December Opportunities for Action
TONIGHT! Join LWVMA Racial Justice Webinar Dec. 1 with Rep. Russell Holmes
Register for the conversation Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020 at 6:30 PM via Zoom to discuss bills Rep. Russell Holmes has filed related to police officer standards and training (POST), civil service exam reform, and structural racism. Expect a lively discussion related to his decade of experience fighting for these issues in the state legislature. Register here

Register to Celebrate LWV Dec. 13: "Cheers to 100 Years"
Dec. 13 at 1:00 PM, please join us for LWVMA’s 100th Virtual Birthday Gala and a fireside chat featuring Dr. Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard, who is widely known for her work on justice and citizenship. Danielle will lead us in a discussion entitled: Massachusetts Post-Pandemic: A New Social Compact? Event registration/ticket purchase and sponsorship opportunities details here. Let’s look forward to the next 100 years! 

Join Statewide DEI Peer Discussion Group
Join your LWV colleagues across the state to learn more about what your local League can do to further its work on issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We will meet online several times a year to share ideas, experiences, and resources. The group will be coordinated by Patty Shepard (Winchester) and Amy Cooper (Central Berkshire County), both of whom are members of the LWVMA DEI Committee. If you would like to participate, please email Patty Shepard and/or Amy Cooper.

Explore LWVMA Legislative Advocacy
This is a great time to get involved in Massachusetts League advocacy. The new legislative session will start in January, so you could work with the current League legislative specialists to learn about the process. For more information, contact LAC Chair Kathy Leonardson.

Was your precinct selected for the 2020 audit of the votes?
After every State Election in which the office of President appears on the ballot, state law requires that a post-election audit be held of a random selection of 3% of all precincts in Massachusetts. This is a test of our voting equipment and election performance. The 2020 audit results should be posted soon. This should not be confused with a recount. Here is the list of precincts that were randomly selected for a 3% manual count of the Nov. 3 election, which was done in the week after the election. 

Do you have "Issues?" You need LWVMA Program Planning...
Are there issues you consider especially important? Are there others you'd like to see added? Soon it will be time for local Leagues to participate in planning what LWVMA will focus on in 2021-2023.

Every other year, the LWVMA Board, with the help of the Legislative Action Committee, proposes 4 or 5 main areas of action and advocacy and suggests possible issues for attention within these action priority areas. Local Leagues are asked to approve or suggest changes to the action priorities, and to respond to the suggested issues for attention. This is also the time for local Leagues to suggest studies for LWVMA for the next biennium. Final decisions are made at Convention.

The materials for Program Planning will be available in late December. Local League leaders will schedule program planning activities. For those new to Program Planning or wanting a refresher, a webinar is scheduled for January 12. Information on registration will be available later.

Questions? Contact the co-chairs, Marie Gauthier or Susan Millinger.

Watch Two Transportation Forums
Transportation & Climate Initiative forum on clean transportation for rural communities (Nov. 10) featuring Secretary for Energy and Environmental Affairs Katie Theoharides, State Senator Adam Hinds, Franklin Regional Council of Governments Executive Director Linda Dunlavy, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Principal Planner/Section Manager Catherine Ratté, and The Nature Conservancy Director of Government Relations Steve Long. You can watch the recording here.

Transportation Policy Forum (Nov. 16) LWVMA and T4MA program featuring LWVMA Co-President Elizabeth Foster-Nolan, Metropolitan Area Planning Council Manager of Government Affairs Lizzi Weyant, MASSPIRG and US PIRG Environment Campaigns Director Matt Casale, T4MA Statewide Organizing Director Angela Johnson-Rodriguez, and Acadia Center Carbon Programs Director Jordan Stutt. The recording is available here.

Legislature Session Winding Down—Still Time to Act!
The state legislature is moving into its final weeks; the session ends the first week in January. The push is on to adopt a budget and pass at least those bills that have already passed both chambers and are in conference committee.
You will be seeing a number of action alerts from LWVMA as bills come up for a vote or to get bills to the floor. Please respond! There’s not much time left. 

The ROE Act, expanding abortion access, is now part of the budget, and we are hoping it will be signed into law by the Governor. (Note: he has line item veto power.) We sent you an action alert last week encouraging Gov. Baker to support the Roe Act- you can still do that now here.  

We also want two conference committees to report strong climate change and police reform bills out for a floor vote now. 

You can push for climate change legislation here.

Take Action on Dec. 2 to End Gun Violence in Massachusetts
Join with the MA Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence tomorrow, Wednesday, December 2nd, to ask House Speaker DeLeo and Senate President Spilka to bring H.2045/S.1388 An Act Relative to Crime Gun Data Reporting and Analysis to the floor for a vote. (LWVMA is a member of this coalition).

We planted the seeds in 2014. We spent the last two years getting the bill filed, heard, and voted out of Committee. Now we need you to help us get it across the finish line before the session ends in just a few weeks. This bill requires a detailed analysis of already existing MA crime gun trace data so we can better understand the origins of the crime guns on our streets.

3 easy action steps to take THIS WEEK:
1.  Send an email to your state representative and state senator using the sample script below. If you are unsure of who your legislators are, find them here.
2.  Share via Twitter and Facebook—Remember to tag your representative, senator and us too: @MACoalitionPGV. Use the hashtags #FollowTheGuns #mapoli. “Like” and share our posts too.
3.  Ask three friends if they will do the same.

Script: I am writing to ask (Rep ____ to contact Speaker DeLeo OR Senator _______ to contact President Spilka) to bring H.2045/S.1388 An Act Relative To Crime Gun Data Reporting and Analysis to the floor for a vote. People are dying from crime guns, 50% of which come from within MA. We need to know the source of these crime guns so we know how to stop them from getting to our streets. Thank you. (Be sure to sign your full name and address.)

Progress on our bills:
H.3320/S.1209 A version of the ROE Act for expanded abortion access was added as an amendment to the House and Senate budgets and is expected to be on the Governor’s desk for approval as part of the budget. 

H.3500/S.1230 To ban toxic flame retardants passed the House.
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.
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