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Weekly Roundup
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June 12th, 2009
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Greetings!
We can only build the healthy, vibrant state that we all deserve by joining our voices and efforts.
That's why ONE Massachusetts is working all summer to cultivate even stronger regional networks across the state. Our goal within each region is to bring folks together from all manner of public and private organizations to have real conversations about the types of communities we want, to determine how to support those communities, and to work together to make it happen!
 ONE Massachusetts members, The Coalition for Social Justice and The Coalition Against Poverty (CSJ/CAP) are a great example of how a regional network can function. Their volunteers and staff worked tirelessly to defeat Question 1 last summer and fall, and their work continues today.
Last week, at a banquet honoring local community volunteers, CSJ/CAP members filled out hundreds of postcards urging the legislature to pass progressive revenues that would help lessen the impact of severe budget cuts on cities and towns, health care and education. To date, they have organized 1,560 community members to contact their legislators on just that issue!
This week, their organization submitted testimony to the Joint Committee on Economic Development & Emerging Technologies on H.333 - a bill that will ensure that corporations disclose vital information that will allow the residents of our state a way to investigate how their tax dollars are being spent.
 For more information on how you can become more engaged in the South Coast community, please contact ONE Massachusetts Leadership Team member and CSJ Lead Organizer, Deb Fastino at 508-982-3108.
Not in the South Coast? Interested in building an engaged network in your community? Please contact one of the following ONE Massachusetts staff members:
Here is a look at what else has been going on across Massachusetts: |
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.
Updates:
 Roxbury Community Speaks Out About Budget. State Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz organized a community forum in Roxbury last month to give residents an opportunity to speak directly to Governor Patrick on their priorities for the state budget and closing the revenue gap. [Video: Neighborhood Network News]
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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.
Upcoming:
- Gambling Hearing - June 29th. Sen. Karen Spilka, co-chair of the Economic Development Committee that oversees gaming legislation, said she plans a June 29 hearing on expanded gambling, despite her House counterpart's intentions to schedule a session for September... Spilka on Wednesday called the June session a preliminary one, with testimony on the actual legislation filed waiting until the fall. "Since this is so new, I want to start gathering some information so that by the time we have the hearing, I'm knowledgeable enough," said Spilka, who described herself as "open" to expanded gambling. "I feel I want to do this, I need to do this." Spilka said the hearing would be open to all Senate members, and that the list of invited speakers was in the works. [State House News Service]
Updates:
- Stimulus Funds in Massachusetts. So far, our state has received $2.9 billion of the $8.7 billion it is expected to receive from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). According to the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, most funding is coming to Massachusetts via block grants that go directly to state and local governments or directly to contracting agencies with existing funding and contractual relationships with the federal government. Because of this, it is imperative that nonprofit organizations partner with state and local governments to make the most of ARRA funding. Collaboration is the key to securing funding as well as meeting the very explicit requirements set out by most ARRA funding opportunities. [More MA Stimulus Information from MNN]
State
government will hire 80 temporary workers to help manage increased
demand for so-called safety net services such as food stamps and
emergency shelter, state health officials said Tuesday. The workers will be paid for using a portion of the $787 billion
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as Massachusetts braces for an
influx of application for food and shelter services. Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby said the funds -- $7 million for administrative expenses - had to be spent on new staff or be returned to the federal government... [State House News Service]
- Naming Rights for Sale? An
amendment to the Senate's supplemental budget that would allow for
naming rights passed 36- 3. If the measure is included in a House and
Senate compromise budget, the proposal could be sent to Gov. Deval
Patrick for approval. Under the proposal, the state secretary of administration and finance would solicit bids and determine if they were appropriate. [More from Boston.com]
- Boost in Income Tax Proposed and Defeated. Eleven members of the Massachusetts Senate voted to support a bill proposed by Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz to roll the state income tax back to 5.95%, and would have brought in roughly $1.3 billion in additional revenues per year. [More info on Income Tax from Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center]
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Goal: By 2013, a transparent, accessible and accountable state and local policy-making process will be in place.
Updates:- Transparency: Budget. In an Op-Ed in Thursday's Boston Globe, Deirdre Cummings of MASSPIRG and Phineas Baxandall of US PIRG describe nationwide efforts of states to implement "Transparency 2.0" - a standard being developed on online tools that are comprehensive, one-stop, and have one-click searchability.
- Transparency: Corporate Tax Incentives. Legislators - Senator Jaime Aldridge and Representative Steven D'Amico - and community groups pushed this week to expand reporting tax incentive reporting to individual and corporate levels. According to Mary Jo Connelly of Community Labor United, "20 other states have some system to measure the impact of economic development incentives." [State House News Service]
- Pension Reform. State lawmakers agreed yesterday to end some of the most egregious
pension abuses that have plagued the Massachusetts state retirement
system for decades... Among the pension giveaways that will be cut: the awarding of pension credit for volunteer work and the "one-day rule," which grants a full year of pension credit for one day of work in that year... State lawmakers characterized the pension legislation as a first step,
one that largely addresses the symbolic abuses that resonate in the
public, and they vowed to make further changes in the future that could
save the state substantial money. The legislation calls for
establishing a commission to review broader changes and issue a report
by Sept. 1. [Full Pension Story at Boston.com]
- Ethics.
State lawmakers who served on Gov. Deval Patrick's public integrity
task force were excluded from today's closed-door meeting on ethics
bill legislation, where Patrick briefed other members of the
now-defunct panel on progress in conference committee. The four
legislators who served on the panel but not in the conference were not
invited because, Patrick aides said, they have access to the ethics
conference committee... Pamela Wilmot, executive director of the state
chapter of Common Cause, said, "We were invited, so it wasn't our call.
But I think the sense was that that might put them in an uncomfortable
position." Patrick invited the task force members yesterday, they said.
Wilmot said she was "comfortable" with the meeting.
George Brown, a
former Ethics Commission chair and Boston College Law School professor,
said, "I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime ... what we're
looking at is after all a situation where there are three proposals for
reform and the challenge is to pick the best features among the three."
Separately, Patrick budget chief Leslie Kirwan told local officials,
"There's a huge amount of progress being made right now in conference
on each one." [State House News Service]
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