Written Testimony in Support of S.2730: “An Act to increase access to disposable menstrual products”

TO: Massachusetts House Committee on Ways and Means

FROM: Harvard College Democrats

DATE: March 31st, 2022

Dear Chair Aaron Michlewitz, Vice Chair Ann-Margaret Ferrante, and members of the House Committee on Ways and Means,

My name is Syd Sanders, and I am the Legislative Director of the Harvard College Democrats. I am speaking on behalf of our organization in urging the House Committee on Ways and Means to support and report favorably on S.2730: An Act to increase access to disposable menstrual products. 

S.2730 was reported favorably out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and subsequently passed in a 40-0 margin on the Senate floor. It has since been referred to House Ways and Means, where we hope that it will be reported favorably and continue through the legislative process. 

The Harvard College Democrats support S.2730 because it requires shelters, public schools, prisons and jails to provide feminine hygiene products in a free and unstigmatized manner, an essential provision for reproductive health access across the Commonwealth. 

Inequitable access to menstrual products is a critical issue in Massachusetts and across the country. In Massachusetts, 56% of school nurses have reported that they have observed students missing class to obtain period products (National Organization for Women). One in four students face period poverty, or an inability to access or afford menstrual products (PERIOD). There are racial disparities within these statistics - nearly a quarter of Latinx students report having to choose between period products and clothes or food, and half of Black and Latinx students report difficulties in completing school work due to difficulties obtaining menstrual products (PERIOD). Incarcerated individuals requiring menstrual products frequently have to beg or barter for menstrual products and struggle to pay for them in prison commissaries, an unnecessary and inhumane barrier for essential healthcare products. For homeless menstruators, this issue is even more acute. A quarter of temporary housing facilities like shelters report not being able to provide menstrual products, and houseless menstruators face infection from using menstrual products for too long or from makeshift, unsanitary products (National Organization for Women; American Civil Liberties Union). 

S.2730 fills these unnecessary gaps and ensures that menstruators across Massachusetts are guaranteed menstrual products, an essential health care item, in a free and dignified way. The Harvard College Democrats urge the House Committee on Ways and Means to take up this legislation and report it favorably, following the Senate’s lead on getting this critical legislation passed. 

Sincerely, 

Harvard College Democrats

Harvard Undergraduate Women in Medicine

Please contact Syd Sanders, Legislative Director, at legislative@harvarddems.org with any questions.

Written Testimony in Support of H.4071: “An Act securing housing options for eligible tenants with a history of criminal justice involvement”

TO: Massachusetts House Committee on Ways and Means

FROM: Harvard College Democrats

DATE: March 31st, 2022

Dear Chair Aaron Michlewitz, Vice Chair Ann-Margaret Ferrante, and members of the House Committee on Ways and Means,

My name is Luke Albert, and I’m a Co-President of the Harvard College Democrats. I am speaking on behalf of the organization in urging the House Committee on Ways and Means to support and report favorably on H.4071 An act securing housing options for eligible tenants with a history of criminal justice involvement. 

H.4071 was reported favorably out of the Joint Committee on Housing. It has since been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, where we hope that it will be reported favorably and continue through the legislative process. 

The Harvard College Democrats support H.4071 because Massachusetts suffers from an increasingly widespread housing and homelessness crisis, an issue that disproportionately impacts the formerly incarcerated. The bill creates a program in the Department of Housing and Community Development dedicated to assisting the formerly incarcerated with finding housing. It will counsel and connect individuals nearing release with affordable housing and available government subsidies and programs like Section 8 vouchers. It also incentivizes landlords to lease to tenants who have been formerly incarcerated, counteracting the discrimination many face today. It also incentivizes the construction of new affordable housing, on the condition that the formerly incarcerated are given priority status in attaining units. Meanwhile, it does all of this at an incredibly low, virtually nonexistent cost.

Formerly incarcerated people re-entering society have a difficult enough time finding a job and accessing basic government services without the difficulties associated with finding stable housing. Individuals with criminal records are 10 times more likely to become homeless, a direct threat to recidivism (Prison Policy Initiative). People experiencing homelessness make up 13% of all arrests in Massachusetts despite being 0.29% of the population (National Alliance to End Homelessness; Boston Globe). The housing unaffordability and inaccessibility presented to the formerly incarcerated traps people into cycles of recidivism, upending lives, increasing crime, and costing the state more money in supporting prisons than it takes to provide affordable housing. 

This bill is a critical tool in breaking cycles of crime, poverty, and homelessness. It is complementary in the broader umbrella of policy needed to combat the crises of housing, crime, and incarceration. To not pass this bill is a choice that would result in many of our neighbors suffering on the streets and in incarceration. We urge the passage of H.4071 An act securing housing options for eligible tenants with a history of criminal justice involvement out of the Committee and through the House.

Sincerely,

Harvard College Democrats

The Housing Opportunities Program

Please contact Syd Sanders, Legislative Director, at legislative@harvarddems.org with any questions.