Budget 2017: What Does Beacon Hill Value?

A budget is a statement of values. And the recently released House Ways & Means Budget shows that too many on Beacon Hill are content with the status quo of austerity and underinvestment.

Massachusetts lawmakers have fallen prey to the pernicious conservative ideology that taxes–our collective investment in our values and priorities–are always politically toxic. Instead of substantive conversations about how we invest in the infrastructure, services, and institutions that make Massachusetts a great place to live and work, our legislators instead year after year refuse to raise revenue — and leave the people of the Commonwealth begging for revenue crumbs of an ever smaller pie.

Yet, every legislator on Beacon Hill knows that Massachusetts has a revenue problem: when we do not take in enough revenue, we must cut budgets. Because of ill-conceived tax cuts over a decade ago (to the benefit of the wealthiest in MA), Revenue projections continue to fall short, leading to damaging cuts to vital services.

Those tax cuts have cost all of us over $3 billion each year. Each year! Our schools, the MBTA, roads, human services–think of what $3 billion a year could be doing to invest in job growth, education, public health, housing, transportation, and environmental protection.

Next week, when the House begins to vote on the budget, representatives will have the opportunity to take necessary steps to turn this around and to commit to the investments we need to make a Massachusetts that works for all.

Particularly, in the Age of Trump, where hostility to progressive values and policies is pervasive at the federal level, it’s more important than ever to make clear that the status quo is not working. Massachusetts needs to step up its game.

And to get legislators to start stepping up, we’re going to need YOUR help.

Call/email your representative by Monday morning to urge them to support the following ten budget amendments. The sample script is below; more info on each amendment appears after.

SAMPLE SCRIPT

I’m ___ from ___ . I’m calling to urge Rep __ to support budget amendments that support a strong Commonwealth. While these amendments would make a difference in the short term, I also want to urge my rep to fight for MORE REVENUE in the long term, including taxes on the wealthiest in Massachusetts.

Please support:

  • Amendments 42 and 43, which increase badly needed revenue
  • Amendments 780 and 382, which support housing assistance
  • Amendments 1003 and 1172, which invest in children and youth
  • Amendments 822 and 1182, which invest in equitable justice
  • Amendment 1196, which helps protect our environment
  • Amendment 151, which supports women’s health and family planning

Please share my concerns with the Rep. I will be paying attention to how s/he votes on these issues. Thank you.

Budget Amendments

Revenue

Amendment #42 (Rep. Denise Provost): Income Tax Rate Freeze.

This amendment would freeze the personal income tax rate at 2016 levels. From 2012 to 2016, we had four automatic income tax rate cuts, resulting in almost a billion dollar reduction in state revenue. These income tax reductions disproportionately benefit the super-rich, rather than working- and middle-class families: indeed, 20% of the rate reduction tax cuts go to the top 0.05% of Massachusetts residents.

Amendment #43 (Rep. Denise Provost): Educational Opportunity for All.

This amendment would subject any private institution of higher learning that has an endowment fund with aggregate funds in excess of $1 billion to an annual excise of 2.5% of all monies in aggregate in said endowment fund. The fund will be used exclusively for subsidizing the cost of higher education, early education, and child care for lower-income and middle-class residents of the commonwealth.

Affordable Housing

Amendment #780 (Rep. Paul Donato): MRVP funding

This amendment would restore funding for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program to $120 million from $100 million. This will increase the number of vouchers available, help preserve affordable housing developments, and restore the program to its 1990 funding level.

Amendment #382 (Rep. Mike Connolly): MRVP Improvements

This amendment makes technical changes to the way Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program funds are allocated, making the program more useful to people from a range of incomes in today’s very expensive housing market.

Education & Youth

Amendment #1003 (Rep. Alice Peisch): Early Educators Rate Increase

This amendment would increase the funding for the Early Education Rate Reserve, which increase reimbursement rates for subsidized early education and care providers, to $20 million from $15 million.

Amendment #1172 (Rep. Paul Brodeur): Youthworks

This amendment would increase the funding for the Youthworks program, which provides skills and training to young people through state-funded employment, to $13.5 million.

Legal Assistance & Jobs Not Jails

Amendment #822 (Rep. Ruth Balser): Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation

This amendment would increase funding for the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, which ensures that low-income residents of Massachusetts have access to legal information, advice, and representation, to $21 million.

Amendment #1182 (Rep. Mary Keefe): Job Training For Ex-Prisoners and Court Involved Youth

This amendment would increase funding for crucial programs to combat recidivism and create opportunities from $250,000 to $2 million.

Environmental Protection

Amendment #1196 (Rep. David Rogers): Department of Environmental Protection Administration and Compliance

This amendment would increase the operations budget for DEP from $24.4 million to $30 million. Recent budget cuts have forced staff reductions of 30% at DEP, crippling its ability to protect our to ensure clean air and water and enforce environmental laws. Given looming cuts to the EPA on the national level, we cannot afford such cuts anymore.

Public Health

Amendment #151 (Rep. Carole Fiola): Family Planning

This amendment would fund the family planning services line item at $5.8 million. Family planning funding helps providers offer a wide range of affordable preventative series, including critical screenings for breast, cervical, and other cancers; birth control and STI testing; and treatment for both men and women. With such vital services under the attack on the national level, it’s vital that Massachusetts push forward.

“We cannot have economic justice without reproductive justice”

JOINT COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES

TESTIMONY OF PROGRESSIVE MASSACHUSETTS IN SUPPORT OF S.499/H. 536 

An Act Relative to Advancing Contraception Coverage and Economic Security in our State

May 19, 2017

Chairman Eldridge, Chairman Michlewitz, and members of the Joint Committee on Financial Services, I, Jonathan Cohn, co-chair of the Progressive Massachusetts Issues Committee, am pleased to offer this testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. Progressive Massachusetts is committed to an agenda of shared prosperity and social justice that makes sure that our Commonwealth works for all residents. 

Progressive Massachusetts would like to go on the record IN SUPPORT of S. 499/H. 536, An Act Relative to Advancing Contraception Coverage and Economic Security in our State, or ACCESS.

Massachusetts has been a leader in health care reform, passing the legislation that would later become the foundation for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The ACA went beyond Massachusetts’s 2006 bill and brought about some of the greatest advances in health care access for women in a generation by eliminating co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses for basic preventive care, including contraception. The ACA guaranteed that women, regardless of their economic status, can afford birth control and can choose the birth control method that works best for them. 1.4 million women in Massachusetts now have access to preventive services like birth control with zero cost-sharing because of the ACA. However, the ACA and women’s health care in particular are under attack at the federal level. ACCESS is a vital piece of legislation to safeguard Massachusetts women from such attacks and to keep Massachusetts on the vanguard of health care reform. 

Progressive Massachusetts is committed to making Massachusetts a leader in protecting working families and expanding the middle class, while reducing poverty and inequality. And we cannot have economic justice without reproductive justice. Contraception enables women to decide if and when they want to start a family, time births, have healthier pregnancies, and achieve their desired family size. With contraception, women are better able to plan their educational, financial, and professional futures, ultimately improving their lives, the stability of their families, and the well-being of children. 

With the ACCESS bill, Massachusetts has an opportunity to build on the progress of the ACA. By establishing no-copay coverage for over-the-counter contraceptives, this bill will eliminate unnecessary financial barriers that undermine the accessibility of emergency contraception. The bill limits the ability of insurers to impose restrictions and delays in coverage and ensures medical decisions made by a woman and her doctor are respected. Moreover, by requiring coverage for a single dispensing of birth control intended to last for 12 months, this essential piece of legislation will decrease the likelihood of inconsistent use, and therefore unintended pregnancies, especially for those with limited access to transportation or pharmacies.

Massachusetts led the nation in health care reform, but the work is not done. It is time to be on the forefront again by proactively protecting and expanding access to basic, preventive health care. 

Please Give a Favorable Report to An Act Relative to Advancing Contraception Coverage and Economic Security in our State (S. 499/H. 536).

JP Progressives: Progressivism during Trump

By Maddie Howard

We’re all here and prepared to fight,” Leda Anderson of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts emphasized to a standing-room-only crowd assembled in Jamaica Plain’s First Baptist Church last Thursday.

On January 12th, JP Progressives, a Jamaica Plain community group (and chapter of Progressive Mass) that frequently hosts political events and mobilizes volunteers for campaigns and issues, hosted “Progressivism During Trump,” a panel of experienced activists moderated by Mass Alliance (Progressive Mass is a coalition member) founding director Georgia Hollister Isman. Intended to galvanize post-election urgency into specific action, this event brought established progressive groups together to provide plans of action and field questions from community members late into the evening.

jpp-forumjan2017

 Despite some of the groups assembled being ostensibly apolitical, many made it clear that their fundamental missions were opposed to the imminent political atmosphere. “We are anti-racist and we are anti-oppression,” Boston NAACP president Tanisha Sullivan remarked, “and that’s all I’m going to say.”

“We have changed all of our agenda,” Liza Ryan of The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition shared with the audience, clarifying that MIRA is pushing offense as opposed to defense in advocating for their partner organizations under this administration.

Though national politics naturally loomed large in the conversation, much of the actions discussed were on the local level. Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty program of the ACLU Massachusetts, called for support for the state Trust Act (a bill prohibiting local law enforcement from detaining undocumented immigrants purely for their status), emphasizing the importance of pressuring the mayor, DA, and police. Dick Clapp of 350 Massachusetts and Boston Climate Action Network mentioned hosting house meetings in support of the Community Choice Energy Plan, an initiative to provide more of Massachusetts’ energy from renewable sources.

In response to a question about what threats progressive movements are likely to face, Anderson noted that this is the “first time in a really long time that anti-abortion politicians have controlled both houses & the White House.” Over the next four years, patients on Medicaid could be prevented from accessing the services provided by Planned Parenthood; about 30% of patients in Massachusetts rely on Medicaid now. The currently vacant supreme court seat means a risk of Roe v. Wade being repealed. Sullivan brought up the “sense of empowerment, of liberation by some who have been living in the shadows…that says that it is OK to be racist…we have to be committed to really working hard to stay vigilant on issues of race.” Ryan added the simple fact that due process is under threat, specifically in the case of undocumented immigrants and families. Expedited deportations with no hearing and unlawful detainment are just some of the problems these families encounter.

Despite naming the risks, the panelists and attendees retained optimism and hope for the future. “We like to call ourselves freedom’s law firm,” Crockford said of the ACLUM, calling for citizens to become doubly involved and not “sit out politics.” Ryan called for intersectional organizing and coalition building across issues: “We have to unify to win…Share narratives and work on messaging together. We can’t be divided; your issue is my issue. Get out of your comfort zone.”

The panelists recommended many specific actions to support their institutions and get involved. See below for a sampling of these actions.

jppforumcrowd
  • ACLUM: Donate to ACLUM.org, and follow on social media. Sign up for email alerts.
  • Planned Parenthood: attend the Million Woman March. Join for Sexual Health Lobby Day on January 31st. Visit pplmvotes.org to sign up for email updates.
  • 350 Mass: Join the node meeting that meets at the First Church in Jamaica Plain.
  • MIRA: Visit miracoalition.org for ways to help.
  • NAACP: Donate your talent & time; what skills do you have to contribute? What is the one issue that gets your blood boiling? If there is an org already working on that, how might you contact them?

You can review questions audience members asked the panelists at this link: www.slido.com Be Sociable, Share!