In the latest session in the Academy’s Organizing for Change series, Congressman Frank will be joined by representatives from the following co-sponsoring organizations: Mass Equality, Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.

Resilient veterans and fresh new recruits to the fight for full civil rights for all GLBT people are invited to participate and share insights and hard-earned wisdom.

Tuesday, June 12  3pm-6:30pm

SEIU 615, 2^nd Floor 26 West Street, Boston

RSVP to Judy Meredith at judy@realclout.org

Cost Control is on the Senate Agenda tomorrow and Thursday. The place will be crawling with “Special Interest Groups” like ours — meaning Health Care for All. They have done the research, they have found amendment sponsors, now they are asking us all to get to work and call our own Senators. So do it. We are leaving no stone upturned. Find out who your State Senator is at wheredoivotema.com.

The Massachusetts House released its plan for cutting health costs on Friday. The Senate isreleasing its own plan today. And now begins the public “compare and contrast” period, the ingathering of input that could influence the final bill that the legislature is expected to pass this summer.

Read the whole thing for a straightforward sampling from GBIO to Pioneer. Fun.

“Protesters were equipped with a list of budget priorities assembled by the council. The priorities include investing in public transportation and blocking planned service reductions, ending the waiting list for home care services, restoring a program intended to help seniors pay for prescription drugs, and raising revenues and taxes.

“Massachusetts is facing a nearly $1.5 billion budget deficit yet the services and programs that help keep our communities strong are needed now more than ever,” according to the council. “We must take a balanced approach to the fiscal crisis and raise additional revenue so that we can maintain the services we need and value. We support tax reforms that will raise substantial new revenue while holding down increases for low and middle income families. 

And guess what………they got many of their line items restored, including the nutrition program, enhanced home care and resources for the Councils on Aging.  On to the Senate!!

“There’s a real crisis with the levels of funding,” said Lew Finfer, an organizer for the Youth Jobs Coalition. “About 1,200 jobs are at stake.” in the Boston Herald on Wednsday the 25. “ Boston’s Thomas M. Menino and 20 other mayors also have signed a letter urging Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo to restore funding for the program.

And on the next day the State House News Service reported in the Boston Herald reported  “It put us in better shape than we were last year coming out of the House,” Lew Finfer, director of the Massachusetts Communities Action Network, told the News Service. Advocates say 1,200 youth jobs would be lost without funding restorations. Finfer said they’re thankful for lawmakers’ support for $8.6 million in the final House budget, but he added that 200 youth jobs are still in danger of being lost.”

But the kids aren’t done yet and will be up again in a couple of months says  Darius Brooks, from ABCD University High School.

Finfer said advocates will also press for a supplemental budget in order to get funds flowing before July 1, when the state budget goes into effect, so programs know how many youth to hire.

“We feel this is a fundamental part of our life,” said Daiquan Bradford, an 18-year-old youth organizer who works with the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation’s “Youth Force,” a youth leadership initiative. “We’re building skills that will be with us for the rest of our lives.”

Description of House Section 35

What follows is a preliminary summary of what is in the revised House section 35.  The members did not see it until very shortly before it was brought to the floor.  The following members spoke against the further amendment: Reps. Sciortino, Wolf, Swan, Henriquez, and Balser.  More would have spoken against but Russell Holmes spoke in favor of it , and asked for a vote “forthwith,” which shut off debate. 

She is introduced by Lee Staples, a former organizer for Mass Welfare rights.

This year the huddles – called Caucuses – were better organized and held in a room off the chamber that was not open to the public or advocates.

Legislators championing increases to particular line items were busy gathering support from their colleagues and the leadership in preparation for their participation in the caucus that would discuss their particular area of the budget. This year Education was called first which was unusual. The unions and advocates scrambled quickly to round up their sponsors and make sure they got into Room 348 to fight for their line item. Hours later a “consolidated amendment” was printed up and brought to the floor and with a minimum of debate, approved.

To quote in part a summary from State House News,
HOUSE ADDS $14 MIL TO BUDGET IN EDUCATION/LOCAL AID AMENDMENT: Although they’ve warned of austere times with little flexibility for new spending, House leaders won unanimous support early Monday night for a budget amendment adding $14 million to support favored education and local aid programs.

And that summary was produced by House Ways and Means staff as they handed out this 6 page list of specific amendments. And yes typos & mistakes were found and corrected later in a technical amendment.

Not perfectly inclusive, not exactly transparent, (not even close). However, the whole process was updated regularly, if not exactly in “real time”. Here is the link to the amendments and floor actions.
http://www.malegislature.gov/Budget/FY2013/House/ChamberActions

Meanwhile to get the big picture we enthusiastically recommend that you regularly check in with Mass Budget and Policy’s Budget Browser http://browser.massbudget.org/
– they will be out with a deep and thorough analysis of the final House Budget soon.

Ari Fertig…

The House Waysand Means Budget Would Erode the Shelter Safety Net for Homeless Children with Nowhere Else to Go! Support Rep. Wolf and Rushing’s Amendment #603 to Ensure Homeless Children Are Not Left on the Streets!

For more information, contact the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute 617-357-0700 (Ruth Bourquin x 333 rbourquin@mlri.org) or  Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless 781-595-7570 (Kelly Turley x 17) elly@mahomeless.org

And this from the Berkshire Eagle by Dr. Susan Birns is board president of the Elizabeth Freeman Center and professor of Sociology/Anthropology/Social Work at MCLA and Dr. Brent Kramer  an economist at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and the Fiscal Policy Institute.

The bumper sticker on our car reads “Stop the War Against Women.” Maureen Dowd’s April 11 column (“Many fronts in war on women”) identified several “fronts” in this war, but not this one.

I’m talking about the front where the government of Massachusetts takes aim, yet again, at poor women (and their children). The economic recovery has been sluggish and around the country, state governments are slashing budgets. And what a surprise! Programs that primarily serve poor women and their children are at the top of the hit list.

One of the most dangerous proposals is that House Ways and Means (like the governor) proposes an eight month time limit on stays in emergency shelters for homeless families with children. The state verifies that these families have no other safe place to live and the families already have to comply with strict rules in order to remain in the program, but that will be irrelevant — they will be evicted after eight months even though they have nowhere else to go. 

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