Two weeks ago, the Boston Globe published an article casting doubt on the necessity of the Fair Share Amendment: “Massachusetts has nearly $5 billion in unspent federal stimulus dollars to spread to its residents. At least another $8 billion in aid is coming from the US government to help repair roads, bolster public transit, and shore up the state against climate change. The state’s tax receipts are again running well ahead of expectations.” If we have so much money, the Globe article implies, why would we need a ballot initiative to raise taxes on income over $1 million to fund additional investments in education and transportation?
But such framing is short-sighted, and a new report from Mass Budget explains why: short-term federal money is no substitute for long-term investment. In the report’s own words: “One-time federal funds during the pandemic have been crucial in providing immediate relief and helping recover from COVID, but are insufficient to meet the long-terms needs or close the kinds of gaps in access to transportation and education that the Fair Share Amendment (FSA) seeks to address.”
Let’s break down the key parts of this argument:
(1) Federal funds are inadequate to meet the scale of our transportation needs: “Around the state, 1 out of 11 bridges are considered structurally deficient and public transit systems large and small will see big dropoffs in revenue when the short-term federal relief funding runs out. Regional Transit Authorities, such as the Worcester Regional Transit Authority, have been able to use federal funds to improve service and eliminate fares, which particularly helps low-income riders and people of color. But they lack a way to continue these improvements in a few years when federal pandemic funds are depleted.”
(2) We need both the early investments to start new major transportation initiatives and the continuing investments in their long-term operation: “Ramping up major new infrastructure systems and commitments to more frequent and accessible service on existing systems without a backstop of permanent increases in transportation revenues would set up a funding cliff after federal funds run out. Lawmakers on Beacon Hill are understandably hesitant to invest in new commitments that they won’t be able to sustain.”
(3) Pledging our own investments in transportation will enable Massachusetts to better leverage federal money: “Like with the current Green Line extension that was financed through competitive grants in the 2009 federal stimulus package, states must offer partial state matching funds from state revenues. Winning federal grants will also be easier if the Commonwealth demonstrates a commitment to innovation, repair, increasing transit ridership, and improving the transportation networks that would connect to new federally-supported projects.”
(4) Our investments in pre-K and early education lag behind what’s needed for a strong recovery: “In our research earlier this year MassBudget found the cost of a full, universal, high quality and affordable system for early education and care in Massachusetts was projected at $5 billion above the amount of existing funding at that time….Proposed new federal funding in the “Build Back Better” plan will also likely come with state match requirements, making ongoing state revenue from FSA even more important.”
(5) We need a reliable funding source to deliver on the promises of the Student Opportunity Act: “The SOA creates growing commitments to continue to fund state Chapter 70 support for school districts at this higher level permanently….Back in 2019, the complete figure for increasing Chapter 70 funds under the SOA was estimated at $1.5 billion after 7 years.”
(6) We need a vision for world-class, affordable public higher education, not just temporary band-aids: “Current federal relief funding addresses COVID-era harms such as decreased enrollment, disruption to other funding streams like housing and dining that depend on in-person life on campuses, and some staff layoffs. With additional ongoing revenue from FSA, Massachusetts could start heading towards where we want to go: world-class campuses at UMass/state universities/community colleges, well-supported staff and faculty, and affordable opportunities for students to learn without taking on massive debt.”
If you haven’t yet signed a pledge to be a Fair Share voter next year, do so right now at raiseupma.us/pm!
Today is Giving Tuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving where we celebrate the nonprofits we cherish after a few days of good eating (and maybe some shopping).
But here’s the catch: the best way to show your support is through sustained giving. In other words, live every Tuesday (or maybe just a Tuesday each month) like it’s giving Tuesday.
Our monthly donors recognize that kernel of wisdom: that the work of progressive organizing is year-round, and recurring donations help us best plan and fund that ongoing work.
Next year will be a busy year. We have plenty of candidates to get on the record, ballot initiatives to win (Fair Share!), ballot initiatives to fight, and progressive legislation to get across the finish line.
Every year, at our Annual Meeting, Progressive Mass elects new Board members to serve 2-year terms. This year, we are looking to elect at least 2 new board members.
Our Board is a working Board, setting direction for all of PM’s external political work and internal organizational development, and leading or getting involved in various efforts. See more info here.
Interested? Email governance@progressivemass.com with a brief bio, an expression of interest, and relevant expertise/experience (as well as with any questions) and, attach this linked form providing at least ten names of dues-paying members of Progressive Mass who will support your candidacy.
Forms are due by Thursday, December 23.
Join or renew before the end of 2021!
Were you active this year and are looking for a home base to stay involved?
Are you looking for like-minded, mission-driven fellow activists and organizers?
Do you want to have a say in PM’s priorities and endorsements?
Progressive Mass is thrilled to announce our new staff, who will start at the end of the month. We’ve waited to hire so that we can start with a team!
Jonathan Cohn as Policy Director
Nazia Ashraful and Melanie O’Malley as Outreach & Operations Co-Directors
You may think you already know Jonathan Cohn, and chances are high that you’ve seen him on Twitter or out canvassing, but there’s definitely more to share. While Jonathan was the Chair of PM’s Issues Committee and Elections & Endorsements Committee in recent years (and the source of many PM calls to action), his day job has been as a professional editor. Jon also served on the Political Committee of the Massachusetts Sierra Club, he’s been chair of the Boston Ward 4 Democratic Committee, and communications director for Young Democrats of Massachusetts.
Becoming PM’s Policy Director allows us to expand and formalize Jon’s role to deepen our advocacy and accountability efforts, and represent PM in statewide coalitions on voting rights, immigrants’ rights, and economic justice.
PM’s Outreach & Operations Co-Directors will strengthen chapters and help launch new chapters in a wider geography, engage members, manage marketing and fundraising, and so much more! We are extremely excited to be able to hire both Nazia Ashraful and Melanie O’Malley!
Nazia Ashraful is a committed advocate and organizer for minority populations, women’s rights, and health and equity. She is the former Director of Government Affairs at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Massachusetts. During her time at CAIR-MA, she built the first political advocacy department to serve the Massachusetts Muslim community, active in both legislative and electoral seasons, where she worked on community outreach, voter engagement, volunteer management, and developing a media plan, strategies, and training.
Melanie O’Malley has over a decade of experience advocating and organizing for progressive issues and candidates in Massachusetts, especially dedicated to the intersection of race, class, and gender. Prior to coming to Progressive Massachusetts, Melanie was the Communications and Policy Manager at the Massachusetts Public Health Association, advancing policies for health equity and organizing the state’s local public health leaders. She is the former Chapter President of the National Organization for Women, Boston, a chapter-based organization.
With the resignation of Sen. Joe Boncore (D-Winthrop), the First Suffolk & Middlesex State Senate district will be having a special election next month. The district consists of parts of Boston (East Boston, the North End, Beacon Hill, Downtown Boston, Chinatown, Bay Village, a few blocks of the South End), parts of Cambridge (MIT, Cambridgeport, Riverside), Revere, and Winthrop.
The primary will be Tuesday, December 14, and the general will be January 11.
Two candidates are running in the Democratic primary: Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards and Revere School Committeeman Anthony D’Ambrosio. (Read their questionnaires here.)
Our members voted, and the results were overwhelmingly clear. We are proud to endorse Lydia Edwards for State Senate.
As a public interest attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services, Edwards was a leader in the effort to pass a Domestic Worker’s Bill of Rights, the first of such kind in the nation. As a city councilor, she has been a leader on housing issues, from strengthening the regulations of Airbnb and corporate short-term rentals to fighting for equitable zoning and a transfer fee on high-end real-estate transactions. She has worked in coalition with groups and electeds across the state on affordable housing policy and authored key eviction sealing legislation, and she was the lead Councilor in the successful effort to reform Boston’s city charter to allow for a more democratic and inclusive budgeting process. The Senate could benefit from such advocacy for workers’ rights and housing justice, and if elected, Edwards would become the only Black woman in the State Senate, bringing a much needed diversity of perspective.
Next month, the Massachusetts Democratic Party will be updating its party platform. Last updated in 2017, the platform is a solidly progressive document (possibly the most progressive in the country), even if it is out of date on some issues.
However, the problem activists always face is that in a state with an overwhelming 80% Democratic Legislature, why do we not see more of the platform planks become law? We typically understand a party platform to be a roadmap for governance: what a party would seek to implement if in power.
But we see a fundamental disconnect. And that’s why it’s so important to see the work of year-round organizing, outside of a party structure, to push all elected officials to be bolder in their ambitions.
However, in the short term, it is also good to bring the party platform up to date with where the state is today, what activists are calling for today, and what we need so that everyone can thrive.
If you want to submit testimony, you can do so here by Saturday at 5 pm. Want some ideas? Feel free to pull from the suggestions below.
Education
Change “Fixing the public education funding formula to fully fund high-quality public education for all students” to “Fully and equitably funding K-12 public education for all school districts as outlined in the Student Opportunity Act.”
Change “Providing in-state tuition for all residents admitted to Massachusetts public colleges and universities and exploring debt-free models of higher education” to “Guaranteeing that all Massachusetts students are able to graduate from our public colleges and universities without debt.”
Add “Requires school districts to provide sex education that is comprehensive, age-appropriate, and LGBTQ-inclusive, with an emphasis on informed consent to prevent sexual violence.”
Environment, Climate Change, and Renewable Energy
Change “Achieving the goals of the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act to reduce emissions by at least 25 percent by 2020, at least 45 percent by 2030, and at least 80 percent by 2050” to at least “Achieving the goals of the Next-Generation Roadmap Act to reduce emissions by 50% from 1990 levels by 2030, 75% by 2040, and at least 85% by 2050”
Change “Doubling our commitment to renewable energy by increasing the Massachusetts renewable portfolio standard to at least 50 percent by 2030” to “Increasing the Massachusetts renewable portfolio standard to 100 percent by 2030.”
Ethics and Transparency
Add “with both in-person and virtual components” to “Public hearings and other opportunities for citizens to influence the legislative process”
Add “including the online posting of committee votes and testimony submitted to committees (with appropriate redactions for sensitive information)” to “Ensuring the public has convenient and financially reasonable access to all public documents and data at the executive, legislative, judicial, and local levels of government.”
Gender and Racial Equality
Change “Protection of a women’s right to choose” to “Protection of every person’s right to access the full range of reproductive health options, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion.”
Healthcare and Human Services
Add “Improving vaccination rates by standardizing immunization requirements and exemption processes, filling gaps in vaccine rate data, and boosting outreach efforts.”
Change “Protection women’s reproductive rights and a woman’s right to choose” to “Protection of every person’s right to access the full range of reproductive health options, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion.”
Housing
Add “Lifting the statewide ban on municipalities’ ability to pass their own laws to stabilize rents and protect the rights of tenants.”
Add “Enabling municipalities to tax high-end real estate transactions in order to provide dedicated funding for affordable housing”
Add “Eliminating zoning laws that discriminate against the construction of multifamily housing and the creation of diverse communities”
Add “Sealing eviction records for tenants who were evicted through no fault of their own, and creating a process for the sealing of all other such records, out of a recognition that housing is a human right.”
Add “Strengthening and promoting the Community Preservation Act, which provides vital resources for affordable housing, green and open space, and historic preservation”
Add “Guaranteeing legal representation for low-income tenants and owner-occupants in eviction proceedings”
Justice, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties
Add “Eliminating the use of solitary confinement for more than 15 days.”
Labor and Workforce
Add “Eliminating all subminimum wages, which reinforce gender and racial inequities.”
Add “Guaranteeing paid vacation time to all workers.”
Add “Guaranteeing fair scheduling for all workers, including the right to 14 days advance notice of hours, the right to request specific hours without retaliation from the employer, and the right to rest for 11 hours between shifts.”
Public Safety and Crime Prevention
Add “Raising the age of criminal majority to 21 in order to allow to have better access to treatment and educational services and thereby reduce recidivism.”
Add “Imposing a moratorium on the construction of new jails and prisons or the expansion of existing ones.”
Add “Banning facial surveillance technology, which invades privacy rights and is well-known to be both racist and inaccurate”
Add “Banning tear gas, rubber bullets, attack dogs, and other forms of crowd control that escalate a situation and put protesters’ health and lives at risk.”
Add “Preventing prisons and jails from charging individuals who are incarcerated for phone calls to loved ones.”
Add “Eliminating qualified immunity protections for law enforcement in order to ensure that victims of police brutality have their fair day in court.”
Add “Funding local efforts to divert 911 calls away from the police and toward trained mental health workers, social work professions, or community members.”
Revenue and Expenditures
Add “and ensure that the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share” to “Fair, equitable corporate and personal taxes and fees, which do not unduly burden low income families.”
Transportation and Infrastructure
Add “Phasing out the production of new fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2030.”
Add “Making public transportation fare-free because mobility is a human right.”
Voting and Democracy
Add “and the ability to vote by mail” to “Ensuring early voting in all elections.”
Add “Enabling cities and towns to increase civic engagement by lowering the voting age for local elections to 16 and allowing all legal residents the ability to vote in local elections.”
As we get into summer and the world of in-person events opens back up, it’s an opportune time to reflect on what we learned about activism during the past year.
Virtual events can increase attendance and access by eliminating child care and traffic considerations (cc: Beacon Hill), but…
In-person events, like vigils or rallies, are still essential for building community and growing awareness.
Volunteers who are shy–or chatty–can find text banking an easy entry into activism, but…
People are still willing to get over their aversion to phone-banking when they truly believe in a cause (Really! It’s fun!).
When the media finally focuses on an overlooked issue, you can make legislative progress faster than you ever thought, but…
That ability to take advantage of such opportunities is only possible through the long, hard work of year-round organizing and education.
Progressive Mass was formed to do that work. That work takes time. It takes money. And it takes people like you. But it pays off.
Coalition working to end the disenfranchisement of eligible incarcerated voters say failure to hold a summer public hearing will ensure the disenfranchisement of eligible, disproportionately Black voters and voters of color in fall municipal elections.
