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Weekly Roundup
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March 25, 2009
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Greetings!
 Do you ever feel removed from the "decision makers" at the State House or from the elected or appointed members of your town government? Check out the Public Policy Institute's Three Rules of Lobbying, and get in there!
You can now view this newsletter en Espaņol! Please email carmen@realclout.org, and we will add you to our list!
Here is a look at what's been going on across Massachusetts:
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Goal: By 2013, the voice and input of the state's multi-racial, multi-ethnic communities will create a counterweight to the currently dominant voice and will be tangibly reflected in the public decision making process.
Current Developments
Election Day
Registration: On Tuesday March 17th, the Worcester City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting Election Day Registration. In words of Councilor-at-Large Frederick C. Rushton "This
sends a strong message that we want to enfranchise as many voters
as possible. Let's remove barriers, like (voter) registration dates. The more
people we can have voting, the clearer the (public's) voice is. We should
implore the state Legislature to move forward on this."
Save the Date: April 29th,
2009 - Election Day Registration Lobby Day at Gardner Auditorium at 10:00 am. If you can not make it to this important
event please call your Representative and Senator to let them know your support
for Election Day Registration. To
find who your Representative and Senator are go to: www.wheredoivotema.com
- Mayoral and City Council Educational Forums. The Public Policy Institute, MassVOTE, and other grassroots organizations, are co-sponsoring an educational series of
issue-based debates of Boston Mayoral and City Councilor candidates in the fall.
Stay tuned for more information about these debates in the following weeks. [Learn more about permissible voter and election activities for 501(C)(3) organizations.]
Updates
- Last Week: New Americans Agenda. The MA Office for Refugees and Immigrants (MORI) and the Governor's Advisory
Council for Refugees and Immigrants (GACRI), along with the MIRA Coalition, and
the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center in Fitchburg held their last New Americans Agenda hearing last week. Better access to health care, more
monetary resources for English as a Second Language programs, work permits, and
in state tuition were repeated themes during a state-sponsored immigration
forum. But the comment that drew a standing ovation from the 180 or so persons
in attendance was the one from Fitchburg Police Chief Robert DeMoura who asked
for state and federal law to allow undocumented immigrants to get driver's
licenses. "It was a surprise," Dolores Thibault-Muņoz said of DeMoura's comment.
"Here was a law enforcement officer getting a standing ovation from a room full
of people of color. It was unique."
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Goal: By 2013, a fair, adequate, and stable tax system will be implemented. It will raise sufficient revenue so that state and local governments can fund the array of services needed.
Current Developments
- Local Options Taxes. Local grassroots nonprofits are organizing around local options taxes! The Boston Parents Organizing Network (BPON) held a forum on local options taxes on Saturday, and on Tuesday, Stand for Children held a lobby day at the Massachusetts State House, calling on representatives to "Hold Education Harmless."
- Transportation Reform. "The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board voted [Monday] to delay toll hikes until July 1, giving lawmakers
maneuvering room to complete a deal aimed at realigning the state's
transportation bureaucracy while providing money to solve chronic
funding problems systemwide." [Boston Globe]
"The MBTA, desperate to raise money, will auction off space for 60 new billboards along highways in Eastern Massachusetts, in what officials are calling the largest single introduction of new billboard sites in state history. The jumbo advertisements, expected to earn the agency about $6 million a year, will be grouped in 32 locations in 19 cities and towns that have little or no control over their placement." [Boston Globe]
- Federal Stimulus & The State Budget. The Massachusetts Budget Policy Center estimates that over the next three years, the national American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) "will provide Massachusetts with
approximately $4 billion in total that will help address budget gaps in
FY 2009 through FY 2011." [More on the stimulus package from MassBudget].
Revenue projections have dropped significantly since the Governor's budget was released in January. The Massachusetts House of Representatives are looking at a an additional budget deficit of over $1 billion for next year as it crafts its version of the FY10 Budget, forcing it to choose between, " deep spending cuts and broad-based tax increases." [Boston Globe] [More info on the State Budget Process].
Updates
- Last Week: Final Fiscal 2010 Budget Hearing. The House and Senate Ways and Means Committee members held their final annual budget hearing last Friday in the State
House's Gardner Auditorium. The hearing was co-chaired by
Rep. Barbara L'Italien and Sen. Harriette Chandler.
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Goal: By 2013, a transparent, accessible and accountable state and local policy-making process will be in place.
Current Developments
- Ethics and Lobbying Reform Bill. House Speaker Robert DeLeo filed ethics reforms Tuesday that would
increase penalties for ethics violations, expand reporting requirements
for lobbyists, and prevent former state employees from lobbying state
executive branch officials.
Government reform advocates were disappointed that key provisions were omitted from the bill, but expressed optimism that the Senate version
of the bill would restore them.
Learn more about how this bill would affect Massachusetts Nonprofits TODAY at our Insider Budget Briefing. [More Information Below]
- Pension Reform. Governor Deval Patrick announced in a Sunday press conference that "a series of reforms to state
and municipal pension systems was necessary to shore up the financial
structure of Massachusetts's retirement systems and to restore public
confidence in state government. 'It's plain to us and plain, I think, to everybody, that the abuses
and loopholes in the system are discrediting the system and distracting
from the good work of state government and, frankly, just making
everybody mad," Patrick said in an afternoon press briefing at his
State House office. "That has to end, and it has to end now.' " [Boston Globe]
Update
- Last Week: Ethics Bill Hearing. The Joint Committee on Administration and Regulatory Oversight heard testimony on Gov. Patrick's ethics and lobbying law reform bill last Wednesday. Although testifiers supported greater transparency in our state government, some had concerns over the possibility that the bill could limit the ability of Massachusetts residents and nonprofits to express their concerns to their representatives. Pam Wilmot, Ethics Task Force member and Director of Common Cause Massachusetts explained that urgency for immediate reforms had outweighed a more comprehensive ethics reform bill. Pam Wilmot will also be speaking at this week's Insider Budget Briefing. [More Information]
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  TONIGHT: Insider Budget Briefing
with Common Cause's Pam Wilmot
We know that policymakers make different
decisions when they are watched by their constituents. In order to make that
policy-making process more transparent, Governor Deval Patrick has filed "An Act Improving the Laws Relating to Ethics and Lobbying." [Background on the Act]
But what would this pending ethics
bill mean for all of the Massachusetts nonprofits that want to voice
their opinion on public policy? Will it restrict their ability
to advocate for their causes? Will registering lobbyists be
prohibitively expensive for small nonprofits?
It sounds like this bill is going to go quickly through the legislature, so now is the time to answer all of these questions! Pam Wilmot, Executive Director of Common Cause Massachusetts, and a member of the Governor's Task Force on Public Integrity, will walk us through this important piece of legislation, and answer your questions!
JOIN US TONIGHT - Wednesday, March 25th - at 5:00pm in the 9th floor conference room at 30 Winter Street in Boston's Downtown Crossing [Map].
To make our Insider Budget Briefings more accessible, we are reducing
tuition to only $10, including a light supper and take-home materials.
Tuition may be waived for those who need assistance.
Please RSVP to carmen@realclout.org so that there is enough food!
Stay tuned for more information on Connect the Dots trainings in April, and throughout the year! For more information on scheduling a training in your community or organization, please contact us at info@onemassachusetts.org.
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All Children Deserve a Quality Education.
Hundreds of supporters of Stand for Children packed Gardner Auditorium before dispersing to deliver 7,252, postcards to lawmakers featuring a boldfaced plea: "All children deserve a quality education. All means all."
![Stand for Children Lobby Day [State House News Service]](http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs037/1101662827233/img/70.jpg?a=1102513557454) "Students like me are starting to feel betrayed and lose hope because we don't have basic resources we need in our schools," said Terrell Jones, 15, a Dearborn Middle School Student who spoke at the rally. "In my school there isn't enough money in our budget for us to get the bathroom fixed that's been out of order for three years or get the gym floor repaired."
At the rally, House Revenue Committee Chairman Rep. Jay Kaufman (D-Lexington) signaled that his colleagues were open to discussing the tax code. Kaufman is a member of Stand for Children.
[Kyle Cheney, State House News Service]
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