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Weekly Roundup
| May 6th, 2010
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Greetings!
 Our water system is the perfect metaphor for the challenges we face in making the case for government. Like our water supply, most government systems that keep us safe and make life possible in our country are invisible to us: regulatory systems, air traffic controllers, environmental protection, social safety net services. We depend on these systems and thrive because of their existence.
But when most of us think of government, we bring to mind the most visible forms of government, like elected officials and police. Our interactions with the public face of government and what we read about them in the media - good or bad - colors our opinion of government. The rest of government we think of as a vast, amorphous bureaucracy.
There's no magic bullet that will overcome the public's negative views of government. But an incident like the water crisis offers us an opportunity.
When the public is able to see the systems and structures built and maintained by government, it counters the view of government as an amorphous bureaucracy. And when government responds to a crisis, like the one we're in, it helps underscore the mission and purpose of government as the entity we have built to manage and protect our systems and structures.
When our water system developed a breach, our state government was able to tap into a system of back-up reservoirs to maintain the water pressure our system needs to fight fires and flush toilets. And most importantly, our government responded quickly, locating the leak within hours and fixing it to restore safe drinking water.
The speedy actions taken by state government helped avoid what could have been a public health disaster. [More information]
Interested in attending or hosting a free training in your community on how you can encourage more effective conversations about our government? Contact me today!
Yawu Miller
Project Director, ONE Massachusetts
TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT ELSE HAS BEEN HAPPENING ACROSS THE STATE:
Civic Engagement | Revenue | Government Reform
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 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:
 STATE BUDGET: House Aims to Close Deficit. House passes budget 132-25. House leaders said their plan, unlike Gov. Deval Patrick's, does not raise taxes or draw from the state's reserve account. It includes spending cuts of $1.4 billion, and relies on nearly $1.6 billion in federal stimulus dollars. [Boston Globe]
- STATE REVENUE: Amendments on sales tax rate and sales taxes on liquor, wine and beer defeated. The House killed efforts to reduce the state's sales tax and meals tax from 6.25 percent back to 5 percent and to eliminate the 6.25 percent sales tax on liquor, wine and beer purchased at package stores. Some Democratic supporters expressed concern that the state cannot afford the loss of revenue and that the tax cuts would result in more reductions to local aid, education, health care and human service programs. [Chelmsford Independent]
 STATE REVENUE: Lottery Surplus. State Lottery profits will rise to $897 million this fiscal year, freeing over $49 million for local aid, cultural and compulsive gambling accounts, Treasurer Timothy Cahill said Thursday. Fiscal 2010 proceeds will climb $49.5 million above the $848 million requirement, a 4.4 percent increase over fiscal 2009, while spending is estimated to decrease 14 percent, Treasury officials said. [SHNS]
- STATE REVENUE: Senate Gambling Efforts. One of the two senators leading talks on formulation of an alternative to the House expanded gambling bill said private talks among senators on gambling this week are "progressing well" and said he believes the Legislature should establish the number of allowable casinos but leave facility siting decisions to a regulatory agency. "You want to insulate those decisions from politics," Sen. Stanley Rosenberg said.
 STATE REVENUE: Local option meals tax has generated $11.3 million. The local option meals tax of .75 percent has now delivered $11.31 million in revenue to the 78 cities and towns that have adopted it (as of May 3, 2010). In general, the amounts collected and distributed back to cities and towns are roughly in line with estimates DOR released last year after the local option was approved. [Mass.Gov]
- STATE REVENUE: Payments in Lieu of Taxes? With some cash-strapped cities and towns pressing tax-exempt
organizations to do more to support local services, a statewide network
of some 640 nonprofits is asking members what they think of making
payments to local governments. [Metrowest Daily News]
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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.
UPCOMING:
 TONIGHT: May 6th - Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy Panel: Women Making a Difference. Successful local women will speak about how they make a difference for women through the variety of roles the play in politics and public policymaking.
6:00pm to 8:30pm at the Healey Library, 11th floor, UMass Boston [More info]
Panel:
- Denise Simmons, Cambridge City Councilor & former Mayor; 2010 State Senate candidate
- Judith Meredith, Author of Lobbying on a Shoestring; founder of RealClout.org; Executive Director of the Public Policy Institute
- Wilnelia Rivera, Campaigns Manager, Neighbor-to-Neighbor: Organizing for Working Families & Grassroots Democracy
- Judy Neufeld, Director of Emerge Massachusetts & Co-director of NOW
- Priti Rao, Director, Mass Women's Political Caucus
- Donovan Slack, Boston Globe Reporter
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GOVERNMENT REFORM
| | Goal: By 2013, a transparent, accessible and accountable state and local policy-making process will be in place.
UPCOMING:
 TONIGHT: May 6th - The Emerging "Fifth Estate": Can the likes of Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks help solve real government problems? Chris Csikszentmihalyi, Director of the MIT Center for Future Civic Media, Nigel Jacob, Senior Advisor for Emerging Technology for the City of Boston Mayor's Office, and Joseph Porcelli, founder of Neighbors for Neighbors, Inc., join moderator Callie Crossley, host of WGBH's The Callie Crossley Show, to address the promise - and challenges - of building more transparent, participatory, and effective institutions through the evolving technological tools at our fingertips.
Thursday, May 6, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Main Function Room, Suffolk University Law School
 Tuesday: May 11th - INSIDER BUDGET BRIEFING. How to report lobbying activities to the Secretary of State. Please join us next week as we discuss how to report lobbying activities to the Secretary of State with
Pam Wilmot, Executive Director, Common Cause and Judy Meredith, Executive Director, The Public Policy Institute. The panel will give a quick briefing about what constitutes a lobbying activity in terms of reporting and how we can report these activities to the Secretary of State. Tuesday May 11th The Public Policy Institute 30 Winter Street, 9th floor Tuition fee: $5 RSVP to carmen@realclout.org or at 617-275-2833
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