ONE Massachusetts Weekly Update

Weekly Roundup

January 14th, 2010

Letters to the editor You may have noticed the "Letters to the Editor Campaign" announcement in the past couple of weekly newsletters. If you have not yet contacted ONE Massachusetts to get involved with the campaign, now is the time to do so!

This year's legislative session is just beginning to get into motion, and your legislators' budget priorities are now being set. As Lew Finfer wrote in last week's blog, it is very important for you to let your legislators know where you stand - not just what specific programs you advocate for, but that you understand that we need to support all of our public structures with an adequate, stable, and balanced tax package. This could mean revisiting the billions of dollars in the Tax Expenditure Budget (loopholes), and increasing progressive taxes, like the Income Tax, rather than relying solely on cuts.

In addition to the meetings that Lew suggests, it is very important that you communicate your priorities through your local newspapers! This allows you to generate a community-wide discussion on what your friends and neighbors value in your community, and how you are going to pay for it. And, of course, you should always send a copy to your legislators!

ONE Massachusetts staff members will begin calling active members of the ONE Massachusetts network over the next couple of weeks, asking you to join our campaign for more diverse voices in local newspapers!

Feel free to contact me today to talk about how you or your organization can work Letters to the Editors into your ongoing work, including tips on writing letters and getting them published, local and statewide media resources, and coaching on messaging in your letters!

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Yawu Miller
Project Director, ONE Massachusetts
yawu@realclout.org | 617-275-2918

Here's a look at what else has been happening around Massachusetts:
Civic Engagement | Revenue | Government Reform

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

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:

LOCAL VOICES: Students Speak Out for Their School. Our own Executive Director Judy Meredith, is also a very proud Grandmother today. Granddaughter Katie Munoz and other students at Marshfield High did a great project of turning out kids and alumni to a packed public hearing of the School Committee Tuesday night as Part I of a campaign to save the local music program. They set the stage for arguing for more revenues by having a couple of students speak, one Katie and another, the Student Council President, saying the solution was a Proposition 2½ override, prompting about thirty parents and other adults (including Judy's daughter Nancy) to stand up and talk into the Cable TV cameras, asking the Selectmen to propose an override.

The students clearly defined the kind of education they want in their school and laid out an informed argument supporting the revenue to pay for it.

Kate told Judy the next morning that when she turned around and asked current students and alumni to raise their hands, over half of the audience, wearing MHS jackets and t-shirts, raised their hands. The audience applauded - including the school committee. Katie pitched the event, along with suggestions for a successful hearing on Facebook. Following the event, she posted instructions on doing a thank you and a plan for moving on to the Selectmen.

REVENUE

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.

Updates:

SALES REVENUE: HOLIDAY SEASON SALES SAGGED AGAIN. Holiday season sales were down 2.6 percent compared to last year and off for the third straight year, according to a survey of the 3,100 members of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. The association said other states had reported flat sales or slight growth and the only retail sector to experience "strong growth" over the past several years has been online sales. "The tax-free internet continues to take sales away from Main Street employers," Jon Hurst, president of the association, said in a statement. "Unfortunately, that trend will likely continue until Congress fixes the problem and levels the playing field so that all sales receive the same tax treatment." The association said a 25 percent increase in the state sales tax, which went into effect last year, has hurt sales and "may have made a competitive problem even worse for local stores competing with New Hampshire and the Internet." [SHNS]
SCHOOL FUNDING: Budgets Face Loss of Stimulus Funds. School administrators across the state are crafting bleak budgets for the next school year and warning of steep cutbacks, including teacher layoffs, to cope with a probable sharp drop in funding from Beacon Hill and dwindling federal stimulus money. Though schools grappled with thinned-down budgets last year, they got relief from a massive infusion of federal education dollars that is now all but spent, and officials are bracing for cuts that go deep into the classroom. [Full Article: Boston Globe]
REVENUE PROJECTIONS: Tax Estimates Remain 'Grim.' Gov. Deval Patrick and Massachusetts lawmakers estimate tax revenue will grow 3 percent in the next fiscal year, but the state will still need to fill a $3 billion budget gap in 2011. The agreed-upon 2011 tax revenue estimate of $19.05 billion represents actual growth of 3.2 percent over the tax revenue estimate for the current fiscal year ending June 30. [Full Article: Boston Business Journal]
JOB TRAINING FUNDING: Businesses Push to be Taxed. Business groups are mounting a push to protect a state fund aimed at improving worker skills and training that has, in recent years, been raided by state budget writers to the tune of $20 million over the past two years.

The Workforce Training Fund, paid by an $8-per-worker tax on employers, was established in 1998 to bolster Massachusetts businesses, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises that wouldn't be able to invest in their workers. The fund generates about $20 million a year, and grants to employers must be matched by the companies that receive them. Businesses say the fund has helped train more than 263,000 workers in more than 5,834 companies at a cost of $183 million.

Rep. Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport), who said he once sought to eliminate the fund, urged his colleagues Wednesday to extend it on the condition that contributions to the account are not diverted for general budgetary spending. "I've been converted. I realized what a great program the workforce training fund has been," he said. [SHNS]

GOVERNMENT REFORM

Goal: By 2013, a transparent, accessible and accountable state and local policy-making process will be in place.

Updates:

Brownsberger: More openness in next session. "There is a deep and passionate conversation going among legislators right now around the issue of transparency. There is a growing group of legislators who feel that the Legislature needs to change the way it manages its own business. For many of us, the issue is simple - if we are spending the taxpayers' money, the taxpayers have every right to know just how we are spending it, whenever they want to and regardless of their reasons for wanting to." [Full Letter: Belmont Citizen Herald]
LOBBYING REFORM: Registration Reminder from Massachusetts Nonprofit Network: "In spite of an arduous (and ongoing) effort to amend some of the lobbying provisions of the new Ethics, Campaign Finance and Lobbying law, as we expected... the bill went into effect, essentially unchanged on Jan 1st." [MNN]

For more information on the new requirements, see:

The Secretary of State's: Lobbyist Registration and Reporting System
Common Cause's: Changes in the Lobbying Law - What Nonprofits Need to Know

Want More Information on ONE Massachusetts?

Please check out our new website: http://onemassachusetts.org/
Get connected with other individuals and organizations, get assistance on your upcoming advocacy materials (both general and media), and find the latest news, information, and events affecting the health of our communities!