Your Help Needed to Restore the MCC Budget and Promote STEAM, not STEM!

Important Call to Action to Massachusetts Residents with regard to the House Budget (H. 4000) and Budget Process

Greetings,

There is a need for Massachusetts residents to contact their State Representatives to sign on to two key amendments to the House Budget. Please be aware, that in order for your State Representative to cosponsor an amendment, they will need to go to the House Clerk’s Office and sign the amendment book. Representatives can sign the book until the budget debate begins the week of April 28th.

First you need to find out who your State Representative is:
http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.aspx

The two key amendments to ask your State Representative to sign on to and support in the upcoming budget debate are:

[colorbox title=”1) Amendment #357 To H. 4000 (House Budget) to restore the funding for the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC)” color=”#2c467e”]Over 100 State Representatives signed on to this amendment. The MCC has compiled a list of the Representatives who have signed on to the amendment. Please check to see if your Representative has signed on. If they have thank them and if they have not, ask them to sign on.

http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/news/advocacy.asp#house_supporters

Excerpt of the key language of amendment: “move to amend the bill in section 2, in item 0640-0300, by striking out the figures “5,080,801” and inserting in place thereof the figures “16,000,000”.”

Full text of the amendment : https://malegislature.gov/Bills/188/House/H4000/Amendment/House/357/OriginalText[/colorbox]

[colorbox title=”2) Amendment #924 to H. 4000 that changes the proposed STEM Advisory Council (science, technology, engineering and math) to the STEAM Advisory Council (science, technology, engineering, art and math).” color=”#2c467e”]The co-signers for this amendment are State Representatives: Veira, Khan, Atkins and Peake. If they are your State Representatives – Thank them if they are your State Representatives (note these Reps also all signed on to amendment #357!). If none of the above are your Representatives, ask your Representative to sign in to this amendment!

Excerpt of the key language of amendment: “move to amend the bill in section 5 by striking out the acronym “STEM” and inserting in place thereof, in each instance, the acronym “STEAM”; and in said section in line 20, by inserting after “engineering” the following: “, arts”; and in said section in line 51, by inserting after “care” the following: “and the executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.”

Link to the amendment: https://malegislature.gov/Bills/188/House/H4000/Amendment/House/924/OriginalText[/colorbox]

Thank you for taking the time to do this and please share this call to action with others!

Sincerely,

Kathleen Bitetti
Artist, Co-founder of ArtistsUndertheDome.org and MALC