BWA CORI Campaign Update

bostonworkersalliance.org

Voting on House Bill #5004 “An act to improve certain criminal justice matters” was postponed until next formal session on Tuesday (7/29).

All available supporters should join us on Tuesday:

Tuesday, July 29th
12:30pm (and onward)
State House, outside House Chamber (3rd Floor)

While we have made major headway by securing “Ban the Box” in the Judiciary Committee’s proposal, there are three issues that may derail our efforts in the next 7 days.

1) Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), has started an active lobbying campaign against our CORI reforms. AIM has donated large sums of money for re-election campaigns. Legislators must be held accountable to the people - not big businesses.

2) The State Senate appears to be undecided whether it will take up the bill after it is passed in the House. Rapid outreach to Senators and Senate President Murray is critical.

3) The Bill #5004 includes positive provisions around sealing, ban the box, and a reduction of school zones from 1000ft to a 100ft. However, a central part of HB #5004 is a mandatory parole period for all prisoners who serve over 1 year in jail. BWA strongly opposes the blanket expansion of parole supervision.

The Message to Elected Officials:

“Dear _________, please help pass CORI reform this session. The sealing periods should be 3 and 7 years, and the criminal record question should be removed from job applications. However, I do not support mandatory parole as it will cost the state too much money, and leads to the unnecessary re-incarceration of ex-prisoners. Thank you”

Key Call-In Target:

Senate President Therese Murray
Tel: (617) 722-1500

Speaker of the House Sal DiMasi
Tel: 617-722-2500

Thank you to the hundreds of people who have already called-in and attended rallies and lobby days. Please support the movement and our final call-in efforts to target the Senate and House leadership, today and Monday.

Find your own legislator at www.wheredoivotema.com - call the State House operator at 617 722 2000.

Download a summary and text of HB #5004 at www.BostonWorkersAlliance.org