Join our LWVMA Healthcare specialists on Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 11:30 a.m. to get the facts about these important bills. We will emphasize Medicare for All (M4A) since it is a LWVMA priority bill. There will be ample time for questions and discussion of all 5 bills. Learning what these bills are really about (rather than what people assume they are about) is an important step in advocating for them! 

Bills to be discussed: 

Register for the Healthcare program on Wednesday Dec. 8 at 11:30 a.m. here.

If you have not done so, please call or email your Representative and ask for support for same-day voter registration as part of the House version of the VOTES Act. The VOTES Act passed the Senate and, now numbered S.2554, is in the House Ways & Means Committee. That committee will draft its version of the bill, and we want it to include same-day voter registration. The House has blocked same-day registration in the past. Make sure your Representative knows same-day voter registration is important to you. We hope this bill comes to the House floor early in the new year. 

Participating in the annual Massachusetts League-wide Phonathon is a great way to raise money for your local League and the LWVMA. The Phonathon is a follow-up to LWVMA’s annual fall fundraising appeal which is underway right now. Many local Leagues participate in Phonathon by calling their own members to encourage them to donate to LWVMA. For each donation LWVMA receives as a result of a Phonathon call/email, your local League will receive 10% of that donation. If you are interested in participating in this year’s Phonathon, please let Taylor know (tgrenga@lwvma.org). Taylor will have Phonathon packets ready for local Leagues immediately following the New Year’s holiday.

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 reach out to Pattye Comfort at pcomfort@lwvma.org.

Last month, action by the Joint Committee on Redistricting was applauded by Drawing Democracy coalition. Since then, all three redistricting bills that redraw maps for the Massachusetts State House, Massachusetts State Senate and U.S. Congressional districts based on the 2020 census have been signed by Governor Baker. You can see the new districts on the MA Legislature website.

Over 100 people attended our first ever virtual Day on the Hill (DOTH), “Facing the Challenge: Voting, Climate, Early Education, Healthcare”. DOTH is our signature biennial League advocacy event. It featured House Speaker Ron Mariano with the keynote address and presentations on four priority bills by LWVMA legislative specialists. See House Speaker Mariano’s keynote address here. 

Unique to this year’s event was the opportunity for League members to meet with their own legislators and staff in break out rooms. Watch the complete 2021 DOTH event here.

LWVMA Priority bills:

It is not too late to advocate for these bills! Materials for League advocacy and fact sheets on these bills can be found in the Day on the Hill packet. 

This three-year-old LWVMA program is “revving up” again 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. Please notify your League’s leadership that you are volunteering to represent your League and contact Envoy Coordinator Mary Cummings at mcummings@lwvma.org to join the program. We are seeking at least one Envoy from each League.

Watch recorded webinar here, view the slide presentation here, and peruse additional resources about offshore wind on the Climate and Energy Solution Series webpage.

Watch recorded webinar entitled “Implementing the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) System in Massachusetts” with POST Commissioner Chief Michael Wynn here, and legislative specialist Jen Muroff's presentation on police reform here. 

Watch the virtual 2021 League Leader Event with keynote presentation by YW Boston President and CEO Beth Chandler on growing organizations here, and Boston's Youth Poet Laureate Alondra Bobadilla reading her poem "The 19th" here. A recording of the full event is available here.

The legislature began holiday recess on November 17, although hearings on bills may continue; formal session resumes January 5, 2022. Bills may pass during informal sessions during the recess if they have unanimous support. All bills (over 6,000 bills have been filed) must receive a hearing. As of December 1, over 70% of the League’s 163 bills have had a hearing with the League legislative specialists providing testimony. Bills that have not been voted out of 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 to ask the committee chairs to favorably report our bills out of committee. This will begin in earnest in January and we will be enlisting members’ help to move our bills forward. 

H.715/S.298 An act to promote student nutrition was signed by governor 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 update above.)

H1290 - An Act to streamline access to critical public health and safety-net programs through common applications was reported favorably by Joint Committee on Health Care Financing and referred to House Committee on Ways and Means. See League testimony here.

“…As an organization focused on the uplifting of all American voices, we are struck by the numerous ways in which Black voices were silenced throughout this case...” Read complete statement here.

LWVUS has published the first call for our 55th Annual Convention June 23 – 26, 2022. We are going hybrid this year, with opportunities to participate both in person in Denver or online from anywhere. More information can be found here, and we will be posting more to the LWVUS League Update and on the LWVUS League Management Site in the coming weeks. Please email cdavis@lwv.org if you have questions.

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. For questions about program planning, email progplan@lwv.org.

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.