Raise Your Voice for Local Public Health
 
The formal legislative session in Massachusetts ends on July 31, and MPHA and our partners are working overtime with our legislative champions to pass SAPHE 2.0 in the next few weeks. Recently, the legislature’s Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management released its final report. The report makes 16 recommendations for future emergency preparedness, including a recommendation to strengthen local and regional public health infrastructure. Enacting SAPHE 2.0 would accomplish this critical goal. Many of the report’s other recommendations rely on a strong, efficient local health system. Take action today by reaching out to your State Rep to bring the report to their attention and ask them to urge House leadership to pass SAPHE 2.0 this session. We are down to the wire, and every call/email helps!
Take Action for Transportation Justice
 
Regional Transportation Authorities (RTAs) are a lifeline to millions of people living in the 250+ cities and towns beyond the reach of the MBTA. By operating bus routes and providing dial-a-ride services for people with disabilities, RTAs connect residents to medical care, food, jobs, and other resources that are essential for good health outcomes. For years, inadequate state funding has made it challenging for RTAs to maintain service and meet community needs. A proposed Amendment to the Transportation Bond Bill would begin to address this problem by tying RTA base funding to inflation and setting aside a dedicated source of revenue to support RTA services. Raise your voice for transportation justice today by contacting your State Senator and asking them to co-sponsor Amendment #138 in the Transportation Bond bill!
Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition Issues COVID Report Card

MPHA and our partners in the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition unveiled a detailed report card showing that the Baker administration left behind marginalized communities in its COVID-19 vaccination distribution. The report card gives the Baker administration Bs, Cs, Ds and Fs in four key aspects of the COVID vaccine distribution efforts. It grades the administration on both its “intent” to consider equity in the vaccine distribution as well as the “outcome” of their approach to equity. Read the press release here.
MPHA Seeks Public Policy Specialist

MPHA is recruiting for a Public Policy Specialist to join our Policy & Campaign Team working to advance MPHA’s policy agenda. The Public Policy Specialist will play a key role in representing MPHA to partner organizations, coordinating MPHA-led coalition efforts, drafting materials to support advocacy campaigns, tracking and analyzing policy developments, and synthesizing information from external partners. The position can be based anywhere in the Commonwealth, with some travel to MPHA’s Boston office and the Massachusetts State House required. Click here to learn more.
Municipal Leaders Support Bill to Boost Transit Equity

Municipal leaders from cities and towns in every one of the state’s 15 Regional Transit Authority (RTA) service areas sent a letter to the members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, asking them to pass An Act to Improve and Expand Regional Transit Accessibility in the Commonwealth (S.2277), filed by State Sen. Harriette Chandler and Rep. Natalie Blais. The bill, which was reported out favorably by the Joint Committee on Transportation in February, would stabilize funding for RTAs and pave the way for better, cleaner public transportation service in Massachusetts. Passage of the bill would also mark a critical step towards achieving greater regional equity in the allocation of state public transportation dollars. Although 55% of Massachusetts residents live in an RTA service area, less than 7% of state transit operational funds go to support the RTAs. Read our press release and the op-ed in Commonwealth Magazine by the mayors of Brockton and Greenfield.
Recent Supreme Court Rulings Pose Threat to Public Health

In recent weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued major rulings overturning the right to safe and legal abortion, limiting the ability of states to regulate gun ownership, and stripping the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to regulate pollution from power plants. Each of these rulings will exacerbate existing public health crises in our country; taken together, they represent a devastating blow to public health. MPHA is committed to working in solidarity with those who are already most impacted by oppression and health inequities and will bear the brunt of these misguided decisions. Although Massachusetts state law guarantees the right to reproductive healthcare, imposes sensible gun regulations, and regulates emissions, we will nonetheless be affected by these rulings, which undermine the fundamental ability of our government to protect the health of its own citizens. 
Massachusetts Public Health Association
(857) 263-7072 | @mapublichealth | mapublichealth.org
‌