Eileen Ryan

Watertown

The author is a member of 350 Mass, Extinction Rebellion Boston and other activist groups and leads the organization Beyond Plastics Greater Boston.

Thanks to columnist Adrian Walker for pointing out that state lawmakers failed to pass a climate change bill (“House lets Mass. burn,” Metro, August 3). The lawmakers’ inability to find consensus is shocking and outrageous, considering that most Massachusetts residents support the bill.

As part of the measure, an expanded bottle tariff was proposed that would include additional plastic water bottles and sports drinks and increase the take-back rate from 5 cents to 10 cents. The current bottle tariff has not been updated in more than 40 years.

As a Boston resident, I have repeatedly called, emailed, and met with my elected officials to explain how the expanded bottle deposit would increase revenue and reduce pollution. Other states have shown that cities and towns save millions of dollars through higher collection rates. It is estimated that the bottle deposit could save Massachusetts more than $36 million per year because municipalities would be able to spend less on garbage and recycling collection.

It is so disheartening that our lawmakers are unable to do what is best for the state and its citizens. Worse, they are neither compelled nor required to explain how their backroom bickering got in the way of that.

Anne Peacher

Boston

The headline of Shirley Leung’s August 5 economics column is: “What in the world is happening on Beacon Hill?” That’s a good question. I ask it too.

No passage of any climate legislation at all—including a modernized bottle bill? Do House and Senate leaders think the climate crisis can wait while they bicker and play tough with each other?

Representative Jeff Roy, the House’s chief negotiator for the bill, and Senator Michael Barrett should put aside their alleged “bitterness” long enough to deliver comprehensive and aggressive climate legislation to Governor Maura Healey – now!

Deane Coady

Brookline

The demands of imprisoned women and their advocates remain unheard

I manned switchboards. I called my MPs. I sent them emails. I visited their offices. I collected signatures to send to them. I sat in a stuffy room for seven hours waiting to give my testimony.

But more importantly, some of the women incarcerated in the state’s prisons have waited for hours to speak briefly over Zoom. They risked retaliation from prison staff for speaking about the poor conditions they face. And they shared often the most traumatic details of their own lives inside and outside prison so lawmakers can understand how and why a new prison won’t change anything. It won’t make the public safer (in fact, it would make us even more unsafe by diverting funds from constructive programs in our communities). It won’t humanize prison, because the problems of existing prisons have little to do with the physical structures.

The worst part is that the legislators know all this. How do I know? Because last session they passed the prison construction moratorium before it was vetoed by then-Governor Charlie Baker. But this session they decided not to vote on it. They decided to ignore the wants and needs of their constituents. They decided to let us drift further toward expanding the carceral state.

Willa Bandler

Walpole

Community college faculty and staff await negotiated salary increases

The faculty and staff at Massachusetts’ 15 community colleges have once again been failed by the inaction of our elected officials. Our negotiated and ratified pay raises were part of the supplemental budget that was not passed this legislative session. This inaction is particularly scandalous given the recent celebrations surrounding MassEducate, the initiative to provide free community college to Massachusetts residents.

While lawmakers are praised for making MassEducate a reality, it is deeply troubling that they have not taken additional steps to ensure that those responsible for implementing this program are treated with the respect and compensation they deserve.

Members of the Massachusetts Community College Council union continue to be underpaid despite increased workloads. We earn 38 percent less than our counterparts in the comparable state of California and significantly less than our counterparts at other public colleges in Massachusetts. The rising cost of living exacerbates the challenge of making ends meet on our current salaries.

We are expected to continue to provide excellence to students seeking higher education, but we must once again wait for our much-needed and long overdue pay raises. This situation is unacceptable. The legislature must improve.

Colleen Avedikian

Westport

The author is a professor of sociology at Bristol Community College.

Bill for dental therapists weakens

As a licensed dental hygienist, educator, and vice president of the Massachusetts Dental Hygiene Association, I write to comment on the sluggish pace of our legislature (“The Legislature Draws the Short End of the Day,” page A1, August 2). So many important bills failed to pass this session, including the employment bill, environmental legislation, and a general public health bill. The latter includes a measure of particular importance to all of the state’s dental hygienists: the Dental Therapist Act, which languished in committee after committee for years while other states, including neighboring Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut, passed and implemented various forms of dental therapy providers. These providers would improve access for countless people who do not or cannot receive dental care. I urge legislators to stop the intra-party bickering and pass legislation that benefits the health of their constituents.

Jeanne M. Chambers

Norwood

The two-boss problem of Beacon Hill

When I talk about the dysfunction and over-centralization of the Massachusetts State House, I often describe the building as having a “two bosses problem.” In most jobs, the person who decides whether you get hired or fired and the person who controls your salary are the same person: what we call a boss. In the legislature, however, there’s a divide: The people who hire and fire you are your constituents, who can exercise that power in every election, and the people who decide your salary are the legislative leadership, who can hand out the perks with chairmen, vice-chairmen and other positions (something the Globe’s reporting detailed).

Massachusetts is known for having some of the least competitive elections in the country (we’ve come in dead last in recent years), and most legislators get by unopposed year after year without ever having to seriously defend their record to their constituents. Next month’s primary is just the latest example. Whether through more competitive elections or louder commitment, the collective boss “We the People” needs to do more to remind legislators who they ultimately serve.

Jonathan Cohn

Political Director

Progressive Fair

Boston