Testimony: Let’s Build on Maternal Health Progress

Wednesday, October 15, 2025 

Chair Feeney, Chair Murphy, and Members of the Joint Committee on Financial Services: 

I am submitting testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. PM is a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. 

We urge you to give a favorable report to S.784/H.1117: An Act promoting and enhancing the sustainability of birth centers and the midwifery workforce. 

Recognizing the stark inequities in maternal health outcomes and the urgency of action, the Legislature passed essential maternal health legislation last session. These bills build on that work in strengthening our maternal health infrastructure. 

The Health Policy Commission and the Commission on Racial Inequities in Maternal Health, the Governor, and the Legislature have recognized midwifery as a key solution in improving maternal health outcomes, and Governor Healey and your chambers showed you agree last session through the 2024 law, which created new opportunities to open freestanding birth centers and become a licensed midwife in Massachusetts. 

S.784 and H.1117 promote financial sustainability for birth centers and the midwifery workforce needed for birth centers (as well as hospitals, homes, and other clinical settings). New birth centers will need stable funding and a sufficient midwife workforce to stay open, and training, education, and supports are needed for that workforce to exist. And both the centers and the workforce are necessary to provide new parents with access to reproductive care options. These bills recognize all of that and help create a robust health care system. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts 

Testimony: We Need to Scale Up Solar

Wednesday, October 15, 2025 

Chair Barrett, Chair Cusack, and Members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy: 

I am submitting testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. PM is a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. 

We urge you to give a favorable report to H.3559/S.2296: An Act to Encourage Solar Development on Buildings and Disturbed Land.

Massachusetts has set important climate goals, but meeting those climate goals will require a far faster transition to clean and green energy. 

These bills would incentivize the siting of solar projects on buildings and disturbed lands, where doing so has the least environmental impact. We can scale up solar and protect our forests at the same time. 

What does this mean in practice? More solar installations on parking lot canopies, brownfields, and roadway cuts. More solar on rooftops of residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

The incentives that currently exist have been mainly targeted at the small-scale solar of a household but do not meet the needs of such larger installations. 

This bill would fuel the solar energy economy in Massachusetts, which will help us create jobs, reduce energy costs, and ensure a livable planet for all. 

As the federal government abandons its commitment to climate action and sabotages progress on environmental justice, it is up to states to lead the way. These bills would help us do so.

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts