Fair Share Amendment and
Work and Family Mobility Act

YES! Questions 1 and 4 won at the ballot box in November 2022 thanks to MCAN’s leaders and organizers talking to 31,881 voters across the Commonwealth!

FAIR SHARE AMENDMENT

We seized an opportunity to build the public education and transportation that we want for ourselves and for future generations.  Our vision for the future of Massachusetts is bold and seeks to remedy the injustices currently holding us back. Join us in building this future and imagining…

• fare-free, carbon-free public
transportation all over the state

• smaller classes, where teachers can
focus on each student

• a wide range of innovative after-
school programs for all students

• getting to say what YOU want for
our schools and our transit

This opportunity was given to us by current and past leaders of MCAN (Pioneer Valley Project, Worcester Interfaith, Prophetic Resistance Boston, United Interfaith Action, I Have a Future, Brockton Interfaith Community, and Essex County Community Organization) - who collected 22,129 petition signatures in 2015, and pressed the legislature for years to advance this cause.

  • The Fair Share Amendment will raise over $2 billion annually for education and transportation, by setting a tax of 9% on incomes over $1 million. 

  • The entire 2022 public school budgets of Boston, Worcester and Springfield combined equals about $2.3 billion. The entire cost of MBTA trains, ferries, buses, handicapped RIDE programs, etc. across eastern MA is $2.3 billion this year. 

  • The very few people who make over $1 million a year typically see their wealth grow far faster than anyone else.  For example, 19 Massachusetts billionaires saw their wealth increase by $17 billion just in the first 3 months of the pandemic shutdown.

WORK & FAMILY MOBILITY ACT

It is a new day for immigrant families in Massachusetts! Thanks to the efforts of MCAN leaders, organizers and our partners, the Work and Family Mobility Act passed and now all qualified state residents may apply for a standard driver’s license, regardless of immigrant status. Now, all families in Massachusetts are able to get to work, bring children to school, and make it to medical appointments.

  • The Work & Family Mobility Act allows immigrants without status to obtain a driver’s license if they provide proof of identity, date of birth, and Massachusetts residency, pass the required Massachusetts driver’s test, and are properly registered and insured.

  • Allowing immigrants without status to get driver’s licenses will lead to safer roads and give law enforcement more tools to do their jobs efficiently and effectively. This act has been endorsed by over 60 law enforcement officials from across the Commonwealth, including most Sheriffs, district attorneys, and all 42 police chiefs in the Massachusetts Major Cities Chief of Police Association. It is also endorsed by a broad coalition of labor unions and immigrant rights organizers.

  • Massachusetts voters have ensured that immigrants without status can legally make essential trips (like dropping off kids at school, getting to work, medical appointments and the grocery store) while upholding the regulatory framework that ensures all drivers have passed a road test, bought insurance and have a form of verified identification.

    This act is also projected to bring an additional $5 million in taxes and $6 million in fees, inspections and other services within the next three years.

  • YES! 17 other states have passed similar driver’s license bills. Those states include most of our neighbors, and some states have had this law in place for decades already. States from California to Connecticut have seen significantly fewer hit-and-run chrashes. Utah and New Mexico have seen uninsured driving drop 80% and 60% respectively.

  • There are still safeguards against non-citizens voting. The law preserved by question 4 does NOT allow non-citizens to vote and does NOT automatically register non-citizens to vote. It also provides no public benefits to license holders. It also does not allow the driver to use this license for federal purposes such as plane travel, or as evidence of the holder’s citizenship, nationality, or immigration status.