***CORI Reform has been incorporated into the Public Safety Act of 2006.
Click here to view the Public Safety Act.

ACTION ALERT:
Help Pass CORI Reform Bill H2874

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Your 2 Minute phone call or e-mail can make a BIG difference!

Call or E-Mail Your State Legislator for CORI Reform!

Here’s What to do:

1. Find out who your state legislators are . . .

by typing in your address at www.wheredoivotema.com or by calling the State House at 617-722-2000. Look for your "State Senator" and "Representative in General Court." Click their names to go to their home pages which include phone number and e-mail.

2. Call or E-Mail your legislators

It is likely that you will speak to an answering machine or an aid. Be sure to leave your phone number if you want a call back!

Sample Message

My name is ___________. I live at _____________. I am calling for (Representative or Senator) ___________ to support CORI Reform. I would like (him or her) to contact the Chairs of the Judiciary Committee and ask them to report HB 2874 out quickly and favorably. I am concerned about this because people in my community are being unfairly kept from housing and employment.

3. Call or e-mail CJPC to tell us you contacted your legislator’s office!

We need to know how many people the legislators are hearing from to plan our next steps. Call Brandyn @ 508-982-2247 or e-mail her at [email protected].

Here’s Why

H.B. 2874 would:

• Provide an education and workforce training fund for troubled youth, and ear marks funds for one-stop career centers
• Permit low-income or incarcerated people to obtain CORI at no charge
• Require training for people who read CORI's for screening purposes
• Change timeframe for sealing misdemeanors to 5 years and 10 years for felonies (MARC wants 3 and 7 - but this is a good first step)
• Provide additional tax credits to employers who hire recently released inmates
• Require public housing authority to grant opportunity to contest relevance of CORI
• Permit housing authority to admit former offender on a probationary basis
• Require annual report on jobless and homeless status of former offenders
• Require detailed discharge plan for former offenders
• Require the Department of Housing and Community Development to enumerate felonies which may render an applicant ineligible for housing

No this bill is not perfect - nor does it solve all our problems, but it goes along way towards providing relief! The legislature will only consider this bill or any other CORI reform related bill if WE - those affected by CORI - show them that we care and are willing to work to change this system. We show them by coming to the statehouse, by talking to our elected officials and letting them know we aren't going anywhere!

Right now getting arrested could get in the way of housing, jobs, and education for the rest of your life!!!

CJPC and The Massachusetts Alliance to Reform CORI (MARC) are fighting to change those laws.

We are Committed to Fairness!

• We have succeeded in getting cities throughout Massachusetts to demand that the state change these laws.

• Some of these same cities have passed laws demanding that businesses be fair to people with criminal records.

• We have mobilized thousands of people around the state to demand that people in our communities be given a second chance.

NOW IT'S TIME TO MAKE SURE OUR STATE LEGISLATORS DO THEIR PART!!!