Ask your state legislators to co-sponsor MTA bills

The MTA Board of Directors has voted to file six priority bills for the 2013-2014 state legislative session, as recommended by the MTA’s member-led Government Relations Committee. MTA lobbyists have helped secure lead sponsors for the bills, and now we need your help to get legislative co-sponsors for this important legislation.

Please contact your legislators today and urge them to co-sponsor one or more of MTA’s six priority bills. The bills must be filed by January 18 – and senators and representatives have only until February 1 to sign on as co-sponsors.

Don’t delay! Request that your legislators contact the lead sponsor or sponsors of each bill in order to be listed on the measure as a co-sponsor.

Contact Your Legislators

Legislation to Be Filed for the Massachusetts Teachers Association in the 2013-2014 Session

An Act to Invest in Our Communities

Restores the income tax rate from 5.25% to 5.95%, raises the personal exemption enough to hold down increases for middle-class families; raises the tax rate on investors, and provides a targeted exemption for middle-class seniors. Provides approximately $1.4 billion in additional revenue to maintain funding for our communities, schools and colleges, health care, innovation and infrastructure to make our state a good place to live and do business.

Sponsors: Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz and Representative Jim O’Day

An Act Reviving the Foundation Budget Review Commission

Revives the Foundation Budget Review Commission, originally established under the Education Reform Act of 1993, to begin the process of revising the Chapter 70 foundation budget so that it more accurately provides the resources necessary for all students to meet the state’s education standards. Bill also calls for examining whether current resources are being used efficiently.

Sponsors: Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz and Representative Alice Peisch
 
An Act Establishing a Commission on the Funding Needs for Quality Public Higher Education

Establishes a commission composed of representatives of the Legislature, administration and unions to investigate the current funding of the higher education system and to make recommendations for legislation to improve programs, staffing and funding; requires public hearings and proposes a state appropriation of $250,000 to fund the work of the commission.

Sponsor: Senator Michael Moore

An Act Restoring Faculty and College Excellence

Increases the percentage of undergraduate courses taught by full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty in order to restore quality to our state college and university system, threatened with the overuse of adjunct faculty. Bill also provides health and pension benefits and other support for adjunct faculty in order to ensure that all faculty can do their jobs effectively.

Sponsor: Representative David Sullivan

An Act Relative to Improving Quality in Early Education and Care Through Center Based Child Care Providers

Establishes a process, through negotiations, for improving the quality of early learning and child care services and expanding the opportunities for educational advancement for child care providers.

An Act to Protect the Integrity of Initiative and Referendum Petitions

Regulates the initiative petition process to limit shady practices and restore integrity and confidence in our ballot initiative and referendum system by establishing a process for guaranteeing a fair system of collecting signatures for petitions. Currently there are no regulations on overseeing individuals who are paid to gather signatures. The petition process is being threatened by groups utilizing a growing industry of paid signature gatherers.

Sponsors: Senator Stan Rosenberg and Representative Denise Provost

Contact Your Legislators

For additional information on any of these bills, please contact MTA’s Government Relations Division – 617-878-8119, or email jblum@massteacher.org .