Today, I joined Newburyport, Massachusetts Mayor Sean Reardon for the city's Valentine's Day "Have a Heart and Get Heart" event to promote organ donation and partnership with New England Donor Services at Newburyport City Hall. We were with the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, Colleen Ogilvie, and others who have been touched by organ donation. New England Donor Services coordinates organ and tissue donation in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Bermuda.
That provocative question is answered by some as - YES, and pending court cases will have more to say to that question. The current state of affairs in Massachusetts is alarming in that local governments are authorized to seize properties when the owners are unable to pay debts such as property taxes, water bills, or other municipal assessments. The result of this process is that the property owners often lose all of the equity they have built up in their property.
In response to this situation, the Boston Globe recently published an editorial calling for legislative changes and advocating for the rights of property owners. I am the sponsor of legislation aimed at addressing this issue and providing a solution that is fair to both the property owners and the local government.
There is a growing concern among advocates for low-income and elderly residents who are being threatened with foreclosure. In a tax lien foreclosure, towns and private companies are able to take not only the debt owed but also all of the equity that the property owner has invested in the property.
A recent study conducted by the Pacific Legal Foundation found that on average, property owners who have their property seized due to tax debt lose 87% of their equity. This means that in just one year, towns and private companies statewide have taken more than $56 million in property equity from residents.
In an effort to generate revenue, some cities have sold hundreds of delinquent debts to private companies, who then collect the debt at high-interest rates and have the authority to foreclose on the property owners.
This situation is highly controversial however, some city leaders argue that the auctions are a necessary means of obtaining the tax revenue required to fund public services. The impact on low-income homeowners can be devastating, as hundreds of property owners are faced with defending their homes against foreclosure in the State Land Court each year.
My bill aims to address this issue by ensuring that towns are able to collect what is owed to them in a fair manner, while also providing a reasonable fee to debt collectors and restoring the home and dignity of the property owners who have fallen behind on their debts. Here is the Globe Editorial: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/02/12/opinion/seizing-home-equity-over-unpaid-taxes-is-unfair-homeowners/
Map by Pacific Legal Foundation
The Nation Goes Red in February and each year we have a State House event to wear red in order to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease and help save lives. Losing even one woman to cardiovascular disease is too many. Women who suffer from cardiac arrest outside of a hospital are less likely to receive CPR from bystanders. The American Heart Association invites you to spread the word that February is American Heart Month and when a person experiences cardiac arrest, survival depends on immediately receiving CPR from someone nearby. Quickly performing CPR can double or triple the chance of survival.
Brigadier General Enoch Woodhouse, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, America's first all-Black combat flying unit, who served during World War II, recalled a time when Black soldiers were not allowed to train alongside white soldiers. Enoch Woodhouse, a 96-year-old Lieutenant Colonel and one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, greeted an eager group at the Flint Memorial Library in North Reading, Massachusetts
Woodhouse grew up in Roxbury and enlisted in the US Army Air Corps in 1944 when he was 17, following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The Tuskegee Airmen, America's first all-Black combat flying unit, played a pivotal role in integrating the US Armed Forces. Despite initial discrimination, the unit proved themselves as accomplished pilots in Europe and influenced President Truman's 1948 decision to end discrimination in the military. After his discharge in 1949, Woodhouse earned a degree from Yale and went on to study law at BU. He worked as a trial lawyer and attorney for over 40 years.
Sponsored by: Friends of the Flint Memorial Library, NORCAM, Inc., Heavenly Donuts North Reading
