The Sandwich Democratic Town Committee

(Editor’s Note: the following message was sent to all of the Cape and Islands Democratic Town Committees recently by Joan Holt of the Truro DTC. The Free Press editors believe that the message is one we would like to share with our readership.)

Following a successful effort to elect Elizabeth Warren in 2012, the Truro Democratic Town Committee decided that, in addition to electing Democratic candidates, we will also focus our efforts on the fight against climate change.  Our members, for some time, have been deeply concerned after hearing talks by Bill McKibben and others on the horrendous climate changes that the state, country and the whole world are facing.

Our plan is to organize strong support for legislation on Beacon Hill that will most effectively attack the climate change issue. We have reviewed the current climate-related bills that are pending in the State Senate and House, of which there are as many as twenty.

The first bill we will be advocating for is S.1225, An Act Relative to Public Investment in Fossil Fuels.  Introduced by State Senator Ben Downing, this bill is aimed at divesting State funds, including the public employee pension funds from holdings in fossil fuel companies.  The bill provides an opportunity for Democrats to take action in line with the new 2013 State Democratic Party Platform that explicitly supports “Divesting public pensions, trusts and other financial instruments away from producers of non-renewable energy sources in favor of green and renewable energy producers.”

S. 1225  comes before the Joint Committee on Public Service for a public hearing on Tuesday, September 10^th, at 11 am. There will be a rally organized by 350.org for the bill at 9:30 am in front of the State House.  Members of the Truro Democratic Committee will be attending both the rally and the hearing. Our hope is that members of other Cape Democratic Town Committees will join us.

On Tuesday, September 3^rd, the Truro Democratic Committee will hold a strategy meeting for this event, at the Council for the Aging in Truro, at 7 pm. Please join us if you can.

For information, contact Truro Democratic Town Committee members Joan Holt capejoanholt [at] comcast [dot] net or Jane Rudd jruddcape [at] comcast [dot] net. 

To read the bill:  https://malegislature.gov/Bills/188/Senate/S1225

Sendwritten testimony or a letter of support for S.1225 to:

Senator William N. Brownsberger

Representative Aaron Michlewitz

Joint Committee on Public Service

State House

Boston, MA  02133