Participating in the annual Massachusetts League-wide Phonathon is a great way to raise money for your local League and the LWVMA. For each donation LWVMA receives as a result of your Phonathon call/email, your local League will receive 10% of that donation. All the Phonathon materials will be ready during the week of January 10th. If you are interested in participating in Phonathon, contact Taylor here.

Are you interested in working on new member recruitment to grow and diversify your own League and deepen the collective impact of the League state-wide? Do you have ideas about how we can turn our commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) into action so that our membership reflects that commitment? LWVMA is forming a new joint DEI/Membership Task Force to work on the membership goals outlined in our 3-year strategic plan. If you are interested in joining this new task force, please contact Pattye Comfort here. 

Numbers matter and by collecting data on a state-wide basis, we will be able to measure our collective League impact. This, in turn, will help bring in new members and leaders, do more effective fundraising and ultimately sustain the League throughout Massachusetts.  

To achieve this goal, we need a designated person from every League to submit data for each local League activity. See the data collection form, the user guide and other materials here. 

Check in with your local League leadership to volunteer for this crucial task and then notify Brynne Gorman.  

The Nominating Committee is seeking suggestions for nominations to the 2022-2024 LWVMA Board. This is an opportunity for League members to step up and help shape the League's impact on the state level. Click here for a nomination form. Please submit nominations by Friday, February 25, 2022. Contact the Chair of LWVMA's Nominating Committee, Sharyn Roberts via email or 617.259.0132 with questions or for more information.

Our Legislative Envoy Program is designed to ensure that our voice is heard on Beacon Hill and our members are kept informed about the progress of our League bills. Our Senators and Representatives should know what the over 3,000 LWVMA members ask of them and why. At the same time, our members should know what our priority legislation is and how it is progressing in the legislative process. The Legislative Envoy Program keeps information flowing and our legislation moving through the legislative process.

The Legislative Envoy Program is designed to have at least one member from each League as its Legislative Envoy serving as a conduit, connecting the state League, local Leagues and legislators. Envoys will be connected to the Legislative Action Committee (LAC) for periodic updates from legislative specialists. Envoys will receive instruction in best practices for advocacy and briefings on the legislative process.

Legislative Envoys are the voice of their local League. They develop a working relationship with their League’s State Senators and Representatives and keep up with the progress of LWVMA priority bills on Beacon Hill. See the program description here. Please notify your League’s leadership that you are volunteering to represent your League and contact Envoy Coordinator Mary Cummings to join the program. We are seeking at least one Envoy from each League.

…And state action depends on your action at this critical time! With the fate of the federal Build Back Better Act in question, action on climate and energy at the state level is critically important. After enactment of a groundbreaking climate and energy bill last March, implementation has been painfully slow. The League-supported bills described below will help make the new law a functioning reality. 

We have until February 2 to get these important bills out of joint committee and keep them “alive” for legislative consideration. The climate and energy bills we view as most important at this time are all in the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy (TUE). You will find League testimony and summaries of each bill under Environment—Climate Change and Energy. 

Please contact your legislators and ask them to contact the chairs of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, Senator Michael Barrett and Representative Jeffrey Roy, to report the three listed bills favorably out of their Committee before the February 2 deadline. Don’t delay! Call and email today so your voice of support can be counted!

H.3302: An Act to promote offshore wind energy and renewables and S.2155: An Act relative to enhancing reliability of renewable resources in the Commonwealth (Same bill; different titles). 

A clean energy future depends on a clean source of energy. The New England coast has a bountiful supply of wind energy. Boosting clean renewable energy sources will boost efforts to decarbonize our economy. 

H.3350/S.2202: An Act relative to building energy and decarbonization

Buildings represent the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, a close second to emissions from transportation. Massachusetts is way behind in reaching its goal to decarbonize the building sector and needs to significantly ramp up its efforts around energy efficiency of new and existing buildings and electrification of the building sector. 

H.3298/S.2148: An Act relative to the future of heat in the Commonwealth

This bill offers a path forward for gas utilities by allowing them to become clean energy distribution utilities as they transition off gas. Several pilots have already been approved, and major cities are asking for pilots in their jurisdictions. 

Three small but consequential bills need your help immediately. Please contact the committee chairs for each bill and request that the bill be voted swiftly and favorably out of committee. 

H.2341/S.1519 Out of Hospital Births: (Bill corrects a “catch- 22” so a woman is allowed to use her health insurance for an at-home birth.

Joint Committee on Public Health Chairs: 

H.2979/S.788 Family Care Givers Tax Credit:

Joint Committee on Revenue Chairs: 

H.2271/S.1517 Community Immunity Bill (A process bill that changes no laws)

Joint Committee for Public Health Chairs:

Want more information on these bills? Watch the first 30 minutes of Meet the Health Care Specialists December 8 recording here.

On October 12, the Right to Counsel bill (S.874/H.1436) was heard by the Joint Committee on Housing. The bill would ensure that when facing eviction, low-income tenants and owner-occupants of 1 to 3 family homes receive full legal representation. The League submitted written testimony noting the devastating effects of evictions on women, particularly mothers and women of color, and the relief that a right to counsel program could provide. Large property owners, teachers, and public health professionals are all weighing in to support a right to counsel program. The fact sheet on the Right to Counsel and women is here.

Momentum is building and the bill has nearly 80 supporters at the State House. Find out if your legislator is a co-sponsor here.  

Formal legislative session resumes January 5, 2022. Bills that have not been voted out of a joint committee favorably or given an extension by February 2, with a few exceptions, will no longer be active, so the next step in League advocacy will be for the specialists to ask the committee chairs to favorably report our bills out of the joint committees. 

H.715/S.298—An act to promote student nutrition October 14, 2021. See League testimony here. This law outlines how schools handle student meal debt. 

S.2554—The VOTES Act, passed the Senate and is in the House Ways & Means Committee. See League testimony here.

H.1290—An Act to streamline access to critical public health and safety-net programs through common applications. See League testimony here.

H.3157—An Act to ensure gender parity on public boards and commissions 12/30/21. See League testimony here.

S.2077—An Act to ensure gender parity on public boards and commissions 12/27/21. See League testimony here.

LWVUS has published the first call for our 55th Annual Convention June 23 – 26, 2022. More information can be found here. 

As the first step in the Program process that will culminate in adoption of LWVUS organization-wide program at Convention 2022, the Program Planning Leaders Guide and Survey response form is now available for Leagues to use at their program planning meetings in early 2022. The input of League boards will help shape the proposed program of study and action that will be debated and voted on by convention delegates. Program planning reports forms must be returned online by Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Each League is entitled to one response, and individual member responses are not accepted. You can access the Leader’s Guide here and the 2022 Program Survey here. 

LWVUS Program Planning Webinar January 12, 3 p.m. will provide basic information for program planning for those new to program planning or those who need a refresher. For questions about program planning, email progplan@lwv.org.

Get updates on key federal voting rights legislation and learn what other Leagues have planned in their states and localities. Register here for League Voting Rights Field Call January 13, 5 p.m.

Join the National Conference on Citizenship for a conversation about how to tackle mis- and disinformation in our election system and our democracy, for a program “Democracy, Disinformation and Distrust: Building Citizen Capacity to Impact Mis-/Disinformation” January 19, 1 p.m. Register here.

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.