ONE Massachusetts
Rebuilding Our
Revenue Foundation
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
Also In This Issue:
A Victory for Straight Talk
As Budget Cuts Loom, Aid Agencies Fear Worst
Good News: BPA Banned in Bottles, Cups
Free Trainings!
Quick Links
Greetings!

As we head towards a new year, you may be thinking about ways that you want to make changes in your life. Will you be eating more healthy foods? Keeping closer tabs on your budget? Learning a new language?

The ONE Massachusetts network is resolving to help build a more balanced, adequate, and stable fiscal foundation for our state, changes made even more important in the face of the promised 1.5 - 2.0 Billion dollars in cuts slated to be announced on January 26th.

But unlike my personal resolution to make it to the gym more frequently - I'm really going to try... at least through January... ugh - ONE Massachusetts' resolution is a firm commitment that is already underway, one that involves the active participation of hundreds of activists and organizations across our state.

Why is this Important?

As a member of the ONE Massachusetts network, you have probably heard us talk a lot about our founding principles:
We believe that all men, women, and children in Massachusetts deserve healthy lives, healthy families, access to quality education, safe, vibrant communities, and broadly shared prosperity in a thriving state.
[Full Collective Value Proposition]
Solid FoundationThe public structures that make these priorities possible can only be built and maintained when we work together, and base them on a balanced, adequate, and stable fiscal foundation.

Unfortunately, Massachusetts, along with states across the country, currently faces a multi-billion dollar structural deficit, due to a decade of state tax cuts compounding the recent national recession.

For more information on our state's budget, check out The State Budget: Difficult Choices and Our Future, a presentation from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

What is ONE Mass Doing?

Folks from across the state - representing more than twenty organizations - recently took part in a great discussion on the lessons taken from this year's No, No, No campaign and our revenue options for 2011. The comments and support voiced at the meeting made it clear that there's considerable support for a campaign to restore revenue to the 2011 budget.


Representatives from organizations around the state have agreed to meet with legislators and poll them about their support for possible revenue options that would close the state's budget gap.

If you or your organization is holding a meeting with a legislator or participating in such a meeting, please review the linked materials:

  1. Organizing Legislative Meetings [PDF]
  2. Questionnaire for Legislators [PDF]
    (Please complete this form after meeting with your legislator(s) and return a copy to ONE Massachustts.)
  3. Potential State Revenue Changes [PDF]

We will be reaching out to additional groups across the state. Let us know whether there are any groups anywhere in the state that we should contact.


We will meet again in January or February. For more information on upcoming revenue reform efforts, or to arrange free on-site trainings for your community or organization, please feel free to contact me today!

 
Sincerely,

Harmony Blakeway
Director of Operations, ONE Massachusetts
harmony@realclout.org | 617-999-8469 
MN State CapitolA Victory for Straight Talk
...Unlike many other newly elected governors, who have promised to cut taxes even though their states have suffered the worst revenue collapse on record, [Minnesota's successful gubernatorial candidate, Mark] Dayton didn't try to sell voters on the notion that reducing taxes would magically increase revenues.

Dayton has promised plenty of spending cuts.  But he didn't pretend that cuts alone could close the gap between shrunken revenues and growing needs in a way that preserves quality of life and prepares for a solid future.  Describing taxes as "the lubricant for the machinery of democracy," Dayton has proposed several revenue reforms [Full Article: Center for Budget and Policy Priorities]
Budget CutsbudgetcutsAs Budget Cuts Loom, Aid Agencies Fear  Worst
The Patrick administration announced this week that it intends to cut as much as $1.5 billion from next year's budget, potentially eviscerating social services statewide. The cuts have loomed for months as political leaders and economists warned of a shortfall for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

With Patrick and state lawmakers saying they need to make between $1 billion to $2 billion in reductions and with federal stimulus money exhausted, the reality of an even worse year is sinking in. Providers are pleading for the governor to spare them.

"I think everyone in the human services field is incredibly nervous,'' said Gary Blumenthal, president of the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers in Waltham, which represents about 25,000 residents who receive state assistance. [Full Article: Boston Globe]
Baby Bottle [image from esquire.com]budgetcutsGood News: BPA Banned in Bottles and Cups
  ONE Massachusetts ally Clean Water Action and its partners at the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow have organized its own network of activists for a victory for child health:
The Massachusetts Public Health Council voted unanimously yesterday to ban the sale and manufacture of baby bottles and sipping cups containing the chemical BPA, but turned aside a push by environmental activists for more sweeping restrictions on use of the chemical linked to possible health risks in children. [Full Article: Boston Globe]
Public Structures TreeFree Training to Organizations Statewide
  The staff and Leadership Team at ONE Massachusetts would love to come out to your community or organization for a free on-site training.

We can focus more closely on the three upcoming ballot questions, or you can request a more broad introduction to how our state ended up in this fiscal situation, how and why we make certain budget and revenue decisions, and how we can talk to our friends and neighbors (and public officials!) about these issues.

Contact us today for more information!
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