On Tuesday, Tufts Democrats decided to lobby in support of a bill that would improve accessibility for homeless individuals applying for Massachusetts identification cards. The group began preparing for the multistep lobbying on Beacon Hill at the Massachusetts Legislature.
After brainstorming potential political topics to focus on, members of the organization looked through bills currently moving through the state legislature. Voting between bills addressing college legacy admissions, requiring financial literacy in Massachusetts public school curriculums, the waiving of state identification fees for homeless people and more, members opted to support Bill HD.1085 titled “An Act to provide identification to youth and adults experiencing homelessness.”
Bill HD.1085, presented by State Reps. James O’Day and Sean Garballey, would waive the typical fees of obtaining a state ID for homeless individuals. By eliminating the financial cost of obtaining official identification, the bill would — if passed — allow homeless individuals in Massachusetts access to more resources by having state IDs, a member of the Tufts Democrats said.
Bailey Asbury, a first-year, recommended addressing the topic of homelessness and pitched the bill to be considered.
“I had attended a session with the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth a couple weeks ago, and they were partnering with the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless and were talking about this bill,” Asbury said. “There were a few youth in attendance that either were currently homeless or had experienced homelessness, and they were talking about how impactful this would be if they didn’t have to shell out $25 for something as simple as an ID. So I was touched by that human factor.”
Junior Curran Holden, the secretary of Tufts Democrats who helped run the meeting, shared the importance of organizing events like these to mobilize students.
“It’s really important for people to have experience and get comfortable with the legislative and executive side of politics, not just the election side of politics. That’s the broad source of why we do it,” Holden said. “It’s important for people to understand that their legislators work for them, and it’s important to get used to asking your legislators for things and telling them to do their jobs because they have a lot of power.”
Despite members of Tufts Democrats not necessarily being residents of Massachusetts, Holden shared why students should still participate in lobbying.
“Massachusetts is a place with [millions of] people, it does not matter whether you’re from Massachusetts, you still, I presume, want those [millions of] people, if they find themselves to be homeless, to be able to get an ID,” she said.
Now that Tufts Democrats have chosen a bill to lobby for, members will begin meeting with and calling local legislators before convening with other nearby chapters of College Democrats of Massachusetts to join lobbying efforts.
Holden reminded members to treat legislators as people too in order to effectively convey political messages.
“If legislators have taken action that you are hoping they would take, you should thank them. If they have taken action that you were hoping they wouldn’t take, tell them you’re disappointed,” Holden said.
In a follow-up meeting roughly a month from now, members of the club will write a one-pager, stating why constituents need the bill, to then reach out to state legislators.
Holden acknowledged that while one group of college students might not make a difference for a single bill, the collective and sustained effort of multiple groups helps efforts eventually see success.
“What makes the difference for the bill is over a long period of time [are] interest groups, concerned citizens, groups like Tufts Democrats going to legislators again and again and again and pushing that bill just a little bit further,” she said.
While it can be difficult to measure success, Holden highlighted the importance of putting voices behind lobbying efforts no matter the perceived impact.
“The number of people that lobby their legislators is really small in this world,” she said. “That makes the number of people who do lobby their legislators inordinately powerful. It’s important to be in that group if you want to make the world a better place.”
