Two identical bills calling for the establishment of a Citizens’ Commission to look into the threat posed by nuclear weapons to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (H.3688 and S.1555) were successfully voted out of committee on May 4th, after intense lobbying by peace campaigners across Massachusetts. The bills now sit with the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees, respectively, and a final push is needed to bring them to a vote and passed into law.
Campaigners in Massachusetts, supported by Massachusetts Peace Action, local peace groups, churches and other bodies, wrote, emailed, phoned and met with their own state reps and with members of the committee. They were supported in their efforts by a statewide poll showing that 80% of MA Democrats support the setting up of such a Commission, and the distribution to members of the state house and many of their staff of an impressive dossier describing the state’s complicity in the nuclear weapons industry.
To get these bills passed into law will now require a herculean effort to reach many more members of the MA State House with the message that this is now the least they can do to address the ever-present danger of nuclear war, highlighted by current events in Ukraine.
If you live in Massachusetts, please write to your State Rep and Senator now urging them to support H.3688/S.1555. And if you know anyone who lives in Massachusetts, please urge them to write to their State Rep and Senator! All the details about the bill, who to write to, and what to say, are on the page: nuclearban.us/mass.
And if you’ve only got time to do one thing, go to this page right now, click on the button below the picture which says “Send him an email right now” and do it!!!
