House will vote soon on bill to expand driver’s license access to all residents, regardless of immigration status
BOSTON —Today the Massachusetts legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation voted favorably to move the Work and Family Mobility Act out of committee. According to press remarks by the office of House Speaker Ron Mariano, the bill will now head for a vote in the House of Representatives as early as next week. The following statement may be credited to The following statement is from Lenita Reason, Executive Director of the Brazilian Worker Center, and Chrystel Murrieta-Ruiz, Political Coordinator at 32BJ SEIU New England District 615
“As co-chairs of the Driving Families Forward Coalition, which includes over 270 businesses and organizations supporting the Work and Family Mobility Act, we are thrilled that the bill has favorably moved out of the Transportation Committee and will come before the House for a vote next week. We thank Speaker Mariano and the Co-Chairs of the Transportation Committee Representative Straus and Senator Keenan for the extensive discussions they’ve facilitated to tailor a bill that can best promote everyone’s safety. That includes law enforcement officials who need to know drivers’ identities, Massachusetts motorists who benefit when every driver is tested and insured, and, of course, the diverse immigrant communities who need to access doctor’s offices, schools and jobs. Many immigrants’ lives would be transformed by this bill, and everyone in the Commonwealth would have safer and more secure roads for it.”
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The Work and Family Mobility Act has been endorsed by over 270 businesses and organizations:
ACLU Massachusetts
ADL New England
AFL-CIO
Alliance for Business Leadership
American Friends Service Committee Northeast Regional Office
Anti-Defamation League
Asian American Resource Workshop
Berkshire Interfaith Organizing
Black Ministerial Alliance
The Boston Foundation
Brazilian Women’s Group
Brazilian Workers Center
Business Innovation Center
Cambridge Police Department
Cape Ann Local Action Network
Cape Cod Coalition for Safe Communities
Cape Verdean Association of Boston
Catholic Charities
Catholic Social Services of Fall River
Center to Support Immigrant Organizing (CSIO)
Centro Comunitario de los Trabajadores
Centro Presente
Coalition for Social Justice
Community Economic Development Center
Congress Insurance
Dominican Development Center, Inc.
Episcopal City Mission
Essex County Community Organization
Executive Committee of the Mattapoisett Democratic Committee
Field First, LLC
Gomez & Palumbo, LLC
Greater Andover Indivisible
Greater Haverhill Indivisible
Green-Rainbow Party
Haitian Comm. Faith Leader
Health and Law Immigrant Solidarity Network
Immigrants’ Assistance Center, Inc.
Indivisble Mystic Valley
INDIVISIBLE: Nantucket
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston
Justice at Work
Justice Center of Southeast MA
La Comunidad, Inc.
Latinos unidos en Massachusetts
League of Women Voters – MA
Main Street Alliance
Mass Business Immigration Coalition
Mass Interfaith Worker Justice
Massa Viana Law
Massachusetts Jobs With Justice
MassBudget
Mattapoisett Democratic Committee
MCAN
Merrimack Valley Project
MIRA Coalition
Movimiento Cosecha
National Association of Social Workers
New England Bangladeshi American Foundation Inc
New England Justice for Our Neighbors
North Parish of North Andover UU Racial Justice Team
Open Door Immigration Services
Parenting Journey
Pioneer Valley Interfaith Refugee Action Group
Pioneer Valley Project
Pioneer Valley Workers Center
Progressive Democrats of Mass.
Progressive Massachusetts
Rosie’s Place
Salem Chamber of Commerce
Salem No Place for Hate
SEIU 32BJ
SEIU 509
SEIU 1199
SEIU Massachusetts State Council
Solidarity Lowell
Student Immigrant Movement
Temple Anshe Amunim
The Irish International Immigrant Center
The Paulist Center Immigrant Advocacy Group
The Welcome Project
TPS Committee
Unitarian Universalist Mass Action
Unitarian-Universalist Society of Fairhaven
United Interfaith Action of Southeastern Massachusetts
United Workers Association, Region 9a
Western MA Jobs with Justice
Western Mass Area Labor Federation
Women Encouraging Empowerment
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With over 175,000 members in 11 states and Washington DC, including 20,000 in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property services union in the country.