Petition for a Special Law re: An Act Granting the City of Boston the Authority to Provide Legal Voting Rights in Municipal Elections for City of Boston Residents Aged 16 and 17 Years Old.
Thank you. Docket 0185 Council on the Here and Balk offer the following petition for a special law regarding an act granting the City of Boston the authority to provide legal voting rights in municipal elections for city of Boston residents aged 16 and 17 years old. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. At this time, the chair recognizes. Counsel me here. Counsel me here. You have the floor. Thank you. And thank you to my co-sponsor, Counselor Bach. I know we have a lot of dockets that we're going to be speaking on today, so I will be brief. And we introduced this home rule petition last year, but unfortunately, we were not able to pass it or act on it. We are hoping that this year we will get to the point where we can send it over to the mayor's desk and then on to the state house. Young people have major impact in our community, but often do not have a say in the decisions that shape their lives. They pay taxes but don't have a say on how they are spent. They have tried to they are tried as adults, but are treated as minors in other courts of law. They are expected to advocate on behalf of their schools, but a lot giving an equal voice to do so. We are hoping to address that through this whole law petition. We look forward to the conversation and to moving forward on this issue. Thank you. Thank you, councilman. Here. At this time. The chair recognizes counsel Bork. Counsel Bork, you have the floor. Mr. President, I just want to thank counselor here for collaboration on this and say that it is indeed something that we're excited to really get to this term. I know that opinions are conflicted on this, but I will just say that at a long time ago I used to teach Civics Weekly in the Boston Public Schools. And what I saw was that when our young people dig into civic engagement of all levels, they are just as engaged and passionate and capable of being just as informed as adults. And I think often the counsel sees that firsthand with advocacy from young Bostonians. And the reality is that our our current system of having people become voters at age 18 almost picks the moment in people's life where they are most dislocated. And it's the worst moment for habit formation. So people are often, you know, starting new jobs, starting new schools, moving across the country. And as a result, we see young people's registration rates often quite low. But the reality is, if you sort of zoom out, you say, well, it's almost like we're designing it for that to be the case. Whereas for if young people were able to start exercising the franchise on local issues where they live while they're in community , we'd be hearing these debates in school hallways, and I think we would be cultivating the habit of voting that would really last over time. In addition to the fact that I think that as we see time and time again are our young people, they are prepared to make their voices heard and they do deserve a say in what happens in our community. So looking forward to the conversation ahead. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Counsel. Buck. Is anyone else looking to speak on this matter? Would anyone else like to add their name? Please. Please raise your hand. Councilor Braden. Cancellara. Council of Royal. Council region. Zip Docket 0185. We'll be referred to the Committee on Government Operations. Excuse me. The. That she recognizes. Council. Council. Britain. Mr. President, just a point of information with passage of counsel rules and docket zero two or five. When will committee misalignments be communicated to the members of the council and will communication be filed with the clerk as part of Off the Record? We are already assigning dockets to committees, but we don't have any idea who's actually on those committees and who will be chairing those committees. It's not it's not in our hands at this moment. Dockets are being assigned to committees right now. And without an understanding of the committee composition, members will not know if they would like to move for a reconsideration or of recommendations for another committee. So I really feel at this moment it's important that we we we address the committee assignment issue. Thank you, Counsel. Bright And just as a point of reference, the committees will be released right after this meeting. After the meetings or. The the members of the committee, the chairs and the vice chairs will be announced at that time. Thank you. Um. Madam Clerk, please read docket 0186.