The below proposal reached agreement at OB General Assembly, on February 4, 2012.

Fossil fuel and nuclear corporations are some of the wealthiest interests on the planet – yet they still suck up billions of dollars in government subsidies. They buy off elected officials and corrupt our political process while sticking us – the 99% – with the bill for the health, ecological and climate destruction they cause. Their coal, oil, gas and nukes fuel our unjust economic systems, imperil our planetary future and prevent us from shifting to a clean energy economy of, by and for the people.

Occupy Boston therefore calls for:
•       An end to all government subsidies to fossil fuel and nuclear energy interests;
•       An end to corporate influence, including energy industry influence, on politics;
•       Immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations to below the safe atmospheric threshold of 350 parts per million CO2e; starting with the rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline
•        A just transition for workers currently employed in fossil fuel and nuclear energy sectors to sustainable employment.

We pledge to make personal and group choices that support these aims.”

On Saturday, 1/28/12, Occupy Boston’s General Assembly consented to accept and endorse the following Demand:

The people of the Commonwealth of Masachussetts demand
that the Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, and the Mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, do whatever is in their power to:

STOP THE EXPEDITED
REMOVAL PROGRAM
IN THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS
&
END STATE AND LOCAL COOPERATION WITH
THE “SECURE COMMUNITIES” PROGRAM

WHEREAS no human being is illegal, and people who come to the USA seeking opportunity and to contribute to their communities should not be labeled or profiled as criminals because they lack proper documentation;

WHEREAS thousands of legally admitted immigrants, residents and American citizens have been unfairly apprehended and prosecuted through the ‘Expedited Removal Program,’ which is operated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, ICE, a division of the Department of Homeland Security;

WHEREAS President George W. Bush signed the Expedited Removal Program into law in 2003 with the USA Patriot Act;

WHEREAS the law enables the Department of Homeland Security to categorize formerly civil matters or ‘immigration violations’ as criminal acts;

WHEREAS the Expedited Removal Program, implemented by ICE, relies on the assumption that any and all ‘immigration violations’ can be classified as criminal acts, not civil matters, tantamount to the difference between being charged with a crime and getting a traffic ticket;

WHEREAS the Department of Homeland Security provides a fiscal incentive for Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group Incorporated, enormously wealthy private companies, to incarcerate and process the deportation of people and does so to up to 15,000 people a month;

WHEREAS the so-called “Secure Communities” program, which the federal government is forcing upon Massachusetts and its communities, results in a dangerous localization of immigration policing, and the harmful deportation of thousands of Commonwealth residents who have committed no crimes;

WHEREAS the deportation of parents and caretakers severely disrupts family life, brutally and immorally harming children and families, and placing completely unnecessary financial burdens upon the state; and

WHEREAS Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Thomas Menino oversee law enforcement in their jurisdictions and therefore have the power to maneuver around the immoral and unpractical enforcement of these federal laws:

BE IT RESOLVED that Occupy Boston, Ocupemos el Barrio, and the undersigned demand that Governor Deval Patrick and Mayor Thomas Menino refuse to cooperate with a federal law that profiles people of color and participates in a corrupt system of jails for profit. In particular, Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino should do everything in their power to cease cooperation with the ‘Expedited Removal Program’, including rejecting federal detainer requests for people who have committed no crime, because no Massachusetts elected public official should ever cooperate with a law that denies due process to suspects and tears apart families.

This proposal, presented by the Financial Accountability Working Group, was consented to by the General Assembly on Thursday, January 19, 2012.

Identified Need –  to address diminished revenue stream, post-Dewey Square

Proposal
Because cash donations to Occupy Boston have declined while expenses have risen since our eviction from Dewey Square, the Financial Accountability Working Group proposes that weekly stipends be temporarily suspended, except for $2000 set aside for actions.^*

Following completion of a 2012 budget, including an analysis of potential revenues, FAWG will bring a new proposal for working group stipends to General Assembly, on March 6, 2012.

^* FAWG defines “actions” to include rallies, marches, speakouts, demonstrations, etc. Action monies are not to be spent on travel. FAWG proposes that this $2000 action set-aside become available as soon as Occupy Boston completes five actions from this date forward.

Note 1:   existing working group stipend policies remain in effect: up to $100 per week, receipts required.
Note 2:  this proposal will be in effect as of 12:01 am on Monday, January 23.
Note 3:  FAWG will notify all working groups of this consented proposal and provide a window of opportunity—up to 12:00 pm on Saturday, January 22—to make a weekly stipend request.

The below proposal reached consensus at OB’s General Assembly, on 1/17/12

Proposal to Rent Church Space for General Assembly  

Identified Need – secure, dependable indoor meeting space to hold OB  General Assemblies

Prelude
Post Dewey Square, Occupy Boston has been leaning on the kindness of local spiritual institutions to hold General Assembly (and now, Action Assemblies.)  These churches incur an expense to house our meetings, including personnel and utility costs. To date, one church has been levying a rental fee, $20 per hour for use of the Community Church of Boston.  Emmanuel Church is now asking OB for $80 per night.

Proposal
Financial Accountability Working Group (FAWG) propose that Occupy Boston pay these churches specific fees for use of their space, for these specific days and times:

Arlington Street Church – $80 for Tuesdays, 7:00 to 11:00 PM
Emmanuel Church – $80 for Thursdays, 7:00 to 11:00 PM
Community Church of Boston – $80 for Saturdays – 5:00 to 9:00 PM
Community Church of Boston – $80 for Sunday – 5:00 to 9:00 PM

Also, if another space is used for GA, instead of one of these churches, FAWG proposes that Occupy Boston will offer the owners of that space up to $80 for its use. (Note: this does not preclude any Occupy Boston member from finding and soliciting a free space, for GA use.)

Also, FAWG proposes that Tuesday and Thursday General Assemblies end at 10:30 PM, and that Saturday and Sunday General Assemblies end at 8:30 PM.

Also FAWG proposes that the proceeds from the GA donation box be allocated to help pay this rental expense, in the hopes that the General Assembly becomes self sustaining.

If consented to by the General Assembly, this arrangement stands until other accommodations are secured, or until Occupy Boston decides to hold General Assemblies, outside.