The meeting will take on the issue of corporate citizenship
AMHERST – Town meeting returns for its third session Monday night and will take a break in budget deliberations to open the meeting with a discussion about corporations and people.
In the first two nights of the 254th annual Town Meeting last week, voters approved the $28.5 million regional and the $21.5 million elementary school budgets, the $2.2 million library operating budget with the town’s $1.6 million appropriation and the $927,560 conservation and development budget.
Voters also approved the $1.6 human services budget but rejected by tally vote two attempts to increase that budget, first by $66,000 and then by $26,000.
Monday night, voters will take up the Supreme Court and corporate personhood before returning to a discussion for the $8.8 million public safety budget, which incudes police and fire.
By petition, Town Meeting will consider an amendment to reverse the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that allows corporations, unions and wealthy people to raise and spend unlimited campaign money through political action committees known as super PACs, provided candidates are not directly involved.
Northampton recently passed a resolution calling for an amendment to reverse the Supreme Court decision as well.
Town officials are also looking at amending another petition article before it comes to the meeting.
This article is asking voters to amend town bylaws to address the Secure Communities program, where fingerprints taken from a criminal are turned over to the FBI, who share them with the Department of Homeland Security.
The bylaw instructs the FBI to "immediately cease the dissemination to other agencies." The Northampton City Council and the Springfield City councils passed resolutions.
But since then the American Civil Liberties Union discovered a federal regulation that allows communities to enact an actual law, said Jeff Napolitano director of the Northampton-based American Friends Service Committee.
“Municipalities can dictate what the FBI does with criminal background checks,” he said.
But town officials sought and opinion from Town Counsel Joel Bard who disagrees the town can enact such a law.
Bard wrote that he does not believe the town can “limit the FBI from further disclosing criminal history information it has lawfully obtained and is legally authorized to disseminate.”
“The Board was not comfortable with it as a bylaw,” said Town Manager John P. Musante.
The board takes a position on all articles. The board is expected to discuss a draft compromise motion at its Monday night meeting prior to Town Meeting. The motion would consider adopting a resolution similar to what Northampton and Springfield approved.
The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Amherst Regional Middle School.