A new two-year session of the Massachusetts legislature began Jan. 2, to run through the end of 2020, with most of the work scheduled to finish July 31, 2020.
If the workings of the legislature are a bit of a mystery, LWVMA is offering a webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m. to explain how the legislature works and how the League, through its Legislative Action Committee (LAC), chooses the bills it will support (or oppose) and follows them through the session. Nancy Brumback, LAC chair, will present the information. Please sign up here and you will receive the link to join the webinar.
LWVMA’s legislative priorities this session start with continued reform of our election processes, including Election Day registration, expanded early voting, more robust audits of elections, election security and ranked choice voting. We will also focus on bills to combat climate change and energy use. A third priority is reform of the foundation budget formula to finance education.
But our 18 legislative specialists work on bills in many different areas, and you can get an idea of that work with this advocacy agenda. The LAC is currently reviewing the bills that have been filed and will be posting the ones we will follow on our website as those decisions are made.
You will get a chance to be part of our advocacy by attending our Day on the Hill lobby day, when it is scheduled for a date in October at the State House in Boston. You can also help by taking action when it is suggested in the Mass League Action Newsletter that you receive the first of every month.
If you are interested in being the contact between the LAC specialists, your local League, and the Senators and Representatives for the town(s) your League serves, consider joining our Legislative Envoy program. Find out more here.
We had a lot of success in the legislative session just ended, capped by passage of Automatic Voter Registration, criminal justice reform, civics education requirements, and several women’s rights bills. We look forward to even more progress this session.