VOTER BALLOTS reflect voters’ positive attitudes toward paid sick days policy according to a recent study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The NORCstudy shows that 75% of the public supports guaranteeing workers a minimum number of paid sick days. The study also shows that over 3 times as many voters are likely to support a candidate who is in favor of paid sick days legislation than not.
Held on Thursday, State House – Coalition members lead by moms and kids from MomsRising will meet at the Grand Staircase to deliver stories from moms across the Commonwealth who desperately need paid sick days before the school year begins.
The advocates cheered as Governor Patrick signed the Neighborhood Stabilization Bill at the site of a Brockton home newly renovated by local affordable housing group.
Congratulations to all who worked hard on this bill. Great strides for tenants; new education on reverse mortgages; increased time for workouts.
This no-cost proposal will help save resources by preventing the public safety hazards that surround foreclosed properties, stabilizing property values, and preventing the housing instability that unnecessary evictions cause.
Foreclosures are devastating our communities in Massachusetts – The Federal Reserve reports that more than 33,300 Massachusetts homeowners are delinquent on their home loans due to a combination of high unemployment, negative property equity, (where the homeowner owes more than the value of the home) and risky lending. As of February, 2010, an additional 30,700 Massachusetts homes were already bank-owned or in the foreclosure process.
The Warren Group, an independent publisher of real estate data, said there were 1,283 foreclosure deeds filed in Massachusetts last month, up nearly 120 percent from the previous year. Through the first five months of 2010, the number of completed foreclosures was nearly double last year’s pace.
A Foreclosure Bill (H. 4595) is in the House Ways and Means Committeethat will help tenants and homeowners. It has already passed the Senate unanimously. This no-cost proposal will help save resources by preventing the public safety hazards that surround foreclosed properties, stabilizing property values, and preventing the housing instability that unnecessary evictions cause. The Bill does the following: 1) Provides eviction protections to tenants in foreclosed properties who are in good standing and continue to pay rent. 2) Establishes a framework for negotiations between lenders and homeowners to work together to create a mutually-acceptable loan modification. Participating in loan modification negotiations would be voluntary but lenders that do not participate will have to wait 150 days to foreclose on the property (up from current 90 day right to cure). This provision sunsets in 2016. 3) Creates an abandoned and foreclosed property registry to track distressed properties. 4) Encourages redevelopment of foreclosed properties by providing a local option to exclude nonprofits from property taxes during the term that the nonprofit rehabilitates the home and converts it into affordable housing. 5) Criminalizes mortgage fraud. 6) Requires counseling in order to receive a reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage is where a senior homeowner receives a loan on their home equity and the loan is paid back when the homeowner sell the home or passes away.
JALSA thanks CHAPA andd MAAPL for their continuing leadership on this legislation.
For more information on the bill, click on Fact Sheet
Immediate Action Needed – Friday July 9
Important civil rights issue in Senate Ways and Means
Please call members of Senate Ways and Means and Senate leadership about Senate 726 – An Employee Protection Act
In recent years, we’ve seen new efforts to eliminate various workplace protections. One of these techniques is to require employees to sign waivers, as they start a job, promising to put all workplace disagreements to arbitration panels of the employer’s discretion. Of greatest concern are waivers that have not been previously discussed in the job interviews, ones that are not part of negotiated agreements between employers and employees — that suddenly show up the first day on the job – sandwiched in between the health insurance documents and other office policies.
Many workers would not assume that such waivers could mean giving up their basic job rights, such as the right to make a discrimination claim before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
A bill to prevent such prospective waivers from being enforced in relation to claims of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, or violations of public policy, is now pending and is in the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. JALSA e-mail readers are asked to contact Senate leadership and members of the Ways and Means Committee and ask their own Senators to speak to members of the Committee, indicating the importance of this legislation.
The bill was introduced in the Senate by Senator Tollman.
Jody Newman and Kathy Weinman of Dwyer and Collora, LLP accepted JALSA’s Community Leadership Award for their outstanding leadership on the issues of diversity, equal opportunity, and inclusion. Bob Turner and Georgianna Melendez accepted the special recognition of the Commonwealth Compact for its work retooling Boston into a warm and receptive place for persons of color. The Compact is currently working with 180 companies setting out benchmarks for the measurement of improvements.
