MA Senate Votes to Rein in Addictive Social Media Design

A couple months ago, the MA House advanced a harmful bill that would ban minors from social media, force social media platforms to enable parental surveillance of teenagers’ online activity, and subject everyone to privacy-invading online ID checks in order to access information or speak out online. We joined groups from across the state in opposing this language.

The Senate’s bill (S.3164), passed 38 to 2 yesterday, takes a smarter approach, targeting addictive design. Republicans Kelly Dooner and Peter Durant were the sole NO votes.

We joined our friends at Fight for the Future in urging senators to support several amendments that would protect privacy, protect youth, and help the bill better accomplish its stated goals. Most of those amendments were adopted:

  • Amendment #2, which closed a loophole in the definition of “user” that would have allowed platforms to continue providing addictive features to minors so long as the minor does not use an account to access the platform
  • Amendment #3, which updated the definition of social media so that it would exclude sites like GitHub and Wikipedia that have valuable educational purposes
  • Amendment #4, which clarified that the attorney general will be regulating interoperability of age signals and not mandating that all operating systems implement age signals
  • Amendment #24, which voided the privacy and security issues that come with obtaining parental consent, while increasing the protections for minors
  • Amendment #25, which clarified that platforms can use interaction data to generate feeds when that data functions to allow users to control the amount and types of content they receive from users they subscribe to
  • Amendment #27, which expanded the ban on tech companies’ ability to use design tactics, such as repeated nudges and grouping of settings controls, to manipulate users into choosing less protective settings
  • Amendment #29, which added important protections to minors’ data by requiring the attorney general to address issues of re-identification that could expose minors’ personal information to the public

However, the Senate rejected Amendment #19, which would have prevented companies from manipulating users into using addictive features and would have changed age verification requirements to opt-out to opt-in.

Read more here.

Progressive Mass Western Norfolk County 2026 Norfolk DA Candidate Questionnaires

There are seven Democrats running for Norfolk County District Attorney for the upcoming Democratic primary on Tuesday, September 1. What do they all stand for? Progressive Mass Western Norfolk County invited all candidates to fill out a candidate questionnaire. Six of the seven responded, and five agreed to have their questionnaires posted. Learn more about all of them below.

The MA House and MA Senate Are Voting on Key Bills This Week. Here’s What They Should Hear from You.

In the last month sprint of the formal legislative session, expect to see an increased pace of action in the MA State House.

Today, the MA House is voting on its economic development bill, and tomorrow, the MA Senate is voting on a bill to address addictive design from social media companies.

Read on for more information about what your state rep and state senator should be hearing from you.

Tell Your State Rep: Support Amendments to Expand Economic Opportunity and Access to Affordable Housing

The MA House is voting TODAY on its economic development bill. Our allies are supporting a number of amendments to strengthen the bill in ways that promote economic opportunity and increase access to affordable housing.

Email Your State Rep

Email your state rep to urge them to support amendments that strengthen the bill.

  • Amendment #25, which would eliminate the requirement that a household provide a notice to quit or utility shutoff notice for a household to be eligible for Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT), removing a significant barrier to accessing this critical homelessness prevention resource
  • Amendment #71, which would allow cities and towns a local option to provide tenants in multi-family buildings the right to match a third-party offer when their homes are being sold
  • Amendment #136, which would ensure worker-owned businesses are recognized in economic development program selection criteria, helping broaden access to state economic development tools for cooperative and shared-ownership models
  • Amendment #155, which would allow qualified, job-ready people to fully participate in the workforce by automating the CORI-sealing process to seal records that are already eligible after the required waiting periods
  • Amendment #226, which would provide $15,000,000 in bonding authorizations for a pilot program to fund the construction of small to medium sized (1-25 unit) permanently affordable home ownership developments
  • Amendment # 438, which would ensure that the executive order-created Office of Access and Opportunity is codified into Massachusetts statutes to uphold the Governor’s commitment to language access in our state agencies
  • Amendment #636, which would ease access to Massachusetts IDs for people experiencing homelessness by waiving the $25 fee for standard Mass IDs and easing residency verification requirements for youth and adults experiencing homelessness

The MA Senate Is Voting on a Bill to Regulate Teen Social Media Use. Here’s How It Can Be Better.

A couple months ago, the MA House advanced a harmful bill that would ban minors from social media, force social media platforms to enable parental surveillance of teenagers’ online activity, and subject everyone to privacy-invading online ID checks in order to access information or speak out online. We joined groups from across the state in opposing this language.

The Senate’s bill (S.3164), which will be voted on this Thursday, takes a smarter approach, targeting addictive design.

Our friends at Fight for the Future are urging senators to support several amendments that would protect privacy, protect youth, and help the bill better accomplish its stated goals  (read more about them here).

Email Your State Senator

  • Amendment #2, which closes a loophole in the definition of “user” that would have allowed platforms to continue providing addictive features to minors so long as the minor does not use an account to access the platform
  • Amendment #3, which updates the definition of social media so that it would cover Snapchat and exclude sites like GitHub and Wikipedia that have valuable educational purposes
  • Amendment #4, which clarifies that the attorney general will be regulating interoperability of age signals and not mandating that all operating systems implement age signals
  • Amendment #19, which prevents companies from manipulating users into using addictive features
  • Amendment #24, which voids the privacy and security issues that come with obtaining parental consent, while increasing the protections for minors
  • Amendment #25, which clarifies that platforms can use interaction data to generate feeds when that data functions to allow users to control the amount and types of content they receive from users they subscribe to
  • Amendment #27, which expands the ban on tech companies’ ability to use design tactics, such as repeated nudges and grouping of settings controls, to manipulate users into choosing less protective settings
  • Amendment #29, which adds important protections to minors’ data by requiring the attorney general to address issues of re-identification that could expose minors’ personal information to the public

The MA Senate Votes 32-8 for Its Energy Bill. So What’s In It, and What’s Next?

Yesterday, the MA Senate voted to 32 to 8 for its energy bill, setting the stage for negotiations with the House.

The chamber’s five Republicans voted NO, and they were joined by Michael Brady (D-Brockton), Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford), and Michael Moore (D-Millbury).

The following overview of the bill is adapted from a Mass Power Forward action guide.

GOOD:

  • Preserves funding for Mass Save: This is in contrast to the House bill, which cut $1 billion from Mass Save. The Senate bill caps administrative costs at 5% and removes gas companies from administering the program. It also adjusts the scope of the program to include solar, battery storage, and other clean energy technologies that save customers money. 20% of Mass Save is designated for LMI programs, codifying in law a recent equity allocation win in the latest Mass Save 3 year plan.
  • Phases Out the Gas System Enhancement Program (GSEP): Instead, utilities would be required to do advanced leak repair where feasible, as opposed to costly and unnecessary full pipe replacements.
  • Increases Clean Energy Procurement: DOER (Department Of Energy Resources) is authorized to procure 20 GW (Gigawatts) of renewable energy, including 10 GW of solar and 10 GW of wind, by 2040. 
  • Regulates Predatory Third Party Suppliers: The bill enables municipalities to ban scammy third party electricity suppliers, who often rip off vulnerable communities with misleading offers. Third-party supply prices are capped for discount rate customers with bans on automatic renewals, cancellation fees, and variable rates.
  • Expands Geothermal: The bill authorizes gas companies to create thermal energy networks (networked geothermal) with worker protections. 
  • Reins in Utility Profiteering: The bill bars the use of ratepayer funds for promotional and political advertising; trade-association dues; charitable giving; lobbying; board/officer travel, lodging, entertainment, gifts, food/beverage, aircraft; tax penalties; non-regulated product marketing.
  • Bans Heat Wave Shut Offs: The bill bans electric shutoffs during heat waves, similar to the heating shutoff ban we have during cold weather. 
  • Promotes Gas Transition Planning: The bill requires DPU to conduct integrated energy planning to facilitate transition off gas and requires disclosure of how infrastructure investment decisions (e.g. substation constructions) are made and reduce them. 

BAD

  • Income Verification: Mass Save programs must verify household income for moderate-income rebates. This creates further bureaucratic hurdles for low and moderate-income customers, who can currently qualify for programs via self-attestation — which has been hugely successful. 
  • Mass Save Budget Caps: Mass Save budgets are capped for each 3 yr. Plan, preventing mid-budget increases. 
  • Corporate Representation in Mass Save Governance: The bill adds business representatives to the Mass Save Energy EfficiencyAdvisory Council) 
  • Short-Term Decrease in Renewable Portfolio Standard: The bill reduces the state’s annual RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standards), i.e., the requirement for utilities to build renewables, increase from 3% to 1%, for the next three years (the bill, however, increases the RPS in the long term).

A total of 183 amendments were filed, of which 67 were withdrawn, 92 were rejected, and 24 were adopted.

Of the amendments backed by Mass Power Forward, three were adopted:

  • #1 (Comerford): Protect Constituents From Unreasonable Utility Profits, which studies studies the amount of profit utilities are being allowed to get from ratepayers
  • #25 (Gomez): Addressing Biomass, which removes highly-polluting woody biomass as an eligible fuel under the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standard for Municipal Lighting plants. It passed 35-4, with Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) joining Democrats.
  • #162 (Howard): Data Center Tax Credits, which conditions such tax credits on meeting various environmental, labor, and transparency standards

Two were withdrawn:

  • #37 (Creem): Prohibition on Charging Ratepayers for Goodwill or Institutional Advertising, which prevents utilities from charging their customers for institutional advertising, which is public relations aimed at enhancing the company’s image
  • #78 (Edwards): Labor Peace for Thermal Energy Networks, which would require management to stay neutral in unionization efforts on publicly owned network geothermal projects

Four were rejected without a vote:

  • #26 (Gomez): Halting Gas Expansion, which prevents the expansion of gas infrastructure near EJ communities and plans for a just transition away from fossil fuels 
  • #62 (Howard): Data Centers, which establish safeguards around data center development for energy, water, health, and people’s bills
  • #82 (Rausch): DPU Clarification, which would remove section allowing “renewable natural gas blending” in the gas distribution system for commercial customers
  • #106 (Eldridge): Self-Attestation of Income, which keeps self-reporting for low and moderate-income households in Mass Save 

Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Marlborough)’s amendment #77, which would have prevented utilities from imposing charges on all ratepayers to cover the cost of expanding natural gas lines, failed in a close vote of 19-20.

The vote was an interesting split, particularly because of the split in Senate Leadership. Majority Leader Cindy Creem (D-Newton), President Pro Tempore Will Brownsberger (D-Belmont), Assistant Majority Leader Mike Barrett (D-Lexington), Assistant Majority Leader Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett), Majority Whip Mike Rush (D-West Roxbury), and Assistant Majority Whip Julian Cyr (D-Truro) voted yes. However, Senate Ways & Means chair Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport) and Assistant Majority Leader Joan Lovely (D-Salem) voted no.

Environmental groups were lobbying for the amendment, and real estate groups were lobbying against it. Most of the YES votes were from the Senate’s more progressive members. Surprise YES votes like Nick Collins (D-South Boston) and Mike Rush (D-West Roxbury) make sense in the context of them facing progressive primary challengers: primaries can do wonders for making elected officials pay more attention to their constituents. We should have more of them.

Of the two amendments MPF opposed, Sen. Fernandes’s amendment #114, which took money from crucial programs for low-income housing decarbonization and clean energy, was rejected without a vote, and Sen. Brady’s amendment #139, which removed the reforms to the GSEP program, was withdrawn.

Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester)’s amendment (#17) to weaken Mass Save’s next three-year plan and create a series of commissions that try to blame renewable energy for higher energy costs failed 9 to 30, with Barry Finegold (D-Andover), Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford), Michael Moore (D-Millbury), and John Velis (D-Westfield) joining Republicans.

It’s the Last Month of the Formal Legislative Session. What’s Already Become Law?

As we head into the last month of the formal legislative session, let’s take stock.

During the 2025-2026 legislative session at the MA State House, 220 bills have been signed into law.

But of those 220….

  • 166 are home rule petitions about one city or town
  • 23 are administrative matters about sick leave for specific state or county employees
  • 12 are budgets or supplemental budgets
  • 4 are awareness days
  • 3 are routine bonding and financing matters (the timeline for bond issuance; Chapter 90 funding for local transportation projects)

So what about the other twelve?

Three of them will expire by next year, if not sooner:

  • Extending hybrid meeting access for public meetings through next June
  • Setting the primary date as September 1
  • Creating an opt-in, temporary municipal pilot program to extend last call until 3 am for the World Cup

So what are the other nine?

  • Strengthening protections for reproductive and gender-affirming care, a critical move in light of federal attacks (August 2025)
  • Making car rentals more affordable (November 2025)
  • Updating the collection of birth and death statistics (November 2025)
  • Protecting transit workers from assault (December 2025)
  • Reforming the Cannabis Control Commission (April 2026)
  • Updating outdated and offensive language in Massachusetts law related to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (June 2026)
  • Creating a statewide framework to help individuals with autism communicate important information to law enforcement officers during traffic stops and other interactions (June 2026)
  • Overhauling early literacy instruction (June 2026)
  • Creating a public online database and automated notification system tracking code violations related to welding, plasma cutting, and spark-producing construction (June 2026)

Various other policy changes have passed via the budget (e.g., banning tenant-paid broker’s fees, creating an immigrant legal defense fund), but the Legislature has increasingly used large, must-pass vehicles like the budget to pass policy rather than pass standalone bills with clear votes, accountability, and attribution of credit.

And there are many bills in Conference Committees existing or soon to be reformed.

The big takeaway of all of this should be clear: there’s a LOT for them to still do in this final month. And it’s important that our legislators hear from us about it.

Here’s What You Should Ask Your State Legislators If You See Them This Holiday Weekend

It’s the first week of July, and that means two things.

(1) We’re now in the last month of the formal legislative session, which tends to feature a flurry of activity as long-awaited priorities emerge, deals get cut, and more.

(2) Lots of July 4th activities, especially for the 250th.

So across this weekend, you might end up bumping into your state representative or state senator. Here’s what you should ask them.

(1) Protecting Our Immigrant Communities: Tell them to ask Legislative Leadership to ensure that the final version of the PROTECT Act contains a clean ban on new 287(g) agreements, without exception; contains strong and clear limitations on communication and collaboration with ICE; and bans courthouse arrests, including on courthouse grounds. Email Your State Legislators

(2) Protecting Our Privacy Rights: Tell them to ask Legislative Leadership to ensure that the final version of the Data Privacy bill completely bans the sale of sensitive data and location data, creates strong statutory limits on data collection and processing, and includes a private right of action to hold companies accountable. Email Your State Legislators

(3) Keeping Momentum for Rent Control: Urge them not to abandon the momentum for a rent control deal. Real progress was made to protect communities from displacement, and we shouldn’t let the SJC ruling on the ballot question to get in the way. Email Your State Legislators.