Letter: “Don’t Cut Care. Close Tax Loopholes for Large Corporations Instead.”

Al Blake, “Letter: Don’t Cut Care. Close Tax Loopholes for Large Corporations Instead,” Berkshire Eagle, July 30, 2025.

Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Republicans in Congress have made it their mission to cut funding for essential government services on which we all depend. Their priorities are clear. And so should ours in Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, Governor Healey’s proposed budget would halve the number of mental health case workers, limiting access to essential care. Thankfully, she put a pause on her plans to close two of the state’s mental health hospitals, but more funding will be needed

And we know how to raise such funds. It’s not by giving tax cuts to rich people and large corporations as our Legislature did two years ago. It’s by ensuring that large corporations are paying their fair share.

That’s why I strongly support Raise Up Mass’s Corporate Fair Share campaign to ensure that billionaire global corporations like Apple, Google, and Walmart pay their fair share and can’t get away with tax-dodging antics.

Did you know that Massachusetts taxes a smaller share of offshored corporate income than New Hampshire? An Act Combating Offshore Tax Avoidance (H.3110 / S.2033) would fix that, bringing us in line with the federal government and other states and raising hundreds of millions of dollars in new annual revenues.

MA needs to combat offshore tax dodging and make the world’s most profitable mega-corporations pay their fair share in state taxes, instead of cutting public services like healthcare and education that we all rely upon.

Letter: “How MA Must Respond to Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”

Heather Ford, “LETTER TO THE EDITOR: How MA Must Respond to Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”,” Westwood Minute, July 31, 2025.

To the Editor:

A month ago, Trump and Congressional Republicans passed the Big Beautiful Bill. But this bill is ugly: containing one of the biggest rollbacks of health care access in US history, cuts to food assistance and public education, and escalated funding for ICE.

Through this bill, the Trump administration wants states like Massachusetts to do their dirty work for them. Bay Staters need to be clear that we won’t.

Massachusetts needs to better protect our essential services from federal cuts. The extreme cuts to health care access, food assistance, education, and other vital programs will hit state budgets hard. Indeed, we are already seeing the impact of the unilateral cuts that Trump made earlier this year.

Rather than making cuts that will fall on the backs of the most vulnerable, we should be making sure that the most profitable corporations in our commonwealth are paying their fair share. That’s why we need to pass the Corporate Fair Share bill (H.3110 / S.2033), which would ensure that large multinational corporations like Amazon and Walmart pay more in taxes using a federal formula called Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI).

Fun Fact: if Massachusetts started charging these corporations fifty percent of their GILTI, it would be the same percentage of their GILTI that Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire already do.

Beacon Hill also needs to tap into the state’s $8 billion rainy day fund. The looming cuts that Bay Staters face under the “Big Beautiful Bill” are why the rainy day fund was created.

Second, Massachusetts needs to better protect our immigrant communities by not being complicit with Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Trump’s $45 billion increase in ICE funds means that the administration will be looking for more people to work as immigration agents. Scaling up means that they will want states to offer existing personnel to do their dirty work. We must be clear that we won’t. Bills like the Safe Communities Act (H.2580 / S.1681) and the Dignity Not Deportations Bill (H.1588 / S.1122) would ensure that our state and local law enforcement are not being deputized as ICE agents.

Our legislators on Beacon Hill speak of doing the best for their constituency. Bay Staters should push for them to pass these three bills to help them do their best and reject the President’s agenda.

Heather T. Ford
Westwood, MA

Thanks to Heather Ford, Westwood resident, for sharing these comments and opinions with Westwood Minute. 

Letter: “It’s Time for Beacon Hill to Lead, Not Linger”

Jason Brown, “It’s Time for Beacon Hill to Lead, Not Linger,” West Roxbury/Roslindale Bulletin, July 30, 2025.


To the Editor:
Seven months into President Trump’s second term, the harm has been swift: rollbacks of civil rights, environmental protections, and safety net programs. ICE raids are tearing families apart, and Congress has aided these efforts. Meanwhile, Massachusetts has been slow to respond. There has been some progress, like immigrant legal defense funding and laws pro-
tecting abortion and gender-affirming care, but we can and must do more.

We need to better protect immigrants. Trump’s $45 billion expansion of ICE means federal agents will pressure states for help. Massachusetts must draw a clear line by passing the Safe Communities Act (H.2580/S.1681) and the Dignity Not Deportations Bill (H.1588/S.1122), which would ensure that local law enforcement is not deputized as ICE agents.

We also need to shield essential services from deep federal cuts to health care, education, and food assistance. Massachusetts can lead with fair and direct revenue policy. The Corporate Fair Share bill (H.3110/S.2033)
would close offshore tax loopholes, ensuring that large multinational corporations like Amazon and Walmart pay their fair share. This would be an overdue fix with meaningful impact.

And let’s not forget our $8 billion rainy day fund. These federal assaults on our communities are precisely the “rainy days” it was designed for.

Massachusetts has the wealth, the tools, and the moral imperative to act. When the Legislature returns from recess, we need them to meet the urgency of the moment—not just with words, but with action. Constituents must demand bold leadership.
Jason Brown
West Roxbury

“Why should renters not have the same predictability? “

Chair Lewis, Chair Rausch, and Members of the Joint Committee: 

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.

We urge a favorable report for S.1447: An Act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents and protect tenants.

Massachusetts has a lot to offer, but that does little if people can’t afford to live here. The US News & World Report’s annual state rankings put Massachusetts at #47 in affordability. A worker earning minimum wage in Massachusetts would have to work 101 hours a week to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home at market rate. [2] 

Clearly, Massachusetts has an affordable housing crisis. This is unsustainable. It has led to expanding economic inequality, increased homelessness, and damage to our economy, as talented workers often leave the state for less expensive regions. Too many of us know stories of friends, family members, or neighbors being priced out of neighborhood then city then state. 

The crisis in outmigration we face is not billionaires moving to Florida. It is of working people not able to afford the cost of living here. 

Solving this affordable housing crisis will require us to use every tool in the toolbox. That requires zoning reform that encourages the creation of walkable, sustainable, and inclusive communities. It requires public investment. And it requires strengthening tenant protections that ensure that communities can remain affordable, inclusive, and stable.

However, municipalities across Massachusetts are blocked from taking the necessary steps to address the housing crisis. The misguided statewide ban on rent stabilization policies and a stringent home rule system that prevents municipalities from passing their own laws to govern the basic aspects of civil affairs hamstring municipalities.

By enabling our cities and towns to pass rent control ordinances tailored to their local needs, we can stem the displacement that is hitting so many communities.

We cannot build our way out of the crisis alone because the people at the highest risk for displacement will already be pushed out before they can benefit from any medium to long-term reduction in rents.

Rent control is about offering price stability to renters. We know what price stability looks like. It’s what homeowners with mortgages are given. Why should renters not have the same predictability? 

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Collective Testimony: Zero Carbon Renovation Funding in the Environmental Bond Bill

Link to testimony here

July 29, 2025
Senator Becca Rausch, Co-Chair
Representative Christine Barber, Co-Chair
Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
State House Room 215
Boston, MA 02133
Re: Zero Carbon Renovation Funding in the Environmental Bond Bill


Dear Chair Rausch, Chair Barber, and Members of the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural
Resources:

Thank you for the opportunity to submit this testimony concerning the Mass Ready Act. Our Zero Carbon Renovation Fund Coalition is supportive of this bill and believes it can be strengthened by including additional decarbonization funding for frontline communities. Luckily, H.3577/S.2286, An Act establishing a Zero Carbon Renovation Fund, sponsored by Senator Gomez and Representatives Vargas and Cruz, would do just that.

The Zero Carbon Renovation Fund Coalition has over 200 member organizations representing 80,000 units of affordable housing, and working at the intersection of housing, health, community, and climate. We are united in the idea that equitable building decarbonization is critical for the health, wealth, and safety of our communities long-term.

Decarbonization involves improving a building’s envelope, transitioning it to clean energy sources, adding on-site power generation, and using less energy-intensive building materials. These practices make buildings more resilient in the face of floods, heat waves, and other extreme weather events, while mitigating climate change.

The state has started to invest in decarbonization for affordable housing and other priority sectors through programs at DOER, HLC, and Mass Save. Current and expected decarbonization sources for MA’s affordable housing sector total approximately $500M. But this is not enough.

The cost to decarbonize affordable housing units is currently tracking between $50K-$150K more per unit than a business-as-usual retrofit. Scaled up to over 200,000 units of multifamily affordable housing in MA translates to at least $10B-$30B of investment that will be needed for the affordable housing sector alone to meet our state’s climate goals by 2050.

The inclusion of H.3577/S.2286 will provide funding to catalyze an equitable transition to a clean energy future that simultaneously advances climate resiliency and improves physical and financial security for frontline communities. It will prioritize Environmental Justice communities, Gateway Cities, low-and moderate-income housing, municipal buildings, and minority-and women-owned businesses. As existing buildings in Massachusetts contribute nearly one third of all carbon emissions, a focus on making this clean energy transition is essential if we are to create a sustainable and resilient future for
our children. While H.3577/S.2286 allocates $300 million in funding for these retrofits, we believe that $50 million would be an adequate investment to start this crucial work.

We encourage you to include this language in the version of the Environmental Bond Bill that this Committee reports, so we can move a step closer to the clean and resilient energy future our communities and neighbors deserve. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to ZCRF Committee Chair Emily Jones at ejones@lisc.org. Thank you for this opportunity to testify.


Sincerely,
The Zero Carbon Renovation Fund Coalition Members:
● 2Life Communities
● 350 Mass Berkshires
● 350 Central Mass
● 350 Mass
● Abacus Architects
● Abode Energy Management
● Acadia Center
● ACEDONE
● Action for Equity
● Acton Climate Coalition
● AIA Massachusetts
● Alliance of Cambridge Tenants (ACT)
● Allston Brighton Community
Development Corporation
● Allume Energy
● Alternatives for Community and
Environment (ACE)
● Andover Working to Educate Climate
Action Now (WECAN)
● Anti-Racism & Earth Ministry Teams of
First Church Amherst, UCC
● Asian American Civic Association
● Asian Community Development
Corporation (ACDC)
● AURORA Architects + Builders Co.
● B’nai B’rith Housing
● Beacon Climate Innovations
● Beacon Communities
● Berkshire Environmental Action Team
● Birchwood Sustainable Development
● BlocPower
● BlueHub Capital
Page 3 of 5
● Boston Catholic Climate Movement
● Boston Center for Independent Living
● Boston Climate Action Network (BCAN)
● Boston Housing Authority
● Boston Impact Initiative
● Boston Metal
● Breathe Clean North Shore
● Bright Power
● Brookhaven Residents Climate Change
Committee
● Brookline Community Development
Corporation
● Browning the Green Space (BGS)
● Building A Better Wellesley
● Building Electrification Accelerator
(BEA)
● Building Evolution Corporation
● Built Environment Plus (BE+)
● Byggmeister Design Build
● Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA)
● Capstone Communities LLC
● Cascap Inc.
● Castle Square Tenants Organization
● Center for EcoTechnology
● Chatham Climate Action Network
● Citizens’ Climate Lobby – Boston Metro
West
● Citizens’ Housing and Planning
Association (CHAPA)
● Clean Energy Group (CEG)
● Clean Water Action
● Climate Action Now, Western Mass
(CAN)
● Climate Code Blue
● Coalition for a Better Acre
● Codman Square NDC
● Commonwealth Community
Developers, LLC
● Community Action Agency of
Somerville, Inc. (CAAS)
● Community Action Works Campaigns
● Community Economic Development
Center of Southeastern Massachusetts
(CEDC)
● Community Square Associates
● Conservation Law Foundation (CLF)
● Construct
● Dorchester Bay Economic Development
Corporation
● East Boston CDC (EBCDC)
● Eisenberg Consulting LLC
● Elders Climate Action Mass.
● Embue
● Emerald Cities Collaborative
● Energy Allies
● enviENERGY Studio
● Environmental League of
Massachusetts (ELM)
● Fairmount Indigo CDC Collaborative
● Fenway CDC
● Franklin County CDC
● Grand Banks Building Products
● Greater Boston Physicians for Social
Responsibility
● Greater Springfield Habitat for
Humanity
● GreenerU
● Greening Greenfield
● Green Energy Consumers Alliance
● Green Newton
● GreenRoots
● Greenvest
● HallKeen Management
● Harborlight Homes
● Hargidon Architecture + Design
● Hebrew SeniorLife
● Health Resources in Action (HRiA)
● Hilltown CDC
● Home City Development, Inc.
● Housing Corporation of Arlington
● Housing Assistance Corporation (HAC)
● Housing Greenfield
● Housing Nantucket
Page 4 of 5
● Homeowner’s Rehab, Inc. (HRI)
● ICON Architecture
● Indivisible Acton Area
● Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA
Boston)
● Island Housing Trust
● Jamaica Plain Neighborhood
Development Corporation
● Jewish Alliance for Law and Social
Action
● Jewish Climate Action Network
● Jonathan Rose Companies
● Jones Whitsett Architects (JWA)
● Just A Start
● Kim Lundgren Associates, Inc.
● Latino Support Network (LSN)
● Lawrence CommunityWorks
● League of Conservation Voters
● LEAN Green Building, Inc.
● Lexington Climate Action Network
● LivableStreets Alliance (LSA)
● Local Initiatives Support Corporation
(LISC) Massachusetts
● Longmeadow Pipeline Awareness
Group
● Madison Park Development
Corporation (MPDC)
● Main South CDC
● Maloney Properties, Inc.
● Massachusetts Affordable
Homeownership Alliance (MAHA)
● Massachusetts Association of
Community Development Corporations
(MACDC)
● Massachusetts Association of Housing
Cooperatives
● Massachusetts Climate Action Network
(MCAN)
● Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light
● Mass Power Forward Coalition (MPF)
● Mass Renews Alliance
● Massachusetts Sierra Club
● Metropolitan Area Planning Council
(MAPC)
● Metro West Collaborative Development
● Montague Housing Authority
● Mothers Out Front Massachusetts
● Munkenbeck Consulting
● Mystic River Watershed Association
● Nectar Community Investments
● Neighborhood of Affordable Housing
(NOAH)
● Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts
(N2N)
● NeighborWorks Housing Solutions
● New Ecology, Inc.
● NewVue Communities
● No Fracked Gas in Mass
● No Pipeline Westborough
● North Shore CDC (NSCDC)
● Northeast Clean Energy Council (NECEC)
● Northeast Sustainable Energy
Association
● Nuestra Comunidad Development
Corporation
● Onion Flats Architecture
● Our Climate
● Passive House Massachusetts
● The Property & Casualty Initiative (PCI)
● Peabody Properties
● Petersen Engineering, Inc.
● Pine Street Inn
● Placetailor Co-op LLC
● Planning Office for Urban Affairs
(POUA)
● PowerOptions
● Preservation of Affordable Housing
(POAH)
● Progressive Democrats of
Massachusetts
● Progressive Mass
● Public Health Institute of Western
Massachusetts
● Quincy Geneva New Vision CDC (QGNV)
Page 5 of 5
● R.W. Kern Center at Hampshire College
● RCC Center for Smart Building
Technology
● Rethinking Power Management (RPM)
● Resonant Energy
● Revitalize Community Development
Corporation
● RMI
● Slipstream
● Somerville Community Corporation
● South Boston Neighborhood
Development Corporation (SBNDC)
● Southwest Boston CDC
● Sparhawk Group
● St. Francis House
● Stanton Home
● Steven Winter Associates, Inc. (SWA)
● Steveworks LLC
● Sustainable Comfort, Inc
● Sustainable Wellesley
● The Caleb Group
● The Community Builders (TCB)
● The Green Engineer, Inc.
● The Neighborhood Developers (TND)
● The Passive House Network
● The Schochet Companies
● Town of Hudson Conservation
Commission
● TSK Energy Solutions LLC
● UHM Properties
● UU Mass Action
● U.S. Green Building Council
● UndauntedK12
● Urban Edge
● Valley CDC
● Vermont Energy Investment
Corporation (VEIC)
● Veterans Benefits Clearinghouse
Development Corporation (VBCDC)
● Vietnamese American Initiative for
Development, Inc. (VietAID)
● Vote Solar
● Waterfront Historic Area League
(WHALE)
● Way Finders
● Western Massachusetts Dayenu Circle
● WinnCompanies
● Worcester Common Ground (WCG)
● Worcester Congregations for Climate
and Environmental Justice
● Worcester HEART Partnership
● Worcester Housing Authority
● ZeroCarbonMA

Let Your Legislators Know: MA Wants Rent Control

Massachusetts has a housing crisis, and we need every tool in the toolbox.

Too many working-class individuals and families are being priced out of their communities and the Commonwealth entirely due to ever-growing rents. But Beacon Hill can take action.

Join Homes for All Massachusetts tomorrow for a rally in the State House (Grand Staircase) the State House at 11:30 am before the 1 pm hearing on rent control at 1 pm in Gardner Auditorium.

Here’s what you need to prepare:

  1. RSVP for rally here
  2. Find the testimony guide here
  3. Email written testimony here: jointcommittee.municipalities&regionalgovernment@malegislature.gov
  4. Email your state rep and state senator in support.

Healey Wants to Spend $360 Million on a New Prison. Tell Her No Way. For years, our friends at Families for Justice as Healing have been organizing against a proposed $50 million new women’s prison to replace MCI-Framingham. How has Governor Maura Healey responded? By proposing a $360 million new women’s prison. Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and girls have been clear: what we need is not a new prison, but greater programming for those currently incarcerated, better reentry programs for people when they return to community, and greater community investments in housing, health care, education, and economic security and opportunity. Think of how much that $360 million could do if it went instead to keeping communities safe and ending cycles of incarceration and harm. Join FJaH in telling Governor Healey to stop the $360 million new women’s prison with the action toolkit at bit.ly/FreeHerMA.

Call daily between 9am and 5pm only – (617) 725-4005 Email any time using this form: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/email-the-governors-office Sample Email/Script: “Hello, my name is _________________ and I am your constituent. I oppose your plan to build a $360 million women’s prison. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on prison construction is not investing in people’s wellbeing and will not make our communities safer. Our communities need this money for housing, healing, healthcare, treatment and more. We could actually make Massachusetts a model for the rest of the country by releasing many more women and implementing alternatives to incarceration rather than building yet another prison.” Share Your Fair Share Story On November 8, 2022, Massachusetts voters passed Question 1: the Fair Share Amendment. We chose a fairer tax system, guaranteeing that the richest one percent will pay more to fund our public schools, colleges, roads, bridges, and public transit. Now, Fair Share is at work, already funding more than $6 billion in transportation and public education investments—with more to come. See a list of Fair Share investments to date at fairsharema.com. How is the Fair Share Amendment positively impacting your life, family or work? Are your children receiving free school meals, or learning in a newly-renovated school building? Are you riding a regional transit authority bus for free, or paying a reduced fare on the MBTA? Are you attending tuition-community college, or receiving state financial aid to make public college more affordable? Are you driving on newly paved roads, or riding on subway trains that are faster? Are you receiving child care financial assistance, or sending your child to a child care program that’s benefitted from new grants to child care providers? Is your city or town receiving more money for local roads and schools? (hint: if you live in Massachusetts, the answer is YES!) Raise Up Massachusetts is collecting stories about the many ways the Fair Share Amendment is making a difference in the lives of Massachusetts residents. If you have a story about how Fair Share is positively impacting your life, family or work, please share it with us here.
SHARE YOUR STORY
Progressive Mass’s New “Power Lunch” Series What comes after calling your state rep and state senator? Getting others to do so as well. Join Progressive Mass for our “Power Lunch” phone bank series (Thursdays at noon), where we will be building our collective power in service of a better Commonwealth for all.

In solidarity,
Jonathan Cohn
Policy Director
Progressive Massachusetts

Protecting the Freedom to Read

Chair Garballey, Chair Mark, and Members of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, and the Arts: 

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the policy director at Progressive Massachusetts. We are 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.2328 and H.3594: An Act Regarding Free Expression, filed by Senator Julian Cyr and Representative John Moran.

Over the past few years, we have seen attacks on schools and libraries across the country aimed at removing books by and about LGBTQ people, communities of color, and other marginalized groups. Much of this has been driven by well-funded, well-organized national conservative groups, now unfortunately urged on by the White House. 

Many people would like to think that Massachusetts is different, but we are not. According to the American Library Association, in 2022 there were at least 45 attempts to restrict access to books in Massachusetts school and public libraries, with 57 titles challenged. This puts us among the top 5 states with the highest book ban attempts.

Students learn best when they see themselves and the issues that impact them reflected in their education. Education should be about opening up students to the world and to themselves, and that requires a focus on inclusivity and equity. And it means not seeking to exclude parts of history or identity.

Beyond being simply a moral issue, this is a constitutional issue. The First Amendment protects the right to share ideas, including educators’ and students’ right to receive and exchange information and knowledge. These bills would ensure that selection of age-appropriate library materials is based on the professional expertise of librarians and educators, and would establish a process and standards for handling book challenges so that books are not taken off the shelves based on political or personal views.

At a time when education is under attack from a hostile federal administration, and the goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion are under attack, Massachusetts should be clear about our values and join other states like Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island in pushing back against book banning. 

Thank you for all your work on the hearing, and, again, we urge you to swiftly advance these important bills.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Testimony in Support of Language Access and Utility Accountability

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Chair Cabral, Chair Collins, and Members of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group with chapters across the state committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.

We urge you to give a favorable report to H.3384 / S.2125 (An Act Relative to Language Access and Inclusion) and H.3400 (An Act prohibiting the use of ratepayer funds for utility lobbying, promotions, or perks).

H.3384/S.2125: Language Access and Inclusion Act

Massachusetts is home to a vibrant immigrant community. One in six Massachusetts residents is an immigrant, while one in seven residents is a native-born US citizen with at least one immigrant parent.

Massachusetts, correspondingly, is home to great linguistic diversity: more than 1 out of 4 residents report speaking a language other than English at home, with the most common languages being Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (including Mandarin and Cantonese), Vietnamese, and Russian. However, as the pandemic demonstrated, our state agencies and departments have a patchwork of different policies around language accessibility, and there is no current statute to ensure that non-English speaking residents have a fair and equitable opportunity to obtain an education, apply for benefits, receive housing assistance, or represent themselves in court.

The Language Access and Inclusion Act would help our Commonwealth better meet the needs of all residents by standardizing and enforcing language access protocols and practices at public-facing state agencies. Everyone should be able to interact with and seek help from their own government, no matter what language they speak.

H.3400: Utility Accountability

Our public utilities are supposed to serve and be regulated in service of the public interest; however, gas and electric utilities are regularly using money they collect from customers’ bills to fund their lobbying, advertising, and trade association dues. Customers have no say in such decisions, and such spending can often be directly in contradiction of the public interest. Voters across the Commonwealth want strong environmental laws and robust and equitable climate legislation, and we should not be coerced into funding opposition campaigns simply because of the need to have light, heat, and electricity in our homes.

Similarly, utilities are using customer ratepayer money to subsidize the lavish expenses of their Boards of Directors—at the same time as they are raising prices.

It’s quite simple: If utilities have so much money to spend on lobbying, ads, and perks, they are charging customers too much money and investing too little in the transition to clean, green energy.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

“We Won More State House Transparency. What’s Next?” Recording & Follow-ups

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for yesterday’s event “We Won More State House Transparency. What’s Next?” (And if you weren’t able to make it, we missed you!)

You can watch or re-watch the video from last night here: https://youtu.be/_nuUdbt9oyg.

Here’s the slide deck that we used. 

As Scotia noted, we want YOU to be a part of our accountability team. Sign up to be a part of it here  https://forms.gle/uwvvYZX7jdz3rdQe6.

We mentioned the Coalition to Reform Our Legislature’s stipend reform campaign. You can learn more about that here.

Testimony: MA Needs Debt-Free Higher Ed

Friday, July 18, 2025

Char Comerford, Chair Rogers, and Members of the Joint Committee on Higher Education:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group with chapters across the state committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.

We urge you to give a favorable report to H.1436/S.929: An Act relative to debt-free public higher education.

Because of the transformative new revenue from the Fair Share Amendment, Massachusetts recently took a major step forward by making community college free. But we need to ensure that students can graduate from any of our public colleges and universities without debt.

Our public colleges and universities are engines of economic opportunity. Studies reliably show that a postsecondary degree provides a proven premium in lifetime wages for graduates, and has become a commonplace requirement for a wide range of job types. But for too many of our high school graduates, the cost of attending college is prohibitive.

That’s because the cost students face is not just that borne by students during their years in school, but the costs years after through accrued debt. By preventing young people from living independently, buying a home, or pursuing their career of choice, student debt is a drag on our economy. Even when students drop out due to cost, they can be saddled with debt for years after, and have a much more difficult time finding jobs.

The United States stands out compared to other countries in how expensive it is to attend college, and the costs have grown exponentially in recent decades, outpacing other economic indicators. It is often shocking to hear people talk about how cheap college used to be several decades ago, while many students today are forced to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

Let’s do right by our students and right by the future of the Commonwealth by embracing debt-free public higher education.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts