2026 Annual Meeting Videos & Links

Thanks to everyone who joined us on the 31st!

You can watch Senate candidate interviews here.

If you’re interested in learning more about what’s involved in starting a chapter in your community, email chapters@progressivemass.com.

Hope to see you soon!

In Solidarity,

Progressive Mass Team

Yes for a Safe MA

Campaign website: yesforasafema.com

Campaign email: info@yesforasafema.com

Key takeaway: The more Massachusetts voters understand the law, and what’s at risk, the more likely they are to vote in our favor. We encourage folks to sign up to get involved and take action by donating, endorsing (as individuals or organizations), hosting an event, or volunteering.

Rent Control

Campaign website: https://www.keepmasshome.com/

Legislative campaign: https://www.homesforallmass.org/policy/

Legislative Reform

Slide Deck: LINK

Campaign website (Stipend Reform): https://www.stipendreform.com/

Campaign website (Public Records): https://www.dianaforma.com/ballot

Saving Our State from the Greedy Tech Bros

Campaign website: https://www.protectmassachusettsfuture.com/

Join an upcoming action: https://forms.gle/opNdicweBFdiUyzK8

Voter Contact 101

Slides: LINK

State Budget

Slide Deck: LINK

MassBudget’s website: https://massbudget.org/

MassBudget’s preliminary analysis of the Governor’s budget proposal: https://massbudget.org/2026/01/28/massbudgets-preliminary-analysis-of-governor-healeys-fy-2027-budget-and-fy-2026-supplemental-budget-proposals/

Sign up for the March 3rd MassBudget webinar on funding affordable housing through a real estate transfer fee on high-priced home sales: https://secure.massbudget.org/np/clients/mbpc/event.jsp?forwardedFromSecureDomain=1&event=54

Sign up for MassBudget’s mailing list:https://secure.massbudget.org/np/clients/mbpc/subscribe.jsp?subscription=34

Care Not Cages

Slides: LINK

If people are looking to donate, these are fundraisers for families impacted by immigration enforcement across MA: Operationmilkweed.org

Join LUCE: lucemass.org

Join BIJAN (accompaniment and bond): https://www.beyondbondboston.org/join

Overview of immigration detention: https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/detention-timeline

Tell Congress to stop ICE detention: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/464bfff89caa6e21cda6427cbcea52b9

PLYMOUTH

– To understand more about the relationship between detention capacity and ICE Arrests: https://www.ilrc.org/resources/if-you-build-it-ice-will-fill-it-link-between-detention-capacity-and-ice-arrests

– To read about detention in Plymouth County Correctional Facility over 25 years: https://www.bu.edu/law/files/2024/09/ICE-detentions-plymouth.pdf

Holding DAs and Sheriffs Accountable

Slide Deck: LINK

Additional DA resources:https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/what-difference-da-makes-0/

Additional Sheriff resources: https://www.aclum.org/know-your-sheriff/

Care Not Cages: Mass Immigrant Justice in 2026

Becca Kornet, Progressive Mass Western Norfolk County

Shannon Flynn and Leela Ramachandran from LUCE led a breakout group at Progressive Mass’s 2026 Annual Meeting about the critical work done by LUCE. LUCE is an acronym: Liberation, Union, Community, Esperanza/Esperança/Espoir/Espwa (hope). LUCE’s work covers two broad areas:

  • Hotline operators available 6am-8pm (call this when you think you see ICE, ask about resources, report detentions)
  • Local hubs of volunteers (ICE verifiers, connecting with local resources, canvassing with “know your rights” info)

The communities hit hardest by ICE in 2025 include Framingham, Milford, Marlborough, East Boston, Chelsea, Revere, New Bedford, Waltham, and more. Even suburban communities like Acton, Newton, Milton, and Hudson have seen ICE activity. From March-December of last year, verifiers responded to over 1,100 incidents in 120 cities and towns in Massachusetts (and this is likely under-counted). People have been detained in a wide range of locations, including district court, businesses, traffic stops, homes, immigration court, on the street, at gas stations, and more. There has been frequent collaboration between local police and court staff and ICE.


We were reminded that we have had bad immigration policy since the 1700s, under both Republican and Democratic administrations. While what’s happening now is particularly horrible, much of it is not new. President Obama truly earned the moniker, “deporter in chief,” as his administration detained more immigrants than all presidents since 1890 combined. The Biden administration didn’t do nearly enough. And Governor Healey, while finally taking a stronger stance on this issue, has also not gone far enough. When you hear about people being transferred, this can mean a dehumanizing experience of being in full body shackles for hours in a van; transfers are often done very quickly and to multiple places, so often by the time detainees’ families know they are gone, they have been moved from Burlington to Plymouth to Louisiana; this quick movement also means they have had no chance to secure legal representation.


As for the detention locations in Massachusetts:

  • The facility in Burlington is an office building, and not set up to keep people long-term; immigrants are often sleeping on floors
  • The conditions in Plymouth are terrible, with detainees reporting freezing temperatures (meaning they have to shell out money to buy sweatshirts if they can afford it) and inedible food
  • There is also the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) in Framingham and Burlington, where individuals are given ankle monitors to wear and rules to follow – and they are still at risk of
    deportation


Currently, Massachusetts allows local/state entities to rent detention space and sign contracts with ICE. Learn more about the Dignity not Deportations Act (H1588/S1122), which would prohibit these contracts and also prohibit MA entities from donating time to or volunteering with ICE. The Detention Watch Network is a great resource. Another great way to help is by volunteering for the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN); there are opportunities to accompany individuals to court and make financial donations to their bond fees, which can be extremely expensive. 

To learn more, sign up to volunteer, or make a financial contribution, visit https://www.lucemass.org.

The Vote Yes for a Safe Massachusetts Campaign: How to Help Protect our Gun Safety Laws

Becca Kornet, Progressive Mass Western Norfolk County

Alejandra Rivera, Policy Manager at the Mass Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, led a breakout group at Progressive Mass’s 2026 Annual Meeting on January 31st about the effort to repeal recent gun safety legislation. In 2024, Maura Healey signed a new gun safety bill into law – An Act Modernizing Firearm Laws. While Massachusetts already had strong gun safety laws, this legislation closed many loopholes (e.g., regulation of ghost guns), making it MA’s most significant gun safety legislation in a decade and raising the Commonwealth to an A grade rating on the Giffords Scorecard. The law went into effect in July 2024; by October of that same year, extremists filed a petition to repeal it.


This question will be on the ballot in November 2026. While we won’t know the question number until the spring, we do know that we need to vote YES to keep the current legislation as it is and not repeal it. As is often the case, the yes/no wording on ballot questions can be confusing or counterintuitive, so it’s critical we start getting the word out to our networks now so we can build awareness and education.


The group behind the push to repeal the legislation is GOAL – the Gun Owners Action League. Their messaging is often misleading. For example, their website is TheCivilRightsCoaltion.com, which may lead people to assume a very different intent. They are well-funded, with about $170K in the bank to fund their campaign.


To learn more, get involved, or make a financial contribution to help them combat the spending that is sure to come up from our opponents, go to https://www.yesforasafema.com. Vote YES for a Safe Massachusetts!

Response to Governor Healey’s 2026 State of the Commonwealth Address

Although Governor Healey’s State of the Commonwealth began with sharp criticisms of President Trump, she failed to demonstrate that MA will be a true bulwark against his harmful policy agenda. 

It’s deeply disappointing that Governor Healey offers nothing of substance in how to protect our immigrant communities in Massachusetts from ongoing ICE terrorism and Trump’s un-American, xenophobic agenda. Last year, she offered Marcelo Gomes da Silva a rosary; perhaps it should be no surprise that all she offers here is thoughts and prayers.

Activists have been fighting for years for bills like the Safe Communities Act and Dignity Not Deportations Act to end formal and informal collaboration with ICE. New legislation has been filed to protect court houses and to impose penalties on ICE agents from wearing masks. The Governor offered nothing. Let’s be clear: reining in ICE violence is a kitchen table, as there is no such thing as affordability when families are being broken apart and workers are being kidnapped on the way to work.

In a recent speech, Senator Elizabeth Warren underscored that the major fight within the Democratic Party is whether Democrats will be with billionaires or with the rest of us and whether Democrats will fight entrenched corporate interests and reduce inequality. To that question of “Which side are you?,” Governor Healey doesn’t provide a clear answer. 

An archaic “all of the above” energy strategy locks in fossil fuel infrastructure for decades to come, lining CEO pockets and keeping energy bills high. 

A “Health Care Affordability Working Group” filled with industry insiders is like asking the foxes how to keep the henhouse safe. 

Successful policies she rightfully touts, like free community college, universal school meals, and greater investment in the MBTA, all resulted from voters answering Warren’s question: we said yes to taxing the rich and investing in all of us with the Fair Share Amendment. 

As Massachusetts faces the threat of devastating budget cuts because of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, Healey offers no insight into how or whether she intends to fight back. The Fair Share fight showed us how. 

New initiatives like preventing medical debt from being reported to credit agencies (Even better would be abolishing the idea of medical debt with a single payer health care system) or adopting click-to-cancel policies are good, common-sense steps, but Healey failed to offer a bold vision for a Commonwealth that works for all. 

An Important Deadline Just Passed on Beacon Hill. What Happened?

If you have read news about the State House or seen advocacy alerts or legislative newsletters recently, you may have heard the term “Joint Rule 10 Day.”

In the Joint Rules governing the MA House and MA Senate, Rule #10 creates deadlines for committees to take action.The Senate has a deadline of December 3 (“first Wednesday in December”), and the House had a deadline earlier this week (“third Wednesday in December”).

To meet this deadline, committees can take one of our actions:

  • The committee can give a bill a favorable report: that means the committee thinks the bill ought to pass. It then advances to the next stage of its journey from bill to law, typically moving to the Ways & Means Committee.
  • The committee can give the bill an adverse report: that means the committee thinks the bill ought not to pass, and it is done for the session.
  • The committee can send the bill to study: that means the committee does not plan to take further action on the bill. It is, in other words, a polite way to vote the bill down. No “study” results.
  • The committee can give the bill an extension: that means the committee has not yet decided the fate of the bill and wants more time to decide or redraft/combine bills.

A few of the bills we care about got favorable reports in the past few weeks. So let’s take a moment to celebrate those wins, and since committee votes are now public, take a moment to thank the senators and representatives who voted to advance them.

  • Local Option Real Estate Transfer Fee:Advanced 4 to 0 (with 2 reserving rights) out of the Senate Revenue Committee. Thank you to Senators Mike Brady, Jamie Eldridge, Pat Jehlen, and Becca Rausch for voting yes!
  • Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act: Advanced 9 to 1 (with 1 reserving rights) out of the House Housing Committee and 4 to 2 in the Senate Housing Committee. Thank you to Representatives James Arena-DeRosa, Michelle Badger, Hannah Bowen, Rob Consalvo, Kip Diggs, Rich Haggerty, David LeBoeuf, Chris Markey, and Adrianne Ramos — and Senators Julian Cyr, Lydia Edwards, Paul Feeney, and Patrick O’Connor — for voting yes!
  • Visitation Bill: Advanced 10 to 3 out of the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. Thank you to Representatives Dan Cahill, Michelle Ciccolo, Rodney Elliott, Homar Gómez, David Linsky, Bridget Plouffe, Amh Mah Sangiolo, Alan Silvia, Richard Wells, and Chris Worrell for voting yes!
  • Preventing Gas System Expansion: Advanced 4 to 0 (with 2 reserving rights) out of the Senate Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee. Thank you to Senators Mike Barrett, Mike Brady, Julian Cyr, and Dylan Fernandes for voting yes!

What does it mean to “reserve rights”? When a representative or senator votes to “reserve rights,” they are typically indicating that they would like to see revisions to the bill before they would feel comfortable voting yes or want more time with it in committee.

Beacon Hill 101: Joint Rule 10 Day

If you have read news about the State House or seen advocacy alerts or legislative newsletters recently, you may have heard the term “Joint Rule 10 Day.” This poses a key question: What is Joint Rule 10 anyway?

In the Joint Rules governing the MA House and MA Senate, Rule #10 creates deadlines for committees to take action. By the first Wednesday of December, i.e., tomorrow, every joint committee needs to take action on every bill in its purview. (It wouldn’t be Beacon Hill without exceptions: The Health Care Financing Committee has a later deadline, and committees aren’t held to the deadline for bills filed after January, when there’s an early session filing deadline).

Also new this year: rather than voting as one joint committee, the House and Senate members of the committee will each vote on their own bills.

What happens next?

  • The committee can give a bill a favorable report: that means the committee thinks the bill ought to pass. It then advances to the next stage of its journey from bill to law, typically moving to the Ways & Means Committee.
  • The committee can give the bill an adverse report: that means the committee thinks the bill ought not to pass, and it is done for the session.
  • The committee can send the bill to study: that means the committee does not plan to take further action on the bill. It is, in other words, a polite way to vote the bill down. No “study” results.
  • The committee can give the bill an extension: that means the committee has not yet decided the fate of the bill and wants more time to decide or redraft/combine bills.

There are several ways your legislators can vote in a committee (and with the new rules, you’ll be able to see):

  • Favorable: the bill ought to pass
  • Adverse: the bill ought not to pass
  • Reserve Rights: the bill ought not to pass barring major revisions
  • No Action: the legislator was not present for the vote

Here are a few bills we’re supporting that have already advanced favorably from their first committee in either House or Senate:

  • Same Day Registration: Advanced 5 to 1 from the Senate Committee on Election Laws
  • Delinking the Municipal Census from the Voter Rolls: Advanced 5 to 1 from the Senate Committee on Election Laws
  • Clean Slate (i.e., automatic record sealing: Advanced 6 to 0 from the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
  • Raise the Age (i.e., keeping young people out of the adult prison system): Advanced 5 to 1 from the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
  • Prison Moratorium (i.e, putting a five-year pause on new prison and jail construction): Advanced 8 to 0, with 1 reserving rights and 2 taking no action, from the House Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight
  • Location Shield Act (i.e., banning the sale of cell phone location data): Included in the Senate’s data privacy omnibus bill in September; Included in the House Committee on Advanced IT’s data privacy omnibus bill (favorable report of 9 to 0, with 2 reserving rights)
  • Right to Free Expression (i.e., reining in politically motivated book bans): Passed by the Senate last month; Advanced 11 to 0 from the House Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development

That’s the good news. Unfortunately, at least one of the bills on our priority agenda got sent to study. The Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources voted 4 to 0 on sending a bundle of bills to study, including Make Polluters Pay (i.e., requiring major oil and gas companies to pay fee on historic emissions). The vote was 4 to 0, with 1 senator reserving rights and 1 registering a dissent in the Senate Journal.

After bills leave their first committee, then legislators can no longer co-sponsor the bills. But there are plenty of other asks to make of your legislators!

Stay tuned for more updates.

Legislative Session Update

Today was the last day for the MA House and Senate to take recorded votes before going on recess until the new year.

So far, only 61 bills have become law:

  • 31 of them were home rule petitions about specific cities or towns
  • 15 were personnel matters about specific individuals
  • 8 were budgets or supplemental budgets
  • 2 were bond authorizations
  • 2 were disease awareness days

That leaves only three other bills: a temporary extension of hybrid meeting access (good; make it permanent), setting next year’s state primary as September 1 (terrible for turnout), and updating our shield laws protecting access to abortion care and gender-affirming care (good and necessary).

Clearly, there’s work to do.

New State House Accountability Tool Launched

Two weeks out from the Legislature’s new deadline for committees to report out bills, a new tool — Beacon Hill Compliance Tracker (https://beaconhilltracker.org/) — highlights the extent to which the MA Legislature has yet to follow its own new rules.

In June, the MA House of Representatives and MA Senate agreed to joint rules for the first time since 2019. Following years of activist organizing around greater transparency in the legislative process, Beacon Hill adopted key reforms like public committee votes, public bill summaries, and 10-day notice for hearings. The House also adopted a series of rolling deadlines for reporting out bills from committees, with action required by 60 and, at latest, 90 days following a hearing.

The Beacon Hill Compliance Tracker, an independent, citizen-built tool developed in collaboration with us here at Progressive Mass and with Act on Mass, measures how well the Massachusetts Legislature complies with its own new commitments to transparency.

Democracy in Action: House’s MAGA Energy Bill Delayed

Because of calls and emails from people like you, the House delayed their MAGA energy bill that would have rolled back our climate, clean energy, and energy efficiency commitments.

The House will be redrafting an energy bill to vote on in the new year, so pressure will still be needed to ensure that we move forward, not backward. Stay tuned.

Standing up for Democracy – Resistance Training for Everyone

Becca Kornet, Progressive Mass Western Norfolk County

Progressive Mass Western Norfolk County (PMWNC) recently held our first session of “Citizens Standing up for Democracy” in Medfield. The two hour in-person session was based on learnings from Rep. Pramila Jayapal(D/WA)’s Resistance Lab Training and Indivisible’s One Million Rising program. During the session, we:

  • Shared information about democratic backsliding, featuring Erica Chenoweth’s video essay “History and Practice of Nonviolent Resistance”
  • Reviewed the pillars that hold up an authoritarian regime (e.g., military, business, religion, education), and thought about how we are each connected to them
  • Explored the spectrum from opponents to allies, highlighting the importance of trying to move someone just one click toward allyship
  • Presented a range of tools and tactics (e.g., the Five R’s – reveal, redeem, reframe, redirect, and resist) that everyday people can use to stand up for democracy
  • Worked together to come up with ideas for how we could stand up for issues we care most about

Participants felt empowered to think about actions they could take as everyday citizens. They also felt hopeful because we had a strong sense of community in that room, with folks showing a lot of empathy and compassion for others. 

PMWNC’s is planning future sessions, which will to be relatively small (10-12 attendees max) and hyper-local (most all participants from the same town). We are continuing to build our list of interested folks and will be scheduling more sessions soon. Currently, we are planning additional sessions in Medfield, as well as sessions with participants from Norfolk, Millis, Franklin, Milford, Wrentham, and Foxboro. If you live in one of these towns or somewhere else in the area and would like to participate, please email ProgressiveMAWNC@gmail.com!

(Source of images: Pramila Jayapal’s ‘Resistance Lab Training’)