Info on Senate Bill 00593-An Act Relative to Eligibility for Cooperative Housing Corporations (Massachusetts)
We need to generate as many letters/emails as possible in opposition to this legislation. If you need help crafting your email/letter feel free to email us at- contact@artistsunderthedome.org after you look over what is posted on this page.
Background info:
This is the third time this bill has been filed by legislator Finegold who lives in Andover. Here are several links to news articles about the legislation and the motive for the filing of this problematic legislation:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-16401219.html
http://www.baystatebanner.com/Print?page=Editorial51-2008-06-12 (good editorial- see legalized discrimination editorial)
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/09/12/nouveau-millionaire-rails-against-old-money-snobs/
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Where to send emails- by Friday, June 17th, noon Shannon.Moore@mahouse.gov (please also send us a copy at contact@artistsunderthedome.org)
By mail (and how to address emails and letters):
Joint Committee on Housing
RE: Senate Bill S00593
Room 38
State House
Boston, MA 02133
PLEASE USE YOUR OWN WORDS AS FORM LETTERS ARE NOT AS EFFECTIVE-
Note: If you have lived or currently live in an artist co-op please mention this in your correspondence. Feel free to incorporate any or all of the 12 talking points at the end of this page.
SAMPLE LETTER
Chairman Representative Honan & Chairman Senator Elldridge and members of the Joint Committe on Housing
Joint Committee on Housing
Room 38
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Dear Chairman Honan, Chairman Eldridge and members of the Joint Committee on Housing,
I am writing to ask you to oppose Senate Bill S00593, An Act Relative to Eligibility for Cooperative Housing Corporations. The bill has unintended consequences that will negatively impact artists co-ops. This same bill was vetoed by the Governor in 2008 and I ask the Committee to not allow it to advance this session. Artists co-ops are a key tool to keep artists of all disciplines in our state and to grow our creative economy. They will be a key tool for the new Cultural District’s Program our state arts council, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, is rolling out this year.
Thank you for your support of artists and of artists co-ops.
Sincerely,
Your name
Address
email/phone number.
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TALKING POINTS (Note you don’t have all or any of them for your email/letter, but if possible try to put them in your own words)
Talking Points gathered from the past hearings on Senate Bill S00593:
1. Senate Bill S00593 does not offer adequate protection to existing and future artists co-ops which are used by artists for the creation of artists live/work spaces to enable artists to not be gentrified out of a community/geographic area. Nor does it protect limited equity housing co-ops.
2. By not allowing adequate protection of artists co-ops or limited equity coops, Senate Bill S00593 will negatively impact the state’s creative economy sector. It will do this by hindering efforts to protect, grow, and sustain artists communities which are one of the key foundation of a healthy creative economy.
3. Under current state law (Chapter 151B, Section 4), co-ops are currently forbidden from discriminating on the basis of race, heritage, sexual orientation, religion, marriage status, ancestry, disability, veteran status, or gender. Given the protection of Chapter 151B, Senate Bill S00593 is not needed.
4. Senate Bill S00593 will not remedy any problem, it will only create undesirable ones and negative unintended consequences. Senate Bill S00593 is both unnecessary and destructive to the economic interests of the Commonwealth.
5. This new version of the Senate Bill S00593 drastically changes existing state law for Cooperative Housing and could impact other state housing laws.
6. This legislation would in effect make it illegal for co-ops to do thorough background screenings of applicants via professional, work, and/or personal references or criminal background checks.
7. The bill, in its current form, does not take into account the issues of when there is more than one eligible candidate for an available co-op unit and/or if there is a waiting list. Seldom is there only one person/family applying for a co-op unit.
8. Income should never be the only measure for co-ops (especially if they are not a defining themselves as a community of interest) because financial acumen is no indicator of an appropriate moral or ethical character, nor does it predict suitability for responsible membership in a community.
9. Decisions based solely on financial criteria are unfairly discriminatory. For example, women generally make less money than men, whites make more than people of color and people with higher IQ's usually make more than those with lower IQ's. There is nothing equitable about income as a sole determinant for membership.
10. Any co-op board could craft a narrow and complex financial application hurdles that would virtually ensure those whom the co-op board felt "undesirable", however unfairly, could be excluded. Financial criteria alone cannot be the sole basis for making a decision for membership in a community.
11. Senate Bill S00593 sets up an unfunded mandate for the Secretary of State to do outreach to existing co-op owners about the new law. Any legislative directive/mandate should be funded.
12. It should be mandated that the Secretary of State will collaborate with the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHE), the housing advocates, co-op advocates, and the artists advocates on the language used for the printed communication to existing co-ops on the law change. The resulting printed document should also be given out for free to anyone who wishes to establish co-op housing in the state. The document should be posted both on the Secretary's website and the website of EOHE. This effort needs to be adequately funded.
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