Key Hearings at the State House Next Week: How to Help

Next week, the State House will be holding hearings on several key progressive priorities. Read on to find out how to show your support.

Show Your Support for Universal School Meals

Over 1 in 5 households with children in Massachusetts are struggling to put food on the table. School meals take the pressure off family budgets and allow families to put food on the table day-to-day.

Ensuring that students receive proper nutrition would reduce health care costs, improve student attendance, improve socio-emotional health, and improve student performance. We have seen the success of the program already, and it’s time to make it permanent.

The House included tuition equity in its FY 2024 budget, but the Senate did not, and it has been a sticking point in ongoing negotiations.

The Joint Education Committee will be having a hearing on the Universal School Meals bill on Monday at 11:00 AM in Gardner Auditorium.

<Sign up to testify (virtual or in-person) at the hearing on Monday at 11:00 AM.

Can’t testify to the hearing? You can still submit written testimony! See the instructions on the link above or use our template here.

The Feed Kids Coalition also has a social media toolkit to help amplify support for universal school meals.

Show Your Support for Tuition Equity

From a recent coalition letter organized by our friends at the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition: Immigrant advocates and higher education leaders in Massachusetts have long supported broad access to an affordable public college education for immigrant youth, particularly those without status who arrived in the U.S. as children and have been educated in our public schools. Currently these students are required to pay out-of-state or international tuition rates (up to four times the in-state rate). They are overwhelmingly from low-income, hardworking families, often with substantial responsibilities to contribute to family income, but lack access to both federal and state student financial aid. This combination effectively denies some of our most ambitious and talented high school graduates from continuing their education and contributing to the Massachusetts economy.

The Senate included tuition equity in its FY 2024 budget, but the House did not, and it has been a sticking point in ongoing negotiations.

The Joint Higher Education Committee will be holding a hearing on Tuition Equity legislation next Tuesday at 1 PM.

Sign up to testify (virtual or in-person) at the hearing here.

Can’t testify at the hearing? You can still submit written testimony! See the instructions on the link above and craft your own testimony with MIRA’s toolkit, or use our template here.

Show Your Support for a Zero-Carbon Renovation Fund

With extreme heat and extreme flooding already, this summer has shown that we are already living with the realities of climate change.

The Zero-Carbon Renovation Fund (ZCRF) bill would jumpstart the market for zero carbon renovations with a $300 million fund devoted to (1) maximizing energy efficiency through building envelope upgrades, (2) electrification of building systems, (3) maximizing usage of on-site renewable energy, wherever possible, and (4) use of building retrofit materials that are low embodied carbon.

With an understanding that our sustainability transition must be an equitable one to be successful, the ZCRF would prioritize affordable housing, public housing, low- and moderate-income homes, schools, BIPOC- and women-owned businesses, and buildings located in Environmental Justice communities.

Due to the ongoing internal fight within the Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee, the bill has TWO hearings next week: a Senate hearing on Monday and a House hearing on Wednesday.

Sign up to testify (virtual or in-person) at the Senate hearing on Monday at 9:30 AM.

Sign up to testify (virtual or in-person) at the House hearing on Wednesday at 10:00 AM.

Not able to testify? You can still submit written testimony! The Zero-Carbon Renovation Fund Coalition has a useful toolkit for submitting written testimony here.

Want sample testimony? We’ve got you covered: sample Senate testimony and sample House testimony.

What’s Coming Up Later This Month?

The Gas Moratorium bill will be having hearings on Wednesday, July 26, and Thursday, July 27.

The Yes in My Backyard bill will be having a hearing on Wednesday, July 26.

Stay tuned for more info on all three hearings and how to get involved!

News Roundup – July 14, 2023

Harris Gruman, “Bid to close Fair Share tax loophole is a good move, not a switcheroo,” Boston Globe, July 11, 2023.

“We should not tolerate an ultrawealthy household filing its federal tax return jointly and then filing state returns as single people in order to avoid taxes. The Senate’s tax bill would close that loophole…Every dollar saved by closing this loophole is an extra dollar to help fix our roads and transit or make our public colleges affordable again.”

Grant Welker, “BBJ Seven Letter poll: Home costs, state taxes, commuting are ‘much worse’ in Mass.,” Boston Business Journal, July 10, 2023.

“More than two-thirds of respondents among Boston-area businesspeople view housing costs in Massachusetts as “much worse” than other states, a far greater share than those who said the same of commuting or taxes, according to a new BBJ-Seven Letter poll.”

Deanna Pan, “As conservative activism targets sex ed, new Mass. guidelines are on the horizon,” Boston Globe, July 8, 2023.

“If students aren’t learning through schools,through a qualified teacher based on research and scientific educational information, they’llbe [learning about sex] from some sketchy website online or from a YouTube video that hasn’t been fact checked, or a porn site,” Nugent said. “Kids are going to learn this one way or the other, and so I feel like it’s important for schools to try to be the ones to impart that education.”

Jim Braude, “Why should state legislators control the fate of rent control in Boston?,” Boston Globe, July 8, 2023.

“State legislators are entitled to think Wu’s plan is bad policy, too, and maybe they’d be proven right. Local leaders, however, should be allowed to embrace such ideas. Then, if their constituents ultimately decide they are hurt by them, they can fire those responsible….So where does this antidemocratic power come from? A half-century old provision in the state constitution and history that pre-dated it, with the Brahmins on Beacon Hill not trusting the Irish in Boston to properly run their own lives. The players may have changed, but the antipathy for local self-government has not.”

Phineas Baxandall, “Nix cap gains, single sales factor tax cuts,” CommonWealth, July 5, 2023.

“Imagine a conversation on Zoom with 100 participants on the screen. Suppose one person’s face occupied over three quarters of the space while the other 99 were crammed into less than a quarter of the screen. And most of those 99 have their faces blacked out because they receive zero benefit at all. You’re imagining a portrait of how the short-term capital gains cut would be distributed among Massachusetts tax filers.”

“World Registers Hottest Day Ever Recorded On July 3,” Reuters, July 4, 2023.

“Unfortunately, it promises to only be the first in a series of new records set this year as increasing emissions of [carbon dioxide] and greenhouse gases coupled with a growing El Nino event push temperatures to new highs,” said Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, in a statement.

Travis Anderson, “Thousands of undocumented residents expected to seek driver’s licenses as new law takes effect,” Boston Globe, July 3, 2023.

”Having the ability to have a driver’s license enables them to operate in our communities, operate in our economy, take their families and friends to doctors, visit friends and family,” Registrar Colleen Ogilvie said during a news briefing Monday in Brockton, according to footage posted by WBZ-TV.

Jennifer Smith, “Lawmakers target cell phone tracking data in abortion fight,” CommonWealth, June 26, 2023.

“Location data can make known whether a person has visited an abortion provider, how long they stay, and even identify where they came from,” said Sen. Cynthia Creem, the Senate majority leader and sponsor of a bill that would ban selling, leasing, trading, or renting cell phone location data. “Notably, this information can follow the travel paths of individuals coming to Massachusetts for reproductive health care.”

Sarah Betancourt, “In ‘historic’ moment, MCI-Framingham prisoners testify live at moratorium hearing,” WGBH, June 27, 2023.

A group of 20 women incarcerated at MCI-Framingham testified live on Zoom at a hearing on Monday — for the first time in legislative history….Clad in green uniforms, each woman sat in front of a camera in a white room and spoke in favor of a prison moratorium bill. The legislation would put a five-year pause on planning or building new prisons and renovating current prisons “beyond maintenance or building code requirements.””

Sam Drysdal, “Gov. Healey pushes to update state sex education guidelines,” State House News Service, June 21, 2023.

“She said the guidelines cover LGBTQ+ health and wellness, mental and emotional health, personal safety, bodily autonomy, dating safety, violence prevention, physical health and hygiene, nutritionally balanced eating, physical activity, substance use disorder, and public, community and environmental health.”

“We cannot correct the inequities that we cannot see.”

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Dear Chairman Collins, Chairman Cabral, and Members of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director at Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group working to advance progressive policy here in the Commonwealth.

We urge you to give a favorable report to H.3003: An Act ensuring equitable representation in the Commonwealth, filed by Rep. Tackey Chan and Sen. Jamie Eldridge.

The diversity in our Commonwealth is a source of our strength, and we are continuing to get more diverse. Our state programs, policies, and investments need to understand that diversity in its entirety, and that cannot happen without accurate data. The demographic groups in the Commonwealth are not monoliths, and without disaggregating the data, we risk erasing persistent social, economic, or educational inequalities.

All ethnic subgroups have different histories, background, needs, and challenges. Without accurate data broken down by detailed sub-ethnic groups, critical needs of some communities in areas such as language, economic status, education, and health could be left unmet. Indeed, they already are. We cannot correct the inequities that we cannot see, and we cannot see them without comprehensive data.

Government agencies that currently collect voluntary demographic data based on race or ethnicity of residents should include voluntary subgroup options for Asian, Pacific Islander, Latino, Black and African American, and White. This would highlight and uplift data representing communities including but not limited to Vietnamese, Cambodian, Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Haitian, Cape Verdean, Ethiopian, Somalian, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, Dominicans, and Colombians. We must also recognize the diversity within the Native American, Middle Eastern, and North African communities in Massachusetts, which currently have limited recognition by the Census Bureau.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

2023 Boston Municipal Elections

2023 Boston City Council

Progressive Massachusetts itself largely does not engage in municipal-level issue advocacy; however, our chapters do.

Our Boston chapters — JP Progressives, Progressive WRox/Roz, and Allston-Brighton Progressives — collaborated on a questionnaire for the 2023 Boston municipal elections in order to offer a valuable service to the public. You can read candidates’ responses here.

Preliminary Election: September 12, 2023

General Election: November 7, 2023

At-Large

Voters can choose up to four.

Incumbent Councilors Seeking Re-Election: City Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, and Erin Murphy

We did not receive questionnaires from City Councilor Erin Murphy, or challengers Clifton Braithwaite, Shawn Nelson, or Catherine Vitale.

Read the questionnaires:

Ruthzee Louijeune
Julia Mejia
Henry Santana

District 5

Where the District Is: Hyde Park, Mattapan, Roslindale

Current Councilor: City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo

We did not receive questionnaires from Jean-Claude Sanon or Jose Ruiz.

Read the questionnaires:

Ricardo Arroyo
Enrique PEpen

District 6

Where The District Is: Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury

Current Councilor: City Councilor Kendra Lara

We did not receive a questionnaire from William King.

Read the questionnaires:

Kendra Lara
Ben Weber
Return to Elections & Endorsements >>

Want to see more questionnaires?

Urge your State Legislators to Reject Permanent Tax Breaks for the Ultra-rich

Over the coming weeks, a group of six legislators (3 from the House and 3 from the Senate) are negotiating the final details of a tax package.

Back in April, the House passed a fairly regressive tax package, filled with tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations. The Senate, a few weeks ago, passed a more equitable tax package.

At a time when the state’s economic outlook is uncertain, and working families are struggling to get ahead, Massachusetts needs to prioritize spending on what will make our state truly affordable, equitable, and competitive: programs that ensure a labor force adequate to our economy’s needs, not tax cuts for the ultra-rich.

That group of six negotiators, called a “Conference Committee,” consists of Senate Ways & Means Chair Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport), Senate Revenue Chair Susan Moran (D-Falmouth), Senate Revenue Ranking Minority Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton), House Ways & Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz (D-North End), House Revenue Chair Mark Cusack (D-Braintree), and House Revenue Ranking Minority Michael Soter (R-Bellingham). And they need to hear from your legislators.

Can you write to your legislators today to ask them to urge the Conference Committee to reject permanent tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations?

We’re joining Raise Up Massachusetts in support of five key demands for the Conference Committee.

  • Reject the proposed cut to the short-term capital gains tax, which would overwhelmingly benefit wealthy investors who are engaged in complex hedged investment strategies.
  • Reject the expansion of the corporate tax policy called ‘single sales factor apportionment,’ which gives a massive tax break to large, profitable multinational corporations that already don’t pay their fair share.
  • Minimize the budgetary cost of estate tax reform by limiting the benefits that are extended to estates above $2 million
  • Protect the revenue from the Fair Share Amendment by closing the “Single Filing Loophole,’ which could prevent Massachusetts from losing between $200 and $600 million in Fair Share revenue each year.
  • Make the outdated 62F tax giveaway system more fair by ensuring an even distribution of any future 62F rebates, rather than maintaining the current system that overwhelmingly benefits the ultra-rich, out of proportion with their contribution to overall state taxes.

Can you write to your legislators today to ask them to urge the Conference Committee to reject permanent tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations?

PM Joins 89 Other Organizations from Across the State in Calling for a Prison Moratorium

Link to the letter here

To the Esteemed Members of the Legislature,

In the 192nd session, the legislature listened to community demands and passed the Jail and Prison Construction Moratorium which was then vetoed by former Governor Charlie Baker. Thank you for passing this critical legislation. We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to pass the Prison Moratorium as filed as soon as possible again this session. This bill will create a five year pause on prison and jail construction and expansion; it will not prevent urgently needed repairs.

Incarcerated women, formerly incarcerated women, women with incarcerated loved ones, and our organizations oppose the state’s plan to build a new $50 million women’s prison. This project goes beyond basic repairs; the clear goal is total reconstruction to incarcerate the daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters of the Commonwealth.

There is no such thing as a safe or trauma-informed prison for women. DOC has an extensive and well documented record of violence, abuse, and refusal to implement reforms. No new building will change that culture of harm and dehumanization. DOC fails to give people what they need to heal and advance their lives.

Our organizations advocate for civil and human rights, dignity, equity, and justice. Our collective vision for capital spending includes affordable housing, schools, transportation, drug treatment facilities, community centers, parks, playgrounds, and greenspace. We know what residents need is more access to resources like food, housing, care, income, education, and childcare – not more prison cells.

Incarcerated women are asking for physical and mental healthcare, healing, treatment, and reunification with their children which cannot happen in a prison setting. Community infrastructure and resources are the solutions to create real safety and well-being and address the root causes of incarceration.

Investment in jail and prison construction and expansion will move Massachusetts in the wrong direction. We can and must do better for future generations. Over the next five years, we should focus on further decreasing our incarcerated population, implementing community alternatives, and investing in what we know people need to thrive. Directly affected women are already leading that work. With the lowest incarcerated population in the country – this is the time and place to pass the Prison Moratorium.

The legislature is currently considering policies that will help eliminate the need for any new jail or prison construction. We urge you to enact the Jail and Prison Construction Moratorium, then keep going to pass policies to stem the tide of people into incarceration and to maximize pathways to release. Please support:

An Act Relative to Primary Caretakers Diversion - creates an opportunity for pre-trial diversion for parents of dependent children, pregnant people, and people taking care of aging or sick family members. This policy would build off the successful passage of the Primary Caretakers Act as part of the Criminal Justice Reform Act which allows parents to file a motion with the court to request a community-based sentence
An Act Establishing Parole Review for Aging Incarcerated People - gives people who are 55 and older and have served half of their sentence or at least 15 years the chance to see the Parole Board. MA has one of the oldest incarcerated populations in the United States and this measure would create the opportunity for the oldest and sickest incarcerated people to be safely released

Formerly incarcerated women led a historic organizing effort last session to pass the Prison Moratorium with the resounding support of residents who repeatedly marched, rallied, and testified in favor of the legislation. Jail and prison construction is a false promise that will ultimately fail to protect the well-being of people and communities – so let’s pause and create what different looks like in Massachusetts. Please finish the important work you started last session and ensure the Prison Moratorium becomes law.

Sincerely,

Families for Justice as Healing
The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls
Building Up People Not Prisons

And

Progressive Massachusetts, statewide
Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts, statewide
Project Turnaround, Suffolk County
New Beginnings Reentry Services, Inc, Suffolk County
Jane Doe Inc. The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, statewide
Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network, BIJAN, statewide
First Parish in Brookline, Suffolk County

UU Mass Action, statewide
The Harvest Cup, Worcester
National Lawyers Guild – Harvard Law School Chapter, Suffolk and Middlesex County
Mass NOW, statewide
Solidarity with the Incarcerated, RI/MA, Middlesex
Arise For Social Justice, Hampden
United American Indians of New England (UAINE), statewide
Jewish Voice for Peace Boston, statewide
Actual Justice Task Team of Southern New England United Church of Christ, statewide
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Boston, Suffolk and Middlesex County
Material Aid and Advocacy Program, Middlesex
Cambridge United for Justice with Peace, Middlesex
Boston Immigration Justice and Accompaniment Network, Eastern Massachusetts
Allston Brighton Health Collaborative, Suffolk
Massachusetts Bail Fund, statewide
Brandeis Pro-Choice, Waltham
American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, statewide
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, Massachusetts, statewide
Disability Law Center, statewide
Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution, Franklin
North Central MA Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), Middlesex and Worcester County
Act on Mass, statewide
New England United 4 Justice (NEU4J), Suffolk County
Sharon Interfaith Action, Norfolk County
First Parish in Bedford, Middlesex County
Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee, statewide
Boston University's National Lawyers Guild, Suffolk County
Jamaica Plain Progressives, Suffolk County 
Massachusetts Peace Action, statewide
Women’s Fund of Western MA, Berkshires, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire County
Kavod Boston, Suffolk County
The Lavender Thread, Hampden
Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice, national
Boston Liberation Health, Suffolk County
Wellesley for the Abolition of Militarism and Incarceration, Suffolk County
Human Impact Partners (HIP), national
Center for Economic Democracy, statewide
Health Equity Partnership of North Central Mass Inc, Worcester County
Boston Workers Circle: Center for Jewish Culture and Social Justice, Norfolk County
Mass Feminist Struggle Committee, Suffolk County
Boston Democratic Socialists of America, Statewide
Students for Sexual Health, Suffolk County
Wellesley Friends Meeting, Norfolk County
Grassroots Central Mass, Worcester and Hampden
REACH Beyond Domestic Violence, Middlesex County
DOVE, Inc., Norfolk County
Immigration Justice Task Force @ First Parish UU Concord, Statewide
Resource Generation Boston, Middlesex and Suffolk County
Congregation Dorshei Tzedek, Middlesex County
Our Harvard Can Do Better, Cambridge
New England Learning Center for Women in Transition, Franklin County & the North Quabbin
Somerville Ward 5 Democratic Committee, Middlesex County
Prison Abolition Collective, Hampshire County
MASC (Massachusetts Against Solitary Confinement), Statewide
Wellesley for Reproductive Justice, Norfolk County
Decarcerate Western Mass Bailout Project, Hampshire and Franklin County
National Association of Social Workers - MA Chapter (NASW-MA), Statewide
Lupinewood Collective, Franklin County
Greater Boston Legal Services, Suffolk County
The F8 Foundation, Statewide
Criminal Justice Policy Coalition, Suffolk County
Transition House, Inc., Middlesex County
Casa Myrna Vazquez, Inc., Suffolk County
New Hope, Inc., Bristol County and Worcester County
Actual Justice Task Team of Southern New England United Church of Christ, Statewide
Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee, Statewide
Muslim Justice League, Suffolk County
Temple Hillel B’nai Torah, West Roxbury, Suffolk County
YWCA Cambridge, Statewide
Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice of Western Massachusetts, Hampshire and Franklin County
Neighbors United for a Better East Boston (NUBE), East Boston and Statewide
Taunton Diversity Network, Inc., Bristol County
Northeastern University Sexual Health Advocacy, Resources, and Education (NU SHARE), Suffolk County
The Village Worcester, Worcester County
United Women in Faith, Community United Methodist Church, Wayland, Middlesex County
Boston Ward 19 Democratic Committee, Suffolk County
Temple Hillel B’nai Torah, Suffolk County
Inside the Sun, Suffolk County
Justice 4 Housing, Statewide
Youth Justice and Power Union, Suffolk County
Partakers Empowerment Program (Brandeis Educational Justice Initiative), Statewide

Massachusetts Doesn’t Need Another Women’s Prison. Not Now, Not Ever.

No New Womens Prison

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Chair Collins, Chair Cabral, and Members of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.

We urge you to give a favorable report to An Act Establishing a Jail and Prison Construction Moratorium (H. 1795 / S.1979).

Let me be clear: there is no such thing as a humane prison. As a famous adage goes, every system is perfectly designed to get the result that it does. Our prison system is not designed for rehabilitation, and it is not designed for justice. It is designed for dehumanization and punishment, and no amount of branding or around-the-edges reforms can change that fact. Our prisons and jails are good at creating cycles of trauma; they are not good at creating public safety or community well-being and stability.

With this in mind, we find it deeply misguided that Massachusetts is considering spending $50 million on a new women’s prison. As of January 1, 2022, the population in MCI-Framingham stood at 179, with more than 20% held in pre-trial detention. In part as a result of sentencing reforms, Massachusetts’s incarceration rate has been falling, which raises the question: Why expand a system that costs $235,000 per person and only causes further harm? 

Studies have repeatedly shown that society cannot incarcerate its way to safety, and the family separation of incarceration and the well-documented inhumane conditions in Massachusetts’s prisons and jails fuel the community instability that is detrimental to public safety. Instead, investments in housing, health care, economic opportunity, and other social supports have been shown to be the true foundation of public safety for all. Think of how much $235,000 per person can do in creating opportunity and building up communities.

The five-year moratorium in this bill recognizes that such alternative visions of public safety exist on the ground, and they merit investment and experimentation and scaling. It provides time for the Commonwealth to do the work of listening to the most impacted communities and to center, rather than sideline, their voices in policymaking.

We were very grateful last year when this committee and this Legislature passed the Prison Moratorium in last year’s session. Unfortunately, due to former Governor Charlie Baker’s veto, it did not become law. It is just as urgent to finish the job this session, and we urge you to advance these bills as swiftly as possible.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

The Location Shield Act Is Necessary to Protect Basic Privacy Rights

Cell Phone GPS

June 26, 2023

Chair Cronin, Chair Chan, and Members of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.

We urge you to give a favorable report to H.357/S.148:An Act Protecting Reproductive Health Access, LGBTQ Lives, Religious Liberty, and Freedom of Movement by Banning the Sale of Cell Phone Location Information (“the Location Shield Act”), sponsored by Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Senator Cynthia S. Creem.

The dissemination, marketization, and use of technology routinely occurs faster than our ability to appropriately govern it. We can see that clearly with the case of cell phone location data. Location data, a subset of the personal data collected via cell phones, reveals information about individuals’ interests, associations, and activities—a treasure trove for corporations looking to surveil and micro-target customer behavior. We have no laws to regulate or prohibit companies from abusing or profiting from such deeply sensitive information.

A just, equitable, and democratic society depends on the preservation of a sphere of personal autonomy. We cannot have freedom of religion if people’s attendance—or lack thereof—at houses of worship is being tracked. We cannot have reproductive freedom if information about people’s trips to abortion clinics is being tracked and sold via their phone. We cannot have true freedom for the LGBTQ community if information about people’s intimate relationships is being tracked and sold. If survivors of domestic violence are not able to visit a shelter without such information being tracked and sold, or individuals in recovery are not able to seek out a substance use clinic without that information being tracked or sold, then the foundations for well-being are being eroded.

The Location Shield Act provides commonsense protections to give ordinary people robust location data privacy. These rules strike the right balance by allowing the use of data for providing useful technologies like mapping services and weather forecasts while outlawing the abusive sale of our personal device location information. By implementing these commonsense regulations, we can ensure Massachusetts residents and visitors can make use of the latest technologies without compromising their fundamental rights.

As no regulatory framework yet exists, Massachusetts has a real opportunity to be a leader, protecting the cherished privacy rights of residents of the Commonwealth while continuing our state’s track record of advancing forward-thinking policy that expands to other states and to the country as a whole.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Evictions Are Rapidly Rising. The Legislature Needs to Act.

eviction notice

Monday, June 26, 2023

Chair Edwards, Chair Arciero, and Members of the Joint Committee on Housing:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.

We urge you to give a favorable report to S.856 and H.1312: The Upstream RAFT Act, sponsored by Sen. Brendan Crighton and Rep. Marjorie Decker. This bill would improve access to the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition program (RAFT), restore COVID-era protections, and codify the RAFT program into state statute.

We often hear rhetoric about the housing crisis in Massachusetts. According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, it would take more than 90 hours working at minimum wage to afford a modest 1-bedroom rental home in Massachusetts at Fair Market Rent. With the cost of housing so high, housing insecurity abounds. According to data from the Eviction Lab, the number of evictions in Boston jumped significantly over the past year and is now higher than pre-COVID levels, disproportionately affecting Black and Brown families.

Addressing our housing crisis requires a vast array of policy reforms, but at the most basic level, we must take swift action in the near term to curb the growth of displacement. The RAFT program is a lifeline for low-income families, providing emergency, short-term financial assistance for low-income tenants who are at risk of eviction—regardless of immigration status. During the pandemic, this emergency assistance saved many families from homelessness.

But the program has also failed to reach its full potential because of barriers to access, and the Upstream RAFT bill seeks to address them. This bill eliminates the requirement of a “notice to quit” so that tenants can access assistance before a housing emergency becomes an eviction. Many tenants mistake a “notice to quit” for an eviction, losing out not only on their home but also on the supports the state can provide them.

It eliminates the arbitrary $10,000 annual cap on assistance and adopts a 12-month limit instead: tenants are not the ones to blame for rising rents, and they should not be punished for it.

It further reduces obstacles by providing workarounds to enable tenants with uncooperative landlords to receive assistance. No tenant should have to depend on their landlord to receive essential assistance for housing security.

And lastly, the bill would codify the RAFT program into statute in order to add long-term stability to a vital program.

We urge you to act swiftly and advance S.856 and H.312 to improve housing stability in the Commonwealth.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Universities and Hospitals Should Pay Their Fair Share. PILOT Reform Would Help.

Harvard campus

Thursday, July 23, 2023

Chair Moran, Chair Cusack, and Members of the Joint Committee on Revenue:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.

We urge a favorable report for H.2963 and S.1836: An Act relative to payments in lieu of taxation by organizations exempt from the property tax (Rep. Uyterhoeven & Sen. Gomez).

Massachusetts is lucky to be home to many world-class hospitals and universities. But these large institutions, despite often operating indistinguishably from for-profit institutions, do not have to pay taxes. Given their large footprint, that is a fiscal drain for many communities across the Commonwealth, especially as communities are looking to find much-needed funds for investments in schools, housing, and infrastructure.

This bill would address this discrepancy by requiring large hospitals and universities to pay 25% of commercial property taxes to municipalities, based on the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement in Boston. Under this bill, municipalities could opt in to requiring a mandatory PILOT rather than having to engage in drawn-out negotiations or chasing down institutions one by one.

Why 25%? This number reflects the costs posed by such large institutions to municipal services like police, fire departments, and departments of public works. It is still a good deal for the institutions, who are still paying far less in property taxes than an individual would have to pay. And, by applying only to institutions with property worth over $15 million, the bill would avoid risking any adverse impact on smaller institutions.

We need to be empowering municipalities to take action to address the many crises before us, but they need the funds to do so. Our cities and towns are severely limited in how they can raise funds, as municipal budgets are disproportionately based on property taxes—and we are stuck living in the misguided Reagan-era holdover of a “Prop 2 ½” regime. If our cities and towns have wealthy institutional neighbors, they shouldn’t be forced to be stuck in struggling fiscal straits.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts