We are planning Day on the Hill, our lobby day for League members to advocate for League bills with their own legislators. The event will be virtual this year and held mid- to late October. The date will be announced once the speaker is confirmed. Featured bills will be:

Attend the Legislative Action Committee’s upcoming Zoom programs “Meet the Specialist” to learn about bills LWVMA is supporting this session. Here are the two coming up in September:

On Monday, September 13, at noon, LWVMA Gun Safety specialists Jen Muroff and Sue McCalley will discuss these bills:

Register here for Monday, September 13, at noon.

On Saturday, September 18, at 11 a.m., LWVMA Affordable Housing specialists Lori Stewart and Clare Gordon will discuss these bills:

Register here for Saturday, September 18, at 11 a.m.

Please plan to join LWVMA and our partners in the Election Modernization Coalition for a virtual lobby day to support the VOTES Act Wednesday, Oct. 6, noon to 1:30 p.m. We're still working out the details, but will have a way for you to contact your own legislators during the event. Registration information will be coming soon. 

The VOTES Act, S.459, was reported out of its joint committee in July and is currently in the Senate Ways & Means Committee. We don't know exactly when it will be brought to the Senate floor for a vote, and we are hoping all the provisions in the original bill will still be in the bill reported out of Ways & Means. The lobby day will push to have the intact bill voted on in the Senate and then sent to the House so that these important election reforms can be enacted before the temporary extension of the pandemic election rules expires December 15. In the meantime, please see the Boston Globe's Aug. 31 editorial supporting same day voter registration and urging passage of the VOTES Act: With election reforms stalled on Beacon Hill, some would-be voters are left out - The Boston Globe

Four million Massachusetts residents live within 50 miles of Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth. Seabrook and Yankee nuclear plants fall within ten miles of numerous Massachusetts towns. Join the Plymouth and Cape Cod Area local Leagues on Tuesday, September 14, at 7 p.m. via Zoom for Our Nuclear Future: Keeping Massachusetts Safe from Nuclear Accidents to learn more about the safety issues surrounding the decommissioning of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant. 

Henrietta Cosentino and Rosemary Shields, two activists on the front lines, will detail current safety violations and subsequent ramifications. They will outline concrete action steps we can take including how to advocate for H.2254/S.1507, An Act Relative to Monitoring Dry Casks of Spent Nuclear Fuel. 

Register here for this program. 

H.3157/S.2077 An Act to ensure gender parity and racial and ethnic diversity in public boards and commissions will require that women have seats at the table where policy decisions are made. The goal is to achieve gender and racial parity on public boards and commissions. The LWVMA and LWV of Cape Cod are members of the Parity on Board Coalition and support this legislation.  

YW Boston is presenting two virtual forums highlighting the Parity on Board bill on Wednesday, September 15 and again on Wednesday, September 22, both at 5:30 p.m. This initiative is cosponsored by LWVMA, Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition (MAWOCC) and the Commission on the Status of Women.  

  

The LWVMA and LWVCC are members of the Parity on Board Coalition and support this legislation. We encourage League members to attend the forum to see what you can do to help support this bill. Note that some speakers will be region-specific, but you will learn about the bills at both meetings. Programs are open to all and you are welcome to attend either meeting! 

  

Register here for Wednesday, September 15 at 5:30 p.m. (Central and Western MA) 

  

Register here for Wednesday, September 22 at 5:30 p.m. (Northeastern MA and Greater Boston)  

Priority: Equitable Access to Basic Human Services

The League is supporting bills that would provide for legal representation for tenants in eviction proceedings, H.1436/S.874. Currently assigned to the Joint Committee on Housing, these two bills have been co-sponsored by 70 Senators and Representatives; the hearing has not yet been scheduled.

The Boston Globe recently published an op-ed advocating for the immediate implementation of a right to counsel program, noting that between January 2020 and August 2, 2021, 20,000 new eviction cases were filed, with 93% of all defendants unrepresented compared to only 15.4% of landlords.

For a fact sheet click here. 

For articles about right to counsel click here.

Priority: Equitable Access to Basic Human Services

LWVMA recognizes that many long-term care givers are women caring at home for their sick relatives at no cost to the state. Over and above the emotional and physical cost to these caregivers, there are expenses to care for someone at home, many of which are not reimbursed since the patient remains at home. This bill gives a yearly $3,000 tax credit to these caregivers. The LWVMA believes the bill be should be passed, and with a larger tax credit.

Ask your state Senator and Representative to support and fund H.2979/S.788 An Act Establishing the Family Caregivers Tax Credit. 

This three-year-old LWVMA program is “revving up” again up this fall with a new coordinator, Mary Cummings of the Arlington League. Volunteer envoys provide a direct link between the state League’s Legislative Action Committee and local Leagues, so that local Leagues can help influence the legislators who represent them. See Program description here. More information to come!

During the last legislative session, LWVMA advocated for An Act Relative to Justice, Equity and Accountability in Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth, which passed. The law established a special commission to study the topic of qualified immunity. The special commission has met three times. You can read League testimony from August 20 here. 

It is hard to believe we are now in Fiscal Year 2022. This last year has been a busy one and we could not have made it through the year without all of our dedicated members. Thank you for all you have done, your ability to pivot and your resilience throughout this past year. You have clearly demonstrated that Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport.

As we begin the new League year, LWVMA needs members for some of our committees and we would love to have new people join us to work on these statewide committees. It is a great way to get involved and find out more about what we are doing at the state level. We are looking for members to join the following committees:

If you are interested, please email me at efosternolan@lwvma.org. Thank you again for all the work you do for the League.

-Elizabeth Foster-Nolan, President

Plan now for your League to participate in National Voter Registration Day Tuesday, September 28. LWVUS reminds us to sign up your League as a partner today to help reach its goal of 400 participating Leagues. The League has been an important partner in this effort by providing the largest organizational presence on the ground for the last eight years running! Join in this important effort—partners will have opportunities to receive materials and training. Available toolkits offer ideas on voter registration during the pandemic.

How to Contact Your Legislator: You can find phone numbers, email addresses and office addresses on the legislature’s webpage for your Senator and Representative. Go to www.malegislature.gov and click on the Legislators tab. If you don’t know who your legislators are, click here.

The LWVMA Action Newsletter is distributed to all LWVMA members. Anyone can request the Action Newsletter by clicking here. Please review this Newsletter for articles of interest to your League and include them in your local Bulletin.