TIME TO ACT, NOW! JULY IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

Bill S.2119 passed in the Senate in January- but is now stuck in the House. This bill must get to the floor for a vote sooner than later, if not the clock will run out, again.  Timing is significant here.  The vote has to happen before July 31 or the bill will have to be refiled, again, in the next session – after this fall’s election, the process will take two years, but more important women will lose, again!

We must contact our own state legislators. There are three groups listed below. Following each group are bullets that lay out the specific questions we need to ask each group. All must to be urged to contact the Speaker of the House to get the bill to the floor for a vote. Please contact their offices by email, phone and letters. If you receive responses and are willing to share them, please forward them to us CapeCodWomenforChange@gmail.com.

If you aren’t sure who your State Rep is, the Secretary of State has this great tool, type your address in and it will tell you your legislators are and where your poll is located:  http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.aspx

Group 1. Rep David Viera and Rep Tim Whelan signed on as a petitioners when the bill  was first introduced in the house in 2015, we don’t know if they will continue to support the bill, if they will help with the effort to get the bill to a vote and/or if they will help protect it from amendments.

•  State Representative David T Vieira:

State House: Room 167, Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2230, Email: David.Vieira@mahouse.gov
District Office: 346 Gifford Street, Unit 3, Falmouth, MA 0254
Phone: 508-548-8683

• State Representative Timothy Whelan:

State House, Room 39, Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2014, Email: Timothy.Whelan@mahouse.gov

Questions for Group 1:

• Will they contact the Speaker and urge him to get this bill to the floor? How? When?
  
• Will they support the bill without amendments and help keep the bill free of amendments?

2. State Representative Randy Hunt gave us the impression he will support the bill, but nothing firm. He said he would write a letter to the Speaker of the House to help move the bill to the floor; we have heard nothing since that commitment.

• State Representative Randy Hunt

State House, Room 136, Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2396, Fax: 617-626-0218
Email: Randy.Hunt@mahouse.gov

Questions for Rep Hunt:

• Will he support this bill without amendments?
• Will he write a letter to the Speaker of the House and Ways and Means to urge the bill be moved to the floor for a vote before the end of this session?

Group 3.  The following legislators have committed to support the bill, signed on as petitioners when the bill was first filed last year,  and told us they still support the bill.

• State Representative Brian Mannal

State House, Room 473F, Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2210, Fax: 617-626-0166
Email: Brian.Mannal@mahouse.gov

• State Representative Sarah Peake

State House,  Room 163,  Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2040, Fax: 617-722-2239,

Email: Sarah.Peake@mahouse.gov

• State Representative Tim Madden

State House, Room 167, Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2810, Fax: 617-722-2846
Email: Timothy.Madden@mahouse.gov

Messages and questions for group 3:

• Thank you for your support!
• What will you do to see that this bill is moved to the floor for a vote?
• What will you do to guard against amendments that will weaken the bill?

4. Rep Susan Gifford has not committed to support this bill, we met with her staff but never received a response (this doesn’t mean they don’t support it, just that they have yet to respond either way.)

• State Representative Susan Gifford:

State House: Room 124, Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2100, Fax: 617-722-2848, Email: Susan.Gifford@mahouse.gov
District Office: 191 Main Street, Suite 213F, Wareham, MA 02571
Phone: 508-295-5999, Fax: 508-295-5993

Message for Representative Gifford:

• Do you support this legislation?
  • If you will support the bill, what will you do to help move it to the floor for a vote?
  • Will you try to make or support amendments, what would those amendments be and why? (we don’t want more amendments made to this legislation.)
• If you don’t support the law, why not? Please ask for specifics.
• Tell them you want this bill passed, the details about why this bill needs to be passed are here.

 

Full text of bill as filed and it’s history during this session : https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/Senate/S2119
PDF version of bill: BillS2119

More action steps coming up soon, stay tuned!