Copy
View this email in your browser
Dear Women's Caucus Members, Legislative Colleagues, and Partners,

We hope that you all are enjoying the warmer weather as we cruise into the summer months. As we are halfway through the busy month of June, we hope that you will take a moment to read the updates below about the work of the Women's Caucus.

As you know, the Women's Caucus recently finalized our strategic and legislative priorities after a thorough and inclusive process involving input from our members. Since those priorities were determined several months ago, we have been busy working with our legislative and coalition partners to advance our priority bills, raise awareness, and submit testimony as bills are heard before Committees.

We've been doing work that includes advocating for our priorities during the budget debates, holding multiple events, and more to support our mission in ways that stretch beyond legislative advocacy--those updates are below as well. 

We hope that you find this newsletter informative. We appreciate your partnership, and as always encourage you to connect with us. To do so, please contact our Executive Director, Nora Bent


Sincerely,

Senator Joan Lovely & Representative Hannah Kane
MCWL Co-Chairs
Strategic Priorities
  • Elevating Women’s Economic Opportunity & Eliminating Barriers
  • Addressing Racial and Gender Disparities in Health Care 
  • Empowering Women in Government
     
Legislative Priorities
  • An Act relative to a livable wage for human service workers
  • An Act relative to salary range transparency
  • An Act to increase access to disposable menstrual products in prisons, homeless shelters, and public schools
  • An Act relative to postpartum depression screening
    • H.2163, Rep. Fiola & S.1375, Sen. Friedman
    • This bill was heard before the Joint Committee on Public Health on June 6. Caucus ED Nora Bent testified in support of this bill, and you can see the Caucus' written testimony here.
       
  • An Act supporting parents running for public office 
    • H.669, Rep. Meschino and Rep. Connolly & S.422, Sen. Jehlen
    • This bill was heard before the Joint Committee on Election Laws on May 17. Caucus ED Nora Bent testified alongside coalition partners in support of this bill, and you can see the Caucus' written testimony here.
    • Check out this editorial by the Globe's Yvonne Abraham in support of this legislation, and this article that details why this is such an important and simple policy.
       
Endorsed Legislation
Annually, our Board of Directors meets with members of leadership across both legislative chambers and the Executive Branch. We here honored to recently meet with Speaker Mariano to discuss the Women's Caucus priorities for this session, and how we can continue to collaborate.
Our State Budget Task Force, led by Sen. Friedman and Rep. Ciccolo, supported amendments that relate to our Caucus priorities during the FY24 budget debate. In May, we supported the above amendments to the Senate budget. 

We thank both the House and Senate for such strong FY24 budget proposals and debates and look forward to further advocacy through the Conference Committee.
  • Suffrage100MA is hosting a gala on Wednesday, June 14 at 6 pm. Learn more here. 
     
  • The Women's Caucus is hosting a briefing for our legislative colleagues with our partners at Big Sister Boston on Tuesday, June 20 at 11 am at the State House (House Member's Lounge).
     
  • The U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau is hosting an event in Springfield to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the FMLA & MA's paid leave protections on Tuesday, June 20 at 3 pm. Learn more and register here.
     
  • Our partners at the MA Commission on the Status of Women are hosting two upcoming events.
Please let us know if you have events that you would like to be highlighted in the next newsletter or shared on social media.
We were pleased to host Secretary Yvonne Hao, who leads the state's Executive Office of Economic Development. Each quarter, we host a meeting for the full Caucus where we invite a guest speaker to discuss their work as it relates to one of our priorities.

At this meeting, we had an informative conversation with Secretary Hao about our strategic priority focused on "elevating women's economic opportunity and eliminating barriers." We are grateful to Secretary Hao and her team for joining us, and look forward to continued collaboration!
Please let us know if you have articles or social media that you would like to be highlighted in the next newsletter or shared on social media.
Please let us know if you have accomplishments that you would like to be highlighted in the next newsletter or shared on social media. 
Please send relevant articles, upcoming events, social media you would like shared, accomplishments, or other updates that you think MCWL members and our partners would find helpful. All updates should be sent to Nora.Bent@MALegislature.gov
Twitter
Facebook
Website
Copyright © 2023 Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp