouth
  • Allston/Brighton Organizing Fair, July 14th - 5:30 - 8:30 pm at PSF Community Center in Brighton
  • REC Farmers Market Worcester, July 18th - 9 am - 12 pm at Beaver Brook Park in Worcester
  • East Boston Farmers Market, July 23rd - 3 pm - 6:30 pm at Central Square Park in East Boston

If one of these are in your district or a district you want to visit, join us to table!

HELP US HIT 40 DISTRICTS THIS SUMMER>>

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Also worth reading

Act on Mass was in the news this week! Check us out: 

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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: Governor Healey said what?

At a tech summit hosted by the Boston Globe, Governor Healey mentioned her doubts about the fate of the Fair Share amendment (also known as the “millionaire’s tax”). Just a few days later, she clarified that Fair Share was not going away any time soon. 

Sure, that's a pretty confusing sequence of events, but what does this have to do with us as constituents?  

As a quick summary, the Fair Share amendment was voted on by Bay Staters via a ballot question in 2022 and places a 4% surtax on income over $1 million. After being passed by the Legislature, Fair Share became a constitutional amendment. In total, this amendment only applies to the earnings of about 0.6% of households in the state. 

Despite making the Massachusetts tax system more equitable and bringing in a surplus of revenue that could be used specifically for funding transportation and education endeavors across the state – solving two problems that have troubled the state for years – some have still tried to argue that this tax is not popular among the majority of Bay Staters (which is simply not true). 

The most popular argument among dissenters of Fair Share is that the highest earners, or rather those who have the highest salaries on paper, in Massachusetts will leave the state primarily due to the tax. So far, this claim has not been true. While there are many factors that are leading to people moving out of Massachusetts, such as high costs of living overall that are worsening under the current federal administration, Fair Share is not primary among them. 

At a tech summit this past week, Governor Healey was asked how she might react to a challenge to the Fair Share amendment. According to the Boston Globe, “Healey indicated she could be open to undoing the so-called millionaire’s tax, which placed an additional tax on earnings over $1 million after Massachusetts residents approved a constitutional amendment to do so in 2022… Asked whether she would oppose efforts to overturn the tax, Healey demurred: ‘No, I think we need to evaluate what’s going on, and I want to see the numbers. I just want to see what’s happening in terms of any potential outmigration.’”

Though research has already clarified that Fair Share isn’t forcing millionaires out of the state in droves, it is important to recognize Healey’s audience – attendees of The Boston Globe’s Tech Innovation Summit, one of which being Bay Stater Noubar Afeyan, Founder & CEO of Flagship Pioneering and Co-Founder & Chairman of Moderna – when she made this comment. 

And despite her apparent concerns with the popularity of the tax among the wealthy, she ultimately went back on her word and clarified that, “‘[What] I said and what I meant by all of that is — first of all, nobody [has] made more effective use of the revenues from the surtax than our administration — investments in transportation and education that are transformational, that are really important for our economy, that are supported by business, and that make us a stronger, more affordable, more competitive state…’”

Interesting, right? Sounds like Healey was doing a bit of what we like to call “legisplaining” – i.e. spewing nonsense to constituents. 

The funny thing is, the revenue from Fair Share wasn’t even around before her administration. While the amendment was passed in 2022 – the same year that Healey won the gubernatorial race for Massachusetts – both Healey’s term and the beginning of the collection of revenue from the tax began in 2023. 

My goal is not to be overly picky with the words of our elected officials, but there is a need for more recognition of how their words and interests change based upon the groups that are present. Constituents deserve to know the platforms and interests of the people that they elect into office at all levels. 

The threat of losing the billions of dollars in revenue that the Fair Share amendment has created for the state is a scary thought for communities across the state, especially given the cuts in federal funding for vital local and statewide programs. When it seems like the governor has different answers to issues brought to her by different groups, it is hard to know her true intentions from one day to the next. 

If you want to learn more about how to hold elected officials accountable, recognizing legisplaining, and ways to avoid it, be sure to join us for one of our State House 101 workshops that we’ll be holding throughout the summer.

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Take Action

We protect us: make sure your rep takes a stand on ICE raids

Recent violent ICE arrests in communities around Massachusetts have left residents fearful. Governor Healey has come out with more sympathy for ICE than her detained residents and their families. We need legislators to step up and address this. Do you know where your rep stands and what they're doing to protect our communities? Use our form to send them an email!

TELL YOUR REP: TAKE A STAND>>

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And that's all for this week! Enjoy your weekend. 

In solidarity,

Scotia

Scotia Hille (she/her)

Executive Director, Act on Mass