Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action - www.jewishalliance.org
18 Tremont Street, Suite 320, Boston, 02108 - tel: 617-227-3000 fax: 662-796-6625

September 8, 2003                                                                                      11 Elul 5763

1. LEGISLATIVE ALERTS - URGENT AND IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED

i.  Sign AmeriCorps online petition
Led by conservatives in the House of Representatives, the Administration's budget request for
AmeriCorps was cut significantly. Notwithstanding Bush's statements about the importance of a
year's national service, the budget cuts would wipe out programs in many cities and serious weaken
the programs across the country. For example, the cuts represents a 50% reduction in
government support of our Boston-based CityYear program which was scheduled to expand from
13 to 15 cities this year.

This past week, some 700 persons took part in 100 hours of testimony in Washington,DC.
JALSA asks you to participate in the Save AmeriCorps Campaign by signing an on-line petition
and sending the petition to ten of your friends. AmeriCorps needs to reach 100,000 signatures
before new congressional consideration of their budgetary needs. They now have over
65,000 signatures of support.

a. – If you haven’t already, Sign the Save AmeriCorps Petition.
b. – Forward this email to 10 people - friends, family, co-workers, anyone who might support
the ideals of national service.
Include a personal note asking them to sign the petition and forward it themselves.
For more information about the Campaign, see www.saveamericorps.org. .

II. Attend rally Tuesday when Attorney General John Ashcroft will visit Boston
Faneuil Hall 8:00am
Attorney General John Ashcroft, as part of a tour to promote the USA Patriot Act,
will be speaking at Faneuil Hall this Tuesday September 9th. The event has been carefully
orchestrated to minimize public access. The media is to arrive at 8:05 AM, and he will speak at 9:20 AM
to an audience exclusively of law enforcement personnel. JALSA has worked extensively
to demonstrate that the "USA Patriot Act" and the expansion of the authority of the Attorney General
to determine what organizations are terrorists and what individuals are material witnesses (without court supervision)
is a misguided attempt to suppress civil liberties under the guise of improving public safety.
Using Faneuil Hall - the cradle of liberty - to defend this legislation is particularly outrageous.
We urge that JALSA members participate and protest Ashcroft's plan to pass USA Patriot Act II,
a further erosion of our civil liberties, by attending the rally and press conference
Tuesday, September 9, at Faneuil Hall. Bring signs expressing your concern over the use of
federal dollars to lobby by a member of the Executive Department and signs of concern about
the erosion of civil liberties.

iii. Testify Tuesday September 9 - MCAS Hearing
Gardner Auditorium, 10 o'clock on, sign-up for testimony beginning at 9:30am.
Hearing likely to go all day.
(Security checks at the State House. Easier if you are not carrying multiple briefcases and packages
and have state ID with you.)
Since the State Administration and Board of Education determined that there should be a
single state-wide test to determine competence to graduate (in contrast to the
1993 education reform statute that requires multiple forms of assessment), legislators
have had little opportunity to vote on bills that deal with this important issue. Notwithstanding
that there have been multiple bills introduced each year to require multiple means of evaluation
or an end to the high stakes requirement, the leadership of the legislature has never allowed
a vote on any of these. In the recent budget process, an amendment was successfully
offered in the House requiring a special appeals process for special education students,
so that they would have some recourse to local assessment of their work. After the Governor
vetoed the final narrower version of this amendment, House leadership did not allow an override
vote on the veto. This Tuesday, a new bill * H1250 filed by Wellesley Rep. Alice Peisch dealing
with the appeals process for special education will be among those considered at a hearing in
Gardner Auditorium. Also to be considered is S257 filed by Sen. Cynthia Creem, the most
comprehensive of the bills. This bill calls for eliminating the use of the MCAS as a graduation
requirement and putting in place a comprehensive assessment system using multiple measures.
A third bill H3487 introduced by Rep. Ruth Balser eliminates MCAS as a graduation requirement.
Come and testify, or come and lend support to this important hearing. Let your legislators know
you expect them to testify for the need to deal appropriately with special education students
and the MCAS, and our position against the high-stakes component (graduate requirement)
of this testing. Contact Marilyn Segal in the JALSA office for information about our
Alliance for High Standards NOT High Stakes.
See: www.caremass.org/legislation/legislative.htm. for general information about the issue.
See: http://jewishalliance.org/info/00000054.htm. for Q and A prepared by MassCare
in preparation for Tuesday's hearing.

2.    THIS WEEK'S MEETINGS

MCEE Conference Committee
Tuesday, September 9 1:00pm
CHAPA Office, Room 401, 18 Tremont Street, Boston
Conference Committee will meet to continue planning our outstanding conference dealing with equity, access, achievement, and adequacy.
          Ensuring Equity, Achieving Success; A New Vision for Public Education
          What it Really Takes to Leave No Child Behind
          Hold the Date for the Massachusetts Coalition for Equitable Education Conference
          Tuesday, October 21   Boston Location to be announced. 8:30am - 4:30pm

Committee on Law and Social Action
Thursday, September 11 12:30
JALSA Office, Room 320, 18 Tremont Street Boston
Volunteers sought to work on JALSA amicus brief in a case dealing with employment retaliation
for accusation of sexual harassment
Preparation for multiple synagogue dates educating community about erosion of civil liberties under
USA Patriot Act
Opposition to proposed state DOMA - Defense of Marriage Act.
Preparation for workshop for student group on sweatshops

3. ONGOING LEGISLATIVE ISSUES

Save the Date for Single Payer Health Care Hearing and Lobby Day
Wednesday, October 8th At 10am
The Gardner Auditorium, State House, Boston
Plan to testify at the hearings for the Massachusetts Health Care Trust (S.686)
Visit the MASS-CARE web site for the most up-to-date information http://www.masscare.org. 
"Let's give a great cheer for Steffi Woolhandler, David Himmelstein and Marcia Angell
who polled doctors nationwide and then persuaded JAMA to run their [proposal for
national single-payer system.]" And to JALSA member Rashi Fein who provided JAMA
a great editorial on the proposal. And to the Boston Globe for its editorial endorsement.
See: www.masscare.org/BostonGlobe.htm. 
See http://jewishalliance.org/info/00000055.htm. for a current list of the Joint Health Care Committee
See abstract of report: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/290/6/798. 

Health and Reproductive Choice
Last week, President Bush cut off funding to organizations providing reproductive health care
to refugees, denying basic health services to women who have upended their entire lives
fleeing their countries to escape the chaos and danger of civil wars and conflicts. In a
memorandum issued in the quiet of the Friday before Labor Day, Bush expanded the
global gag rule to prohibit foreign organizations that use their own, non-U.S. money to perform,
counsel, refer, or advocate safe abortion services from receiving U.S. family planning assistance
administered by the State Department. (Until now, the global gag rule has only applied to
family planning programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
In effect, the global gag rule uses the power of the purse to dictate what services and
information health care providers in other countries can offer their clients based on
U.S. anti-choice extremists’ ideological views.

Please send a letter of concern to your Senators and Representative – unless they know
their constituents care about reproductive freedom everywhere, not just in the U.S.,
retrograde policies like the global gag rule will continue to inflict harm on women around the world.

Federal Court Nominees
JALSA is pleased that judicial nominee Miguel Estrada has withdrawn his name from
consideration. A key issue of concern to us was his unwillingness to answer questions
about his record regarding reproductive choice issues. Please thank Senator Kennedy
for his work in maintaining the filibuster and urge that the Senate continue to oppose
the nominations of William H. Pryor (Alabama Attorney General); Justice Priscilla Owen,
Judge Charles Pickering, Sr., Judge Carolyn Kuhl, and Claude A. Allen.

Family Planning in Massachusetts
One last chance to restore family planning funding! You may have noted that a diligent
Globe reporter located nearly $726 million dollars available to fund important programs
in Massachusetts? Family planning funds were previously cut by 65% in FY '04 and
our legislators now have the ability to restore the $2.9 million needed to fund family planning services.

Take action now to ensure that women have access to critical family planning services
such as pregnancy prevention, cervical cancer screening, and sexually transmitted disease
prevention and treatment. Family planning services are proven methods to prevent unintended
pregnancies, lower the numbers of sexually transmitted diseases, and lower the abortion rate.
The teen pregnancy rate is the lowest it has been in 25 years. These cuts have the potential
to reverse this positive trend. This cut will force many family planning clinics to close
their doors and will deny critical healthcare to our most vulnerable citizens. Tell your legislators
to restore family planning services with a formal request to Speaker Finneran, President Travaglini,
Ways and Means Chairmen Rogers and Murray to restore $2.9 million to the
DPH Family Services line Item (4513-1000).

4. SUPPORT THE JEWISH ALLIANCE

The Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action----
dedicated to continuing a strong, progressive, inter-generational voice
inspired by Jewish teachings and values for social justice, civil rights, and civil liberties.

Membership is open to all who wish to work for progressive goals in the development of public policy.

Join us!

Visit www.jewishalliance.org.  and fill out the online donation form today!

 

5. COMMUNITY ISSUES