Deadlines for important legislation are fast approaching. Help to move important bills to the next stage!
The Massachusetts legislative calendar has reached a critical point. House and senate rules require that bills must be “reported out of committee” favorably by February 2nd, or not be considered again until the 2023-24 session!
ORMA has advocated for support of a number of bills over the past year. We need your help NOW to move them out of committee!
Below is a list of bills, along with links to send letters to the relevant committee considering each bill. Please, use the links to urge committees to take action on bills that will: Protect the safety and rights of the LGBTQ community; Support Indigenous Peoples; Allow Rent Control; Fight for climate justice and jobs; protect forests as a defense against carbon emissions; End aversive electro-shock therapy in schools; and address food insecurity!
Joint Judiciary Committee (Click here to support these bills.)
H.1470 & S.2956 An Act protecting LGBTQ victims
Massachusetts case law allows the so-called LGBTQ Panic Defense as a form of temporary legal insanity, justifying hate killings of LGBTQ people.
H.1709 & S.937 An Act to end child marriage in Massachusetts
From 2000 through 2016, 1,231 youth under the age of 18 were married in Massachusetts. Of those, 84 percent were teenage girls married to adult men.
H.1800 & S.992 An Act to stop profiling transgender people and low-income women
Common Streetwalking, or loitering for the purposes of prostitution, is a vague and unnecessary law, often used to discriminate against women of color and trans women.
H.1905 & S.2030 An Act establishing a jail and prison construction moratorium
Gov. Baker hopes to spend $50 million on new prison construction.Yet our prisons and houses of correction are currently at 60% and 51% occupancy. A moratorium would allow time to explore alternatives.
Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security (Click here to support these bills.)
S.1552 & H.2519 – An Act to Create Alternatives for Community Emergency Services
Establish a new grant program to help communities fund unarmed alternatives to law enforcement in response to 911 calls
This Act would guarantee health, treatment, and safety for incarcerated LGBTQ+ People.
Joint Committee on Administration (Click here to support these bills.)
H.3124 & S.2026 – An Act establishing gender neutral bathrooms
Gender Neutral bathrooms are not currently a part of the state building code, forcing many institutions to file annual variance applications to meet a patchwork of local codes.
S.2027 & H.3191 – An Act establishing an Indigenous Peoples Day.
This bill replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in the Massachusetts General Laws.
Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities (Click here to support this bill.)
H.225 – An Act regarding the use of aversive therapy
Massachusetts schools are allowed to use electric shock on students with disabilities.
Joint Committee on Telecommunications Utilities and Energy (Click here to support these bills.)
H.3365 & S2226 – An Act providing for building justice with jobs
Establish the Justice with Jobs Task Force and ensure that 1,000,000 homes are retrofitted for energy efficiency over 10 years, creating 1,000s of new, good-paying jobs.
H.4331 & S.2596 – An Act allowing municipalities to reasonably regulate solar siting
Recent solar projects have resulted in clear-cutting forests, eliminating resources for carbon sequestration. Protect forested, agricultural and wetland areas from this fate.
H.3333 & S.2197 An Act to prevent biomass energy to protect the air we breathe
Biomass is not climate friendly or smart, creating health problems for many. End current designations of biomass as an acceptable form of energy for reaching our climate goals.
Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (Click here to support these bills.)
H.967 & S.495 An Act relative to food justice with jobs
Funding Community Land Trusts, to develop and implement environmentally-sustainable, locally controlled, agricultural projects, paying living wages and benefits..
H.973 & S.564 An Act relative to establishing a food justice frontline
Fund food production projects, creating jobs and meeting local food security needs while providing jobs to individuals living within Overburdened Communities.
H.912 An Act relative to forest protection & H.1002 An Act relative to increased protection of wildlife management areas
Combined, these acts would permanently protect nearly 10% of Massachusetts forests, preserving this key defense against the damages caused by carbon emission.
Joint Committee on Housing (Click here to support these bills.)
H.1378 – An Act enabling local options for tenant protections
Local communities are currently prevented by a developer supported ban on rent control or stabilization ordinances.
In the face of the continuing pandemic, and declines in test positivity rates notwithstanding, COVID has devastated the financial status of thousands of renters and homeowners.
Joint Committee on Education (Click here to support these bills.)
H.651 & S.382 – An act relative to celebrating Native American culture and history.
This bill addresses the lack of Indigenous curriculum in Massachusetts public schools.
The MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must engage in timely and meaningful consultation with stakeholders, especially Indian tribes located in the state.
Joint Committee on Tourism and Arts (Click here to support these bills.)
S.2239/S.2240 & H.3377/H.3385 – An Act to protect Native American Heritage.
Ensure that Native American funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony, held in public or non-profit collections are not sold for profit.