📣Good News in the State Budget — and Next Steps

On Monday (a month past the deadline), the MA House and Senate came to an agreement on the budget for the next fiscal year.

We wanted to highlight some of the important victories in it:

  • Tuition equity for all students regardless of immigration status
  • Permanent funding for universal school meals
  • No Cost Calls, keeping incarcerated individuals and their families connected
FY 2024 budget victories from the surrounding text (Graduation cap, school meal, mother with child on phone)

These victories came because of people like you reaching out to your legislators (and then reaching out to friends to do so too) and keeping the momentum going.

The budget also contained transformative new investments because of the Fair Share amendment, which you voted for and organized for last year.

Raise Up MA @RaiseUpMA · Jul 31 With the state budget released last night, voters can now see exactly how the first billion dollars from the #FairShare Amendment will be spent. Legislators are delivering on the promise of the Fair Share Amendment by making new investments in transportation & public education. Raise Up MA @RaiseUpMA This year, Fair Share funding will help: 🚃Upgrade the MBTA 👩‍🎓Make public college more affordable 🌉Repair bridges 🍱Provide free school meals for all students 🏫Build green schools 🚍Expand local bus service 🚸Increase access to early education ⛴️Support new ferry service

But the fight is not over yet…..

Call Gov. Healey to urge her to sign the budget

The budget doesn’t become law until Gov. Healey signs it.

Can you call her office at (617) 725-4005 to urge her to support Tuition Equity, Permanent Universal School Meals, and No Cost Calls without changes?

The call can be short and sweet: it just needs that simple message.

Urge Your State Legislators to Reject Tax Cuts for the Ultra-Rich and Large Corporations

Although the Legislature came to an agreement on the budget, they are still in negotiations about a tax reform package.

Massachusetts needs to prioritize spending on what will make our state truly affordable, equitable, and competitive: programs that support working people and ensure a labor force adequate to our economy’s needs. That, in turn, requires that families have affordable housing, childcare, educational opportunities, and reliable transportation to make it possible for them to work, gain skills, and earn a good living.

We need to act NOW to protect the Fair Share Amendment from tax avoidance, and ensure that Massachusetts can invest more in our schools, colleges, roads, bridges, and public transit systems. At the same time, we need to make sure our legislators don’t give away billions of dollars to the ultra-rich.

Can you write to your state legislators to thank them for the budget victories and urge them to protect Fair Share revenue?

Email Your Legislators

Take Action for Healthy Youth

Across the country — and unfortunately, here in Massachusetts — we are seeing right-wing advocates mobilizing on behalf of narrowing school curricula, banning books, and erasing the experiences of LGBTQ youth.

That’s why we were happy when Governor Healey took a step to move Massachusetts in the opposite direction–that of inclusion.

It may come as a shock, but the sex ed curriculum framework for schools here in Massachusetts was last updated in 1999.

Healey’s proposed updated curriculum framework reflects the Healthy Youth Act in requiring that sex ed is comprehensive, medically accurate, age-appropriate, consent-based, and inclusive — as it should be, and as it should have been a generation ago.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) is soliciting public comment on this new draft comprehensive health and physical education curriculum framework through Monday, August 28.

Can we count on you to join us in submitting supportive comments by the 28th? Can you think of 5 friends, family,colleagues or neighbors who care about kids getting the comprehensive education they need to make smart and healthy choices? Can you ask them to join us? This is how the opposition is gathering comments and we need to meet this challenge.

You can find the Healthy Youth Coalition’s toolkit and a sample template below. In solidarity,

Submit public comments in support of the new draft MA Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Curriculum Framework

You can submit public comment one of three ways:

  1. Submit using the Public Comment Survey: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6646350/Comprehensive-Health-and-Physical-Education-Framework-Public-Comment
  2. Email to Kristen McKinnon at chpef@mass.gov
  3. Mail to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Attention: Kristen McKinnon, 75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 0213

How to Write a Comment:

The Healthy Youth Coalition has helpful guide for submitting public comment, with talking points here.

Here’s a sample for you to use if you want to get started:

I am writing today in full support of the new comprehensive health and physical education curriculum framework. Having an updated framework that is grounded in science and reflects best practices will help health educators teach students what they need to know at every grade level.

It is especially important that students have a health curriculum that emphasizes the importance of consent to healthy relationships and one that is inclusive of students of all gender identities and sexual orientations.

I urge BESE to vote to adopt this new Framework and I look forward to learning how DESE will support educators to implement it in their classrooms.

Pro-Vaccine Voices Needed: Send in Testimony in Support of the Community Immunity Act

Yesterday, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health heard testimony on the Community Immunity Act.

If we want to be ready for the next pandemic, or even just ready for the next outbreak of a disease we thought we were decades past, we need to be strengthening and standardizing our infrastructure for immunization. We need to leave the past three years with lessons borne out in policy.

The Community Immunity Act is an essential part of that path forward. The bill facilitates robust data collection to assess gaps in statewide vaccine delivery, standardizes immunization protocols for our schools and other youth programs, and supports local interventions in communities lacking herd immunity against dangerous (and even deadly) yet preventable diseases.

Two years ago, I testified in support of the bill and was horrified by much of what I heard during the hearing. Over 15+ hours back in July 2021, the Committee heard from literally hundreds of individuals who espoused toxic disinformation about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, grossly distorted and flatly misstated the content of the Community Immunity Act, and personally attacked the character of any legislators and public health professionals who care about strong immunization policy and infectious disease prevention.

That’s why voices of people like YOU, who believe in pro-science and pro-public-health policy, are so important.

Can you submit written testimony in support of the Community Immunity Act?

You can use the link above or copy, paste, and adapt the text from it and send it to Rosalind Jordan (rosalind.jordan@mahouse.gov) and Brian Rosman Brian.Rosman@masenate.gov).

A Week Full of Hearings

This week has been full of hearings at the State House. If you haven’t already, make sure your voice gets heard in support of the following bills that we spoke about in recent emails:

📣Take Action in Support of No Cost Calls & the Prison Moratorium

Last year, after impressive organizing work from impacted communities, the MA Legislature passed No Cost Calls and the Prison Moratorium.

But neither became law because of our former Republican governor, Charlie Baker, who vetoed them at the end of the session.

We now have a new session, a new governor, and a new opportunity to complete these wins.

Earlier today, the Judiciary Committee on Beacon Hill held testimony on both of these and other bills. The case for both is still clear.

We know that we cannot incarcerate our way to public safety, and that investing in communities, not new prisons, helps communities to thrive.

And we know that keeping families connected, by ending the practice of charging predatory fees for phone calls to loved ones behind bars, is good for public safety and economic security.

And Beacon Hill knew both of these last year when they passed such legislation. Both chambers also recognized the importance of No Cost Calls when they included similar language in their FY 2024 budgets, still stuck in negotiations.

We shouldn’t have to wait until July of next year to finish these victories.

Can you email the State Legislature in support of No Cost Calls and the Prison Moratorium?

Hybrid Meeting Access Has Been Great for Democracy. Let’s Make It Permanent.

I’ve been happy to see the return of in-person hearings at the State House. There’s a liveliness to a hearing room that can’t be replicated on virtual platforms.

But what I’m even happier about is that the Massachusetts State House has kept the option of virtual testimony for hearings. Not everyone has the ability to trek to downtown Boston and wait for hours for their time to testify. Perhaps because of a job with rigid hours. Or small children at home. Or difficulties with transportation or mobility in general.

Keeping this remote access is critical, and it’s to the State House’s credit that they have done so. But we need to see it expanded across city and state government.

An Act to Modernize Participation in Public Meetings (H.3040 / S.2024) would make the hybrid meeting accessibility we’ve seen over the past few years permanent, prioritizing state agencies and elected municipal bodies and providing resources to cities and towns to make the change.

If you are able to testify in person or virtually, you can sign up here by 3 pm today. (Wouldn’t it be nice if the Legislature gave at least a week of notice? A fight for another day….)

But even if you can’t testify in person or virtually, your written testimony still matters. Can you email the Legislature in support of hybrid meeting access for all?

Build Housing, Not Pipelines

Next week, the MA Legislature will be holding hearings on key bills to put a moratorium on new gas infrastructure and encourage walkable, transit-oriented communities. Both are essential to combating climate change and creating a green, healthy, and affordable state for all.

Put Gas in the Past

This summer has been an ongoing series of warning signs of the need to take bold and comprehensive action on climate change. Earlier this month, from July 3 to July 6, we experienced the four hottest days on record globally. We have seen extreme flooding hit neighboring states as well as our own, and the same for the dystopian impacts of raging wildfires in Canada.

This should serve as a wake-up call that our response to climate change, despite recent progress, is not enough. We have known for many years now that the majority of fossil fuels must be left in the ground if we are to have even a chance of staying within safe boundaries of global warming.

Next Wednesday and Thursday, the Legislature will be hearing bills to put gas in the past by establishing a moratorium on new gas system expansion. This will help us meet our state’s climate goals, protect human and environmental health, and provide time for us to create a plan for a just transition.

Sign up to testify (in person or virtually) at the Senate hearing on Wednesday, 7/26, at 1pm.

Sign up to testify (in person or virtually) at the House hearing on Thursday, 7/27, at 10am.

Want to submit written testimony? Check out the Put Gas in the Past toolkit here, or use this template.

Put Gas in the Past

Tackling Our Housing Crisis

Massachusetts faces a growing affordable housing crisis. We can tout our great quality of life on index after index, but if people can’t afford to live here, it doesn’t mean much.

To rent the average 2-bedroom apartment in Massachusetts requires an income equal to $37.97 per hour. Home ownership has become increasingly out of reach, as the state’s median home price has passed $600,000.

The unaffordability of housing in Massachusetts isn’t inevitable. It’s a result of a long legacy of exclusionary zoning that has disproportionately harmed working-class and BIPOC residents.

The Yes in My Backyard Bill (H.1379) would require multifamily zoning and remove costly parking mandates around public transportation, encouraging dense, transit-oriented development that is good for climate and good for communities. It would also expedite the process of converting unused state-owned land into affordable housing or vacant commercial properties into multifamily housing, among many other steps.

Sign up to testify (in person or virtually) at the hearing on Wednesday, 7/26, at 2 pm.

Want to submit written testimony? Check out the Abundant Housing toolkit here, or use this template.

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!

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?

TUESDAY: Rally & Hearing for the Prison Moratorium

Massachusetts is planning to spend $50 million to build a new women’s prison to replace MCI-Framingham. 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.

It’s clear: Massachusetts doesn’t need new prisons, not now and not ever, and the Prison Moratorium bill (H. 1795 / S.1979) is how we can achieve that.

Next Tuesday, the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight is holding a hearing on the Prison Moratorium bill at 11 am in Gardner Auditorium.

Can you show up on Tuesday and join Families for Justice as Healing for a rally before?

Not able to attend Tuesday’s hearing? You can still make a difference by contacting your state legislators in support.

Take Action: How to Support a Progressive Budget

In the FY 2024 budget, both the House and the Senate embraced the opportunity to include forward-thinking proposals that strengthen our commitment to equity, but, with differences between them, the work is not done.

In the coming weeks, a Conference Committee of three senators and three representatives will be finalizing the details for next year’s budget, and they need to hear from you in support of key provisions:

  • Tuition equity language, which would ensure that all MA high school graduates have access to in-state tuition at our Commonwealth’s public colleges and universities, regardless of immigration status, as 23 other states and DC provide
  • Permanent School Meals for All, which would ensure healthy nutrition for all students, increase educational performance, and support working families
  • No Cost Calls language, as outlined in the Keeping Families Connected/No Cost Calls Coalition’s letter, namely, making all communication services free in 2023, including a strong guarantee of access to calls, and laying out clear language to ensure successful implementation

Can you write to your senator and representative to ask them to fight for the inclusion of all three in the final FY2024 budget?

Mark Your Calendars🗓

State House Hearings This Week

If you are interested in testifying (written, in-person, or virtual) and have questions, just reach out!

Thursday, 6/22: Gun Violence Awareness Month Action at the Massachusetts State House @ 10am in front of the State House

The Mass Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence will be gathering on the steps of the State house with local and national partners including Stop Handgun Violence, Moms Demand Action, Giffords, and Brady, to honor June as Gun Violence Awareness month and to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision. Join for a press conference featuring survivors, violence prevention workers, and others impacted by gun violence to address the impact of gun violence in the Commonwealth and call for continued action.

Sunday, 6/25: Progressive Mass Activist Afternoons Continues @ 3:30 PM

Join Progressive Mass for an Activist Afternoons series! We’ll be reaching out to members across the state to reach out to their legislators about key issues at the State House. On 6/25, we’ll be focusing on the Transfer Fee bill. RSVP here!

Tuesday, 6/27: Hearing at the State House for the Prison Moratorium Bill @ 11 am, Rally @ 10 am

Massachusetts does not need new prisons and jails: we need to be investing in communities, not in expanding the carceral system. So make sure that the Legislature hears loud and clear by showing up to support the Prison Moratorium in Gardner Auditorium on the State House and a rally before, RSVP here.

Thursday, 7/13: Common Start Rally at the State House

Please join the Common Start Coalition for a family-friendly rally at the State House on July 13 at 11:00 AM! As we head into the summer months, this is an incredible opportunity to keep up the momentum for high-quality, affordable, and accessible early education and care in Massachusetts.

Following a brief speaking program, children and their families will lead a march through the State House to demonstrate the power of our coalition and to highlight solutions to the child care crisis. Art and other activities for children will be a part of the event.

Common Start Family-Friendly Rally for Child Care

Time: Thursday, July 13 at 11:00 AM
Location: Grand Staircase, Massachusetts State House, Boston
Travel: There will be buses from across the state. More info to come.
Interpretation: There will be Spanish interpretation for the event.
Make sure to RSVP here: https://bit.ly/csrally7-13