Join MAAPL in Saving Homes, Neighborhoods, the Economy, & People’s Lives

The Green-Rainbow Party joins the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending in supporting four crucial bills in the state legislature that would protect homeowners and their tenants from the results of unscrupulous and predatory lending. (MAAPL, the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending, was founded two years ago by four Green-Rainbow Party members, along with several people from other organizations. See Eva Kerr's cover story, "Foreclosure Crisis Continues: State Legislature Must Act" in Green-Rainbow Party News, Autumn 2009 [PDF]).

You can help:

(1) Go to The MAAPL home page

(2) See the Action alert page for summaries of these bills summaries. See the Legislation page for bill texts and the names of their many sponsors.

(3) Please call your state representative and senator to make sure that (a) they have signed on and that (b) they have submitted or will quickly submit written testimony in support. NOTE: Current priority is the tenant-protection bill, which has already had a hearing.

(4) Review the Municipalities page to see material on home-rule petitions. If your community has not filed home-rule petitions on these issues, urge them to do so. If it has, let your legislator know about its importance.

(5) Look at the long list of Massachusetts organizations currently involved in this fight. Encourage any organizations you're a part of to sign on.

Support The Leadership Campaign to "Repower Massachusetts"

The Green-Rainbow Party has endorsed "An Act to Create a Repower Massachusetts Emergency Task Force," a bill spearheaded by The Leadership Campaign. They have a petition asking Massachusetts legislators to pass this bill, "which would establish a task force committed to developing a comprehensive plan to get 100% clean electricity by 2020 for the state through renewable and alternative energies."

(The bill cleared the Senate Ethics and Rules Committee on February 8th and has been referred to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy).

And considering joining The Leadership Campaign when they host another Sleep-out on the Common on Earth Day 2010!

Help the Boston Workers Alliance Pass Real CORI Reform

The Green-Rainbow Party endorses the efforts of the Boston Workers Alliance to pass real CORI reforms in 2010, and supports the legislation they introduced -- H3523 and S1608, filed by Rep. Liz Malia & Sen. Harriette Chandler, which "include reforms to institute fair hiring practices and shorten the excessive waiting period for sealing outdated records." These bills "would simplify the sealing process for non-conviction and outdated convictions; prevent the dissemination of irrelevant and/or outdated records; and help employers better evaluate the risks and benefits of hiring an individual with a CORI record, by removing the CORI question as a first-level screen for job applicants and having employers check CORI after a qualified pool of applicants has been determined."

A coalition of groups called the Commonwealth CORI Coalition (CCC) and recruited over 55 House co-sponsors and 12 Senate co-sponsors for this legislation, and got the bill through the State Senate. Join the BWA in in contacting legislators (here) !

See Open Media's account of account of a recent rally at the State House; read the Massachusetts Bar Association's memorandum; and check out "CORI Reform: Will This Be the Year?, in the Green-Rainbow Party News, Autumn 2009, p.2 [PDF]).