by Cole Harrison
MAPA advocates and our allies are pressing the Massachusetts legislature for action this year, with activism around nuclear weapons issues taking the lead. We have filed six bills comprising the Commonwealth Peace and Justice Agenda and are opposing three more, in seven committees of the legislature. The Agenda was launched in two webinars, “How Massachusetts Legislation can Lead the Nation” on April 11, and “Introducing the Commonwealth Peace and Justice Agenda” on April 24.
Activists pushed our three nuclear disarmament bills during a lobby day May 24, organized by Kathleen Hamill. Bill sponsors Rep. Mike Connolly and Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, and the legal counsel for Sen. Jo Comerford, addressed 25 activists. They divided into four teams and visited over 30 offices, meeting with legislators and aides and explaining the agenda.
The Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Management, chaired by Rep. William Driscoll of Milton and Sen. Marc Pacheco of Taunton, held a hybrid hearing to discuss the Nuclear Weapons & Climate Comission bill (H.738) on June 12. The bill, authored by Timmon Wallis and Vicki Elson of nuclearban.us and filed by Sen. Jo Comerford and Rep. Sabadosa, would set up a commission to plan how to end production of nuclear weapons and use of fossil fuels in the Commonwealth. Over a dozen advocates testified, outlining the danger of nuclear war and the need for Massachusetts to get out of the nuclear weapons industry and shift resources to deal with the urgent threat of climate change.
A new Warheads to Windmills campaign is making the same point at a national level. A national online rally May 7 organized by Wallis and hosted by MAPA drew over 250 participants, who were addressed by 16 presenters and attended 10 breakouts on different topics.
A pair of bills to divest the state pension fund from companies that produce nuclear weapons (S.1651/H.2480), filed by Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Rep. Connolly and authored by MAPA co-chair Jonathan King, were heard on June 13 by the Joint Committee on Public Service, chaired by Rep. Ken Gordon of Bedford and Sen. Michael Brady of Brockton, with eight activists testifying in favor.
The third nuclear weapons bill is a resolution (S.1487) calling on our Federal leaders to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and to take five immediate steps outlined in the Back from the Brink agenda, including ending sole presidential authority, committing to No First Use, taking weapons off hair trigger alert, and canceling production of new nuclear weapons and delivery systems. Filed by Sen. Comerford and authored by Physicians for Social Responsibility’s Ira Helfand, It is assigned to the Public Safety committee, which has not announced a hearing date.
A Boston Common rally on the occasion of peace boat Golden Rule’s visit to Boston on June 20 pushed our three nuclear bills. It was addressed by Rep. Connolly, Sen. Eldridge, Boston City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, Helfand, King, Hamill, and by Golden Rule project manager Helen Jaccard and Veterans for Peace board member Gerry Condon, Cambridge Friends Meeting’s John Bach, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s Eileen Kurkoski, and Raytheon Antiwar Campaign’s Paul Shannon. Toussaint the Liberator and the Voices of Hope choir of women in recovery provided musical inspiration.
The US has not had an active draft since 1975, but like a zombie, the Selective Service system continues on. Young men turning 18 are supposed to register for the draft, but there is no enforcement and few do, except in some states where the information of everyone who applies for a driver’s license is forwarded to Selective Service automatically. The Transportation Committee heard testimony June 13 on two bills calling on Massachusetts to adopt automatic draft registration (H.3296/ S.2281). The bills would cause applicants for drivers’ licenses, learner’s permits, state ID cards, and renewals of these cards to be automatically registered with the Selective Service System unless the applicant opts out. MAPA and allies, led by Ed Hasbrouck, the first and only person prosecuted in Masachusetts for failing to register, and who has devoted himself to organizing against Selective Service ever since.
Our Taxpayers’ Right to Know bill (S.2054/H.3015) would Send Massachusetts residents a summary of where their tax dollars have gone each year in an effort to educate citizens on how their money is being spent. Sponsored by Sen. Pacheco and Rep. Carol Doherty and authored by Jonathan King, it is tentatively scheduled for a July 26 hearing by the State Administration Committee, chaired by New Bedford’s Rep. Antonio Cabral and Sen. Nick Collins of South Boston.
The same committee tentatively plans to discuss our ethics bill on Sept. 20. It would ban travel paid for by lobbying interests for Massachusetts legislators. That bill, H.3120, was filed by Erika Uyterhoeven and was written by Susan Nicholson and Jeff Klein.
We are opposing two bills filed by one-sidedly pro-Israel legislator Steve Howitt. A bill to establish the flawed International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of anti-semitism as state law (H.1558) has been assigned to the Judiciary committee, which has not announced a hearing date. A bill to strike at the right to boycott Israel (H.3054) is pending before the State Administration Committee, which tentatively plans to hear testimony on Sept. 6.
The Moral Budget bill (S.1820/ H.2875), filed by Sen. Paul Feeney and Rep. Jay Livingstone, is pending before the legislature’s Revenue Committee, chaired by Rep. Mark Cusack of Braintree and Sen. Susan Moran of Falmouth.
Some 50 activists, including Claire Gosselin and Bruce Taub of MAPA’s racial justice/ indigenous solidarity (RJ/IS) working group, joined a lobby day June 15 for the Indigenous Legislative Agenda.
A coalition led by Families for Justice as Healing and supported by the RJ/IS group will support its case for the Prison and Jail Moratorium bill (S.1979) at a June 27 hearing.
