CAMPAIGN UPDATE: You did it! Thanks to your quick action, you protected public water in Massachusetts.
Since we first heard about language in an environmental bill that would have thrown open the doors for water privatization, we and our allies across the state jumped into action. We made sure the issue was unavoidable. People like you called dozens of legislators, and made sure they knew this language was unacceptable. By the time organizers and volunteers held meetings with committee members, they had already heard about the threat to our water from their constituents and fellow lawmakers.
And our organizing worked! The committee removed the language opening the door for privatization before they voted the bill out of the committee.
Thank you so much for protecting our water. This is a big victory, but the bill isn’t final yet. We’ll have to remain vigilant because this language could resurface again before the bill is passed into law. We’ll keep a close eye on the bill and we’ll keep you updated on future opportunities to protect our public water.
If you live in Massachusetts, please take action on this urgent campaign to protect public water. If you live outside Massachusetts, please send this article to your friends and family who live in Massachusetts:
There’s a new threat to public water in Massachusetts — but you can help stop it in its tracks.
Governor Baker has proposed a bill that would open the door for private water corporations to profit off our water systems. It would even allow them access to our vital public funding to do so.
Snuck into a massive bill introduced by Governor Baker last month is language that would essentially let corporations use public money to pad their profits: It would allow private water corporations to access federal and state funding that our public water systems sorely need. And if this proposal becomes law, it would open the door for city councils and mayors across the state to be barraged with unsolicited sales pitches from the private water industry.
We’ve seen what happens to communities when the private water industry comes in: rate hikes, labor abuses, and failure to invest in necessary infrastructure. On top of it all, this bill would allow corporations to lock towns and cities into these contracts for up to 20 years!
Protect public water in Massachusetts! Call your state legislators right now.
This has happened before: A bill was quietly introduced in the Massachusetts legislature last session. It was virtually the same as the privatization language in this year’s bill. But hundreds of people like you raised your voices in support of public water in the summer of 2016. You made sure these pro-privatization policies became so politically toxic that they never made it into law.
We can stop this new privatization push in its tracks again, but we only have days before the bill will likely come up for a vote in committee.
