PM in the News: “Here’s what 6 Mass. political observers want to hear in Thursday’s State of the Commonwealth speech”

Chris Van Buskirk, “Here’s what 6 Mass. political observers want to hear in Thursday’s State of the Commonwealth speech,” WBUR, January 22, 2026.

Progressive Democrat: Jonathan Cohn, policy director at the advocacy group Progressive Mass, said he has “quite a long wish list” for Healey’s speech. At the top of that list is outlining “a clear agenda on reining in corporate power in the state” and plans to take action against ICE in the Commonwealth. “What are we actually doing to protect the people of the Commonwealth from the abuses of the Trump administration, most notably, the terrorism that ICE has been unleashing on communities,” Cohn said.

Endorsement: Vanna Howard for State Senate

Progressive Mass members overwhelmingly voted to endorse Rep. Vanna Howard for the special election for the First Middlesex State Senate district. The district includes Lowell, Dracut, Dunstable, Pepperell, and Tyngsborough and was formerly held by the late Sen. Ed Kennedy.

“Progressive Mass is proud to endorse Rep. Vanna Howard for the First Middlesex State Senate special election. Rep. Howard has been a champion for critical issues like food security, educational equity, and health care access, and she stands up for and stands with the diverse communities of the district both at the neighborhood level and in the State House. At a time when we need our legislators to be proactive, Howard is the clear choice.”

2026 MA Special Elections

2026 MA Special Elections

First Middlesex (State Senate)

The District: Lowell, Dracut, Dunstable, Pepperell, Tyngsborough 

Previous Senator: Sen. Edward Kennedy (D) 

Rodney Elliott and Sam Meas did not submit questionnaires. 

Primary Election: Tuesday, February 3 

General Election: Tuesday, March 3 

Read the questionnaires:

Vanna Howard
Return to Elections & Endorsements >>

Want to see more questionnaires?

Take Action: It’s Climate Week at the MA State House

Last November, the MA House tried to ram through a MAGA energy bill that would have rolled back our Commonwealth’s commitments to clean energy, energy efficiency, and climate action.

Because of an outpouring of opposition from people like you, the House pressed pause.

This week, the House Ways and Means Committee and House Leadership are holding listening sessions for state representatives to weigh in on what changes they would like to see to the bill.

This bill could be the vehicle for stopping costly gas infrastructure expansion and reducing bills with clean energy. But for that to happen, we need state representatives to be climate champions and advocate for bold action in these listening sessions.

Mass Power Forward has laid out a vision of what a real agenda for energy affordability and climate justice would look like. Your rep can help make it a reality.

Can you share these priorities with your state rep?

Email Your State Rep

As the bill moves forward, we need to be ready for quick action. Sign up here to be on deck for actions, such as showing up to the State House or contacting your legislator to support/oppose amendments.

MA Senate Embraces Paternalism and Pettiness in Rejecting Boston Home Rule Petition

On Thursday, the MA Senate decided to take a victory lap for passing a series of bills that will drain municipalities of much-needed revenue in light of what could be a bleak state budget and amidst federal sabotage.

Although the bills were not fully ill-intentioned, the efforts to provide opportunities for relief from property taxes run into a problem: if there is no ability to raise the revenue from elsewhere, than cities and towns simply lose revenue. Cities and towns should want to create more progressive tax codes, and rather than allowing targeted property tax relief combined with way new progressive revenue opportunities, the State Senate again signaled its hostility to a proposal from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to shift some of the residential property tax share to the commercial real estate industry.

Her proposal would have blunted property tax increases for residential homeowners and decreased tax cuts for skyscrapers. However, the State Senate has decided that it knows what is better for Boston than the Mayor, the City Council, and the House of Representatives, voting 33 to 5 against the proposal. It answers “Whose side are you on?” quite clearly.

The home rule process in Massachusetts is broken, and cities and towns deserve more flexibility, not being prevented from raising necessary revenue by archaic strictures or the misguided and outdated “Prop 2 1/2” law.

PM in the News: “Unpaid parking tickets? MA bill would let you keep your license”

Margie Cullen, “Unpaid parking tickets? MA bill would let you keep your license,” USA Today, January 15, 2026.

While the practice is meant to coerce people into paying their fines, some studies suggest that the practice does not increase collections of fines. And supporters of the bill say that the practice punishes the poor and traps people into a cycle of debt.

“When someone’s license is suspended because they are unable to afford to pay off their fines and fees, they are placed in an impossible situation,” Jonathan Cohn, the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, wrote in testimony in support of the bill in July. “If they stop driving, they might lose access to job opportunities that they need to pay the fine. If they continue driving, then they risk further punishment.”

Tell Beacon Hill: Don’t Let ICE Buy Our Data

The Massachusetts House may be taking up a data privacy bill as soon as this month.

Recent reporting has shown that ICE has been buying up cell phone location data in order to follow people from work or home. Currently, no laws prevent data brokers from buying and selling our sensitive data, like location data, on the open market. Strengthening our data privacy protections is essential.

Back in September, the Massachusetts Senate passed a robust data privacy bill that would prevent the purchase and sale of such sensitive data, along with other important measures to strengthen privacy rights.

Now it’s the House’s turn.

Big Tech companies like Facebook and Google, which have been buddying up to the Trump administration, are lobbying to water down the bill. Your state rep needs to hear from YOU about the importance of getting a strong bill passed as soon as possible.

Can you call or email your state rep today in support of passing strong data privacy legislation this month?

Find your state rep’s phone #

Email Your State Rep

Testimony: Zero Carbon Renovation Funding in the Mass Ready Act

Progressive Mass joined a coalition testimony in support of including the Zero Carbon Renovation Fund in the environmental bond bill.

January 13, 2026

Senator Paul W. Mark, Acting Chair

Representative Michael J. Finn, Chair

Representative John H. Rogers, Vice Chair

Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets

Attn: Gabrielle Hanson, 24 Beacon St Room 504

Boston, MA 02133

Re: Zero Carbon Renovation Funding in the Mass Ready Act

Dear Acting Chair Mark, Chair Finn, Vice Chair Rogers, and Members of the Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets:

Thank you for the opportunity to submit this testimony concerning S.2542, An Act to build resilience for Massachusetts communities (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 Massachusetts’ 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.

Letter: “Some lawmakers throw up their hands, but there’s much that can be done”

Enid Eckstein, “Some lawmakers throw up their hands, but there’s much that can be done,” Boston Globe, January 12, 2026.

Anjali Huynh rightly calls out Massachusetts Democrats for being less aggressive than lawmakers in other blue states in “building an anti-Trump wall,” but I disagree with the contention of some that there is only so much the Legislature can do. It can do plenty.

As legislators returned last week, they confronted a loss of $3.5 billion in annual federal aid, and more in lost tax revenue, due to the Trump administration’s federal tax changes. Many Massachusetts residents will be squeezed by rising health care costs, and tens of thousands risk losing health care coverage or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

Massachusetts can join neighboring states and pass a measure that would raise as much as $400 million in new annual revenue by fighting offshore tax dodging by large global companies such as Apple, Amazon, and Walmart.

The Legislature also can opt out of state-level adoption of the Trump corporate tax cuts and preserve more than $400 million in state revenue this year alone. Maine, Rhode Island, and other states have already done this.

Lawmakers also could use a reasonable amount of the $8.6 billion rainy day fund to fill the holes in key services without a long-term impact on the fund itself. The fund was created to act as a buffer for shortfalls during emergencies by preventing drastic cuts to health care, education, and public safety. This is an emergency.

Massachusetts legislators have many tools in their toolbox, and it is time to start using them.

Enid Eckstein

Jamaica Plain

The writer is on the steering committees of Jamaica Plain Progressives and Raise Up Massachusetts.