This bill, S.2820, is chiefly a missed opportunity. Instead of crafting intentional policy to reduce police contact and devolving power to, resourcing, and engaging our most policed communities, this bill creates new seats at new tables for well-resourced nonprofits and legitimizes the power and role of law enforcement in the Commonwealth.
As we say in our testimony, if the legislature wishes to demonstrate its commitment to redressing generational harms committed against Black people by our public policy, it must extend the legislative session and put together a package of bills based on the expertise of directly impacted people, each of which will receive testimony by directly impacted people: raise taxes on wealthy and corporate interests; pass a budget rooted in equity that substantially shifts resources from policing and incarceration toward meeting needs and community well-being; decarcerate our jails and prisons and provide housing, employment, healthcare, and treatment to people leaving incarceration; and specifically allot substantial resources to Black people and Black communities.
Read Our Full Testimony:
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