Progressive Groups Call Out Beacon Hill Inaction in Trump’s First 100 Days

The Honorable Speaker Ron Mariano

24 Beacon St.

Room 356

Boston, MA, 02133

The HonorableSenate President Karen Spilka

24 Beacon St.

Room 332

Boston, MA, 02133

Wednesday, May 14, 2025 

Hon. Speaker Ron Mariano and Hon. President Karen Spilka,

Two weeks ago marked the 100th day of Donald Trump’s second presidential term. These hundred days have been marked by an incessant barrage of chaos, cruelty, and corruption. We have seen consistent threats to Massachusetts—to essential social programs; to efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion; to our ability to keep our residents safe; to our efforts to tackle the climate crisis; to the scientific research that powers our regional economy; to people’s constitutional rights of free speech, including abductions of MA residents. We have seen an undermining of the basic rule of law that has pushed us into a constitutional crisis as well as a global trade war that will cause economic harm to our Commonwealth. We have seen the exacerbation of racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, and antisemitism–the list goes on–in rhetoric and policy. We need not recount every such harmful action taken and its impact on Massachusetts because you know them too well. 

But what is less known is how you will choose to respond. Indeed, 100 days into Trump’s presidency and 17 weeks into the 194th session of the General Court, only two bills had been signed into law: (1) a supplemental budget that included harmful restrictions on the access to emergency shelter for families with children and (2) another temporary extension of the ability of state and local bodies to hold hybrid and virtual meetings. That has not grown in the subsequent weeks. 

Although grappling with the full scale of present and future crisis from the federal administration is daunting, it is incumbent upon you to respond and to meet the moment as best you can. 

While you focus on planning for what’s to come, there are steps that we can take now, steps that have already been vetted in hearings in past legislative sessions:  

  • Guarantee that Massachusetts resources are used for state priorities, not federal immigration enforcement, by ending the state Department of Corrections’ 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), banning future 287(g) agreements, and ending intergovernmental service agreements
  • Protect access to courts by prohibiting police and court officials from initiating contact with ICE about a person’s pending release from police or court custody
  • Embrace the best practices already in place in cities and towns by ensuring that state and local police will not inquire about immigration status will not inquire about immigration status or engage in civil immigration enforcement related activities
  • Ensure the safety and well-being of the residents of the Commonwealth and those traveling from other states for reproductive care by shoring up privacy rights and banning the purchase and sale of personal cell phone location data
  • Strengthen our state’s shield law for reproductive and gender–affirming care

All of these are bills you can, and must, pass now. We must be proactive in our policymaking, not wait until the crisis reaches its apex before responding. 

Moreover, as we have already faced lost federal funding and face even more later this year, with expected harm to our public schools, our health care, our safety net programs, our infrastructure, and so much more, we urge you to present a plan for the public for how you will protect our essential services. Now is not the time for cuts. We can and must raise revenue to fund our needs, and there are many such options available, most notably by closing tax loopholes that allow billionaire global corporations to dodge taxes by hiding their profits in tax havens abroad. We must also not be afraid to tap into the state’s rainy day fund when the torrential downpour comes. 

To ensure the efficient and responsive legislative process that this work requires, we urge you to prioritize coming to an agreement on the Joint Rules for the legislative session. Both chambers proposed valuable reforms to make the legislature more open, accountable, and timely. Clarity on rules is essential for the work ahead: inertia thrives under uncertainty. 

We appreciate the words you have spoken in the past months to criticize the harm being done by the federal administration. What the Commonwealth needs now is your actions. 

Sincerely, 

350 Mass 

Act on Mass 

Asian American Resource Workshop 

Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network – Massachusetts

Chinese Progressive Association 

Clean Water Action 

Community Action Agency of Somerville, Inc.

Families for Justice as Healing  

Homes for All Massachusetts 

Indivisible Mass Coalition 

Lynn United for Change 

Massachusetts Peace Action 

New England Community Project

Our Revolution Massachusetts 

Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts

Progressive Massachusetts

Springfield No One Leaves 

Unitarian Universalist Mass Action

Video Recording & Follow-up Links: “DC Attacks, MA Fights Back: Protecting Health Care from the Broligarchy”

Hi everyone,

Thank you for joining us on Wednesday for the forum “DC Attacks, MA Fights Back: Protecting Health Care from the Broligarchy“! You can watch the recording here: https://youtu.be/s4HjwdaktFI. Thank you again to our amazing speakers!

Slide Decks

Jamie Willmuth’s Slide Deck on the Impact of Medicaid Cuts on Providers and the Workforce

Alex Sheff’s Slide Deck on the Impact of Medicaid Cuts on Health Care Access

Crisayda Belén’s Slide Deck on Corporate Fair Share

Actions You Can Take

Become a Phonebanking Volunteer to Protect Medicaid

Contact Your State Legislators in support of Corporate Fair Share

Join the Mass-Care 30th anniversary conference next month.

Join Progressive Mass’s State House Lobby Day on 5/28.

Thanks!

Jonathan

Our Response to “Response 2025”

Our statement on the MA State Senate’s “Response 2025”:

For months, Massachusetts voters have wanted to see our elected officials to be bolder and more proactive in protecting our Commonwealth from the chaos, cruelty, and corruption of the Trump administration. Back in December, we joined dozens of organizations in calling on the Legislature to start this work early. We are now at the start of the fourth month of the year and are 10 weeks into Trump’s second administration. Why is it only now that Senate Democrats feel the need to announce that they are thinking about how to respond to the disasters in Washington?

Somehow, the Senate’s announced response is more comical and more underwhelming than creating a new committee: they held a press conference to let the public know that an existing committee is going to do the work that it should have already been doing.

Until a few days ago, when the Legislature temporarily extended hybrid meeting access for public meetings again, the only bill that the Legislature had passed this session was to kick unhoused families out of shelter. Let’s just hope that their announced intention to take threats seriously is not another April fool’s joke.

Massachusetts voters want to hear real answers from Beacon Hill: how we will protect our essential services amidst looming budget cuts, how we will protect marginalized communities, how we will protect civil liberties and our democracy, how we will show a real governing alternative.”

Happy Sunshine Week! ☀️ Let’s Talk about Transparency

Happy Sunshine Week!

Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan collaboration among groups in the journalism, civic, education, government, and private sectors that shines a light on the importance of public records and open government.

Sunshine Week celebrates a radical concept: that you deserve to know what your elected officials are doing.

In other words, what could be a better week to talk about the push for State House Transparency and our Scorecard Website?

Tomorrow, the three state representatives and three state senators who will negotiate a final set of Joint Rules for the legislative session will meet for the first time. There’s a lot at stake (they haven’t come to a deal in several sessions), including whether committee votes and testimony will finally be posted, whether we will see more timely advancement of legislation, and much more. Read on for what you can do to take action.

And *drumroll please* our Scorecard Website is now up to date with full data from last session as well as co-sponsorship data from this session. Want to know if your legislators are co-sponsoring the bills on our Legislative Agenda. We’ve got you covered.

The Fight for State House Transparency Continues

In February, both the House and Senate adopted a series of transparency reforms to make a more open, inclusive, and timely legislative process. They did not go as far as they could have, but the fact that they went as far as they did was only possible because of people like you who emailed, called, and met with your legislators.

But the fight isn’t over yet. The House and Senate have to negotiate the differences between their respective proposals for Joint Rules.

A six-person conference committee was just appointed to oversee these negotiations:

  • Sen. Cindy Creem (D-Newton)
  • Sen. Joan Lovely (D-Salem)
  • Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton)
  • Rep. Mike Moran (D-Brighton)
  • Rep. Bill Galvin (D-Canton)
  • Rep. David Muradian (R-Grafton)

In recent sessions, these conference committees have stalemated. But this session can and must be different. Legislators have felt the pressure from the public that voters across the commonwealth want to see these changes. Let’s keep up the momentum, get this done, and then get to the important work across so many urgent issues facing the Commonwealth.

We recently sent a letter with Act on Mass and Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts in support of critical transparency reforms. Now it’s your turn:

Email Your State Legislators

Email the Conference Committee

Last Session’s Votes…And This Session’s Co-Sponsorships

Our scorecard website is now up to date with our full data from the 2023-2024 legislative session.

The most striking thing about last session’s recorded votes in the State House? How few of them there were.

Last session saw only 203 votes in the MA House and 252 in the MA Senate, each approximately 50% below average and part of an ongoing decline. That’s bad for accountability. When all of the discussion and debate happens behind closed doors, voters are less aware of where their legislators really stand.

And not each of these recorded votes will be worth scoring: many are low-stakes votes where everyone agrees.

To account for the scarcity of votes last session—especially ones that were beyond unanimous or party-line—we included a few additional data points:

  • Whether your state legislators are visiting prisons and jails to serve as a force for accountability in the conditions there
  • Whether your legislators are holding office hours and town halls to engage constituents
  • Whether your legislators are co-sponsoring the bills that we are tracking on our Scorecard website

For the first two, we did our best to reach out to legislative offices to get information. If we’re missing something, just let us know.

But headed into the new session, our Scorecard website also has other important information: Co-Sponsorship. We’ll be tracking which legislators are co-sponsoring the bills on our Legislative Agenda. That’s a critical tool for you to be able to apply effective pressure — as well as to give credit to the legislators who are fighting the good fight.

Take a look, explore, and take action!

Statement on Passage of House and Senate Rules

“We are pleased that both the House and Senate have embraced reforms in the Joint Rules that will promote transparency, accountability, and (we hope) timeliness. Although more steps should be taken in the future to guarantee that the public’s work is done in public view, both chambers supported measures to expand access to information and to mitigate the end-of-session bottleneck, changes that resulted from a clear public message that voters demand better from the Legislature. We urge both chambers to come to a swift and comprehensive compromise for Joint Rules for the Session. It has been too long since both chambers agreed on a set of rules, and the legislative process has suffered because of that.

As we approach the month of March with still no committees formed and no bills being heard, we stand out in the country in our legislative delays. There is so much work that needs to get done to be proactive against the threats coming from the Donald Trump – Elon Musk administration, and further delay puts our Commonwealth at risk.

While we eagerly await the finalization of Joint Rules, we recognize that rules are only one element of the legislative process. For our Legislature to truly deliver for everyday people, we need cultural changes throughout the chamber. May new rules be a first step toward that.”

The House and Senate Have Both Adopted New Rules for Themselves. What’s New?

The MA House and Senate have both passed their respective proposals for the Joint Rules, which we discuss here. But both also passed reforms to their own chamber’s rules as well. Let’s explore.

(Want to see the exact text changes? Read here.)

The Senate’s New Rules

  • Making Testimony Public: Regardless of what is agreed to in the Joint Rules, the Senate plans to make testimony submitted to its committees as well as joint committees public, with appropriate redactions for sensitive information. The Senate’s rules previously only addressed testimony for Senate-only committees, and such testimony would only be available upon request.
  • Committee Votes: Senators already make their votes public in Senate-only committees (Ways & Means being the committee with the most of such votes); however, the Senate now plans to publish its members votes in Joint Committees as well. However, the Senate removed the language stipulating the timeliness in which said votes should be published.
  • Summaries of Bills Voted On in Committee: The Senate also plans to make public the summaries of all bills voted on by Senate committees. These summaries often already exist, but for members only.

The House’s New Rules

  • Attendance Records and Requirements: The House will record and publish attendance of committee members at House committee hearings and require in-person attendance from all members, not just the chair.
  • Committee Votes: The House previously only required the reporting of the tallies from committee votes along with the names of those voting no. The new House rules would require all committee members’ votes be recorded and would eliminate the stipulation that committee votes only happen by request of someone at in-person committee meeting (such meetings almost never happen).
  • Reporting Deadline: The House rules include the language around an earlier reporting deadline and rolling deadlines following hearings that the House voted on for the Joint Rules.

New Rules: How Far Did Each Chamber Go in Promoting Transparency?

The 194th session of the Massachusetts General Court began with both Senate President Karen Spilka and Speaker Ron Mariano promising to take up rules reforms in the service of a more accountable, transparent, and efficient legislative process.

It was clear that this was a direct result of years of advocacy from activists who understood that good process and good outcomes go hand in hand (including a broad coalition push at the start of this session to shape the outcome), the wide margin that Question 1 achieved statewide and in every city/town, and the increased media coverage of State House dysfunction.

What are the rules, and why should you care? Legislative rules govern things like who has access to what information, when things need to happen, what happens in the open vs. behind closed doors, and much more. We know from years of following the Legislature that the mega-rich and large corporations can always get behind closed doors, but we, the people, can’t. And such top-down, non-transparent legislating tips the scales away from working people, from marginalized communities, and from the public interest in general.

The Senate passed its proposed changes to the Joint Rules (joint = House and Senate acting together) and its own chamber rules earlier this month. The House did today.

For each chamber, the rules they adopt for themselves (House rules, Senate rules) are now done. But the rules governing them acting together still need further negotiations. When House and Senate differ, they must go to a conference committee to negotiate a compromise. And they haven’t succeeded at this for the Joint Rules for several sessions. With both chambers proposing important reforms, we need to make sure that this session is different.

So what reforms are at stake? Let’s go through them below. (Want to see the text for each? Check out our deeper dive here.)

House vs. Senate: Drafter of Bill Summaries 

The House and Senate both propose requiring bill summaries for every bill in advance of a hearing, but the House wants committee staff to draft the summaries whereas the Senate wants the lead sponsors to. 

House vs. Senate: Hybrid Hearings & In-Person Privileges 

The House and Senate both continue the practice of hybrid hearings, but the House wants to require in-person attendance for committee members and privilege in-person public testimony over that delivered virtually. 

House vs. Senate: Hearing Notice 

The Senate’s proposal would increase the required hearing notice to 5 days as opposed to the current 72 hours, which the House would like to keep. 

House vs. Senate: Making Testimony Public 

Both House and Senate proposals take steps toward making testimony public. The Senate’s proposal intends for testimony to be published on the Legislature’s website, whereas the House proposal is unclear about whether relevant testimony would be published or available upon request. In both cases, there is an acknowledgement that testimony with sensitive information would be redacted. Notably, in the Senate’s own chamber rules, the Senate has expressed an intent to publish testimony regardless of what is decided in the Joint Rules.

House vs. Senate: Committee Votes 

Both the House and Senate proposals endorse the concept of publishing committee votes, provided that the House language does not maintain a distinction between “roll call votes” and “electronic polls.” The House proposal would require that members be provided with redlined versions of the bill prior to a vote, with that markup made publicly available (whether posted or available upon request, though, is unclear). Notably, in the Senate’s own chamber rules, the Senate has expressed an intent to publish its own members’ votes regardless of what is decided in the Joint Rules.

House vs. Senate: Reporting Deadlines 

Both chambers would like to see the reporting deadline for bills moved up from the first Wednesday in February to a date in December: the first Wednesday for the Senate and the third Wednesday for the House. 

The House proposal includes a rolling reporting deadline, with committees required to take action within 60 days of a hearing, with the possibility of a 30-day subsequent extension (and longer with unanimous consent), but not past the third Wednesday in March. 

The Senate proposal would mark bills receiving no action as being given an adverse report; the House proposal would mark them as being sent to study. 

House vs. Senate: Conclusion of Session

Both chambers’ proposals would extend the Legislature’s ability to take votes after the July 31 end date for the formal legislative session. 

Nearly Identical Changes Made in Both 

New in Both: Chamber Privilege over Chamber Bills 

New text in both chambers’ proposals would give greater Senate control over Senate bills and greater House control over House bills. 

No Corresponding Language In Other Chamber’s Proposal 

House (only): Attendance Reports 

The House’s proposed joint rules require a record of attendance at committee hearings, to be published online. 

House (only): Detailed Conference Reports

The House’s proposed joint rules require conference reports to lay out the areas of disagreement and what each chamber fought for. 

Senate (only): Open Conference Committee Meetings 

The Senate proposal guarantees that the first meeting of a conference committee will be fully public. 

Senate (only): Indigenous Leaders

The Senate proposal would require that leaders of Indigenous communities be afforded the same privileges in speaking order as other public officials. 

Senate (only): Time Before Voting on Conference Reports 

The current rules, as reflected in the House language for Joint Rules, state that a conference committee can file a report at 8 pm and vote on it as early as 1 pm the next day. The Senate would require at least one full day in between.

The MA Senate’s Got New (Draft) Rules. Let’s Count ‘Em.

When the new legislative session kicked off on January 1, Sen. President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) expressed interest in taking up a suite of transparency reforms to “build upon the Senate’s commitment to an open and transparent process of legislating.”

The talk about transparency and legislative process reform from both Spilka and Speaker Ron Mariano seemed to be a result of the overwhelming public support for Question 1 last year (i.e., the Auditor’s ballot question about auditing the Legislature) and of the negative press the Legislature got for not finishing on time. In response, a group of 30 organizations called on the House and Senate to adopt a robust package of pro-transparency, pro-democracy, pro-participation reforms.

Yesterday (Thursday, February 6), the Senate released its rules proposals for the 2025-2026 session. These rules both include and build upon past proposals from the Senate.

The Senate, for example, has supported making committee votes and testimony public since 2019. Following the 2016 update to the public records law, the House and Senate established a commission studying whether the Legislature and Governor should remain fully exempt from public records law. The commission dissolved with no agreement, but the Senate members of the commission released their own proposals, including these measures.

However, the new rules attempt to bypass the intransigence from the House by requiring that the votes Senators take in joint committees, such as whether or not to advance a bill out of committee, be posted online. The Senate already does this for Senate-only committees. The Senate’s proposed rules would also require that written or in-person testimony received by Senate members of a joint committee be provided publicly online, with an email or online portal established to facilitate this.

The Senate’s proposed rules would also direct the Senate Ways and Means Committee to make bill summaries available online for legislation reported favorably out of the committee. This makes a useful resource already available to all senators available to everyone. Legislative language is often inscrutable given the jargon involved with changing the Massachusetts General Laws, and bill summaries help regular people get a better sense of what is happening in the legislative process.

The Senate also proposed several changes to the joint rules (i.e., the rules that govern House-Senate committees):

  • Joint Hearings But Not Joint Votes: There has been buzz in recent weeks about whether or not joint committees would end up splitting into separate House and Senate committees with separate hearings, etc. The Senate’s proposal keeps joint hearings (saving advocates and the public the labor of having to attend twice as many hearings) but allows for Senate members to vote on Senate bills and House members to vote on House bills. As the House outnumbers the Senate in joint committees, House opposition can lead to committee stalemates or otherwise slow bills that Senators wish to advance.
  • Increased Hearing Notice: The Senate’s proposed joint rules would guarantee five days (one business week) of notice before a hearing as opposed to the current 72 hours. We have advocated for a two-week notice (given how many people need that much lead time to take time off work), but this is still an improvement and is something the Senate has advocated for in the past.
  • An Earlier Reporting Deadline: The Senate’s proposed joint rules would require joint committees to report bills out by the first Wednesday in December of the first year of a session as opposed to the current February. This would allow for year one to focus on hearing bills and year two to focus on passing them, pushing back on backlogs and bottlenecks.
  • Open Conference Committee Meetings: The Senate’s proposed joint rules would require the full first meeting of a conference committee to be open to the public and the media. This would bring more transparency to the process and create a better sense of what each chamber is fighting for, although all of the meetings should be public — not just the first.
  • Conference Committee Report Time: The Senate’s proposed joint rules would require a full calendar day between when a conference committee report is filed and when the report is acted upon to allow legislators and members of the public more time to review legislation before votes are taken. Currently, they can vote just a few hours after text is released, all but guaranteeing that few people will have read it.
  • Bill Summaries in Joint Committees: The Senate’s proposed joint rules would require bill sponsors to submit comprehensive bill summaries to the joint committees holding hearings on the legislation, to be made publicly available with the bill. This helps members of the public, the press, and the rank-and-file better understand what proposed bills would do.

These changes would all make a more transparent, inclusive, and informed legislative process. However, one other change would normalize recent bad habits. The Senate’s proposed joint rules would allow for conference reports (the compromise text negotiated by the House and Senate when they differ on a bill) to be filed and debated after the July 31st deadline for formal session. This allows for more work to be pushed after election season and after legislators are regularly meeting, meaning less input and less accountability.

Other Endorsed Bills (2025-2026)

With thousands of bills filed each legislative session, and only so many hours in the day, we can’t include every bill we care about on our Legislative Agenda. We wanted to highlight these as additional bills we’re supporting this session, even if not on our priority agenda.

Our Shared Prosperity Agenda

$20 Minimum Wage (HD.3850 / SD.382) 

  • Title: An Act relative to the minimum wage
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Carmine Gentile & Dan Donahue; Sen. Jason Lewis
  • Title: Raises the minimum wage to $20 per hour over four years and indexes it to inflation to better align the minimum wage with a living wage

State House Unionization (HD.2970 / SD.919)

  • Title: An Act relative to collective bargaining rights for legislative employees
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Carol Doherty; Sen. John Keenan
  • What It Does: Extends collective bargaining rights to State House staff

Gig Workers (HD.3356 / SD.722)

  • Title: An Act establishing protections and accountability for Delivery Network Company workers, consumers, and communities
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Andy Vargas; Sen. Lydia Edwards
  • Description: Ensures delivery workers receive the same protections, wages, rights, and benefits that all Massachusetts workers are entitled to under law

PILOT Reform (HD.3727 / SD.2153)

  • Title:  An Act relative to payments in lieu of taxation by organizations exempt from the property tax
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven; Sen. Adam Gomez
  • What It Does: Enables cities and towns with nonprofits owning total property valued at or above $15 million to require them to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) equal to 25% what they would have owed without the exemption

Corporate Tax Disclosure (HD.3385 / SD.2291) 

  • Title:  An Act requiring public disclosures by publicly-traded corporate taxpayers
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Dan Donahue; Sen. Liz Miranda 
  • What It Does: Makes publicly accessible reports that are already filed annually by publicly-traded corporations, detailing their sales, profits, taxable income, and taxes paid

Public Bank (HD.2541 / SD.1213)

  • Title: An Act to establish a Massachusetts public bank
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Mike Connolly & Antonio Cabral; Sen. Jamie Eldridge
  • What It Does: Creates a public bank that would be able to offer lower-interest loans to local governments, small-and medium-sized businesses, and farmers

Access to Counsel (SD.1771 / HD.3912) 

  • Title: An Act promoting access to counsel and housing stability in Massachusetts
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Dave Rogers & Mike Day; Sen. Sal DiDomenico
  • What It Does: Provides legal representation for low-income tenants and owner-occupants in eviction proceedings 

AHEAD Bill (HD.2997 / SD.846) 

  • Title: An Act providing for climate change adaptation infrastructure and affordable housing investments in the commonwealth
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Sam Montaño; Sen. Jamie Eldridge
  • What It Does: Increases the deeds excise tax on home sales to provide a funding stream for affordable housing and climate resilience 

Ending Broker’s Fees (HD.238 / SD.35) 

  • Title: An Act eliminating forced broker’s fees 
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Tram Nguyen; Sen. Lydia Edwards
  • What It Does: Bans the ability for landlords to require renters to pay broker’s fees 

An Act to Lift Kids Out of Deep Poverty (HD.1353 / SD.1818)

  • Title: An Act to Lift Kids Out of Deep Poverty
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Marjorie Decker; Sen. Sal DiDomenico 
  • What It Does: Raises cash assistance grants by 20% per year until they reach 50% of the federal poverty level and then increase grants each year to keep up with inflation

Community Schools (HD.1108 / SD.2060)

  • Title: An Act to establish a community schools special legislative commission
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Chynah Tyler; Sen. Paul Mark 
  • What It Does: Establishes a commission to study the community schools model, which is characterized by increased service provision, parent engagement, and community partnerships 

Adjunct Bill of Rights (HD.1827 /  SD.2009) 

  • Title: An Act promoting an Adjunct Bill of Rights 
  • Lead Sponsors: Sen. Paul Mark; Reps. Pat Duffy & Sean Garballey 
  • What It Does: Makes adjunct faculty who teach half-time or more at one or more public institutions of higher education eligible for a state pension and health insurance

Fair Wages for Faculty & Staff (HD.4041 / SD.1511)

  • Title:  An Act to provide fair wages to employees of public institutions of higher education
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Andy Vargas; Sen. Pavel Payano 
  • What It Does: Ensures that future wages of public higher education employees are at or above the national average when adjusted for cost of living

Green & Healthy Campuses (HD.3796 / SD.2107) 

  • Title: An Act to provide green and healthy public colleges and universities and address their deferred maintenance needs
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Manny Cruz & Rep. Aaron Saunders; Sen. Jake Oliveira
  • What It Does: Creates a commission relative to energy and environmental improvements on public higher education campuses and a fund to support the commission’s recommendations

Full-Spectrum Pregnancy Care (HD.1456 / SD.1199) 

  • Title: An Act Ensuring Access to Full Spectrum Pregnancy Care
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa; Sen. Cindy Friedman 
  • Description: Requires health insurance plans to cover all pregnancy care—including abortion, prenatal care, childbirth, and postpartum care—without any kind of cost-sharing

Community Immunity Act (SD.2117)

  • Title: An Act promoting community immunity
  • Lead Sponsors: Sen. Becca Rausch
  • Description: Creates statewide consistent immunization policy and provides residents throughout the Commonwealth the data necessary to prevent future outbreaks of vaccine-preventable infectious disease

Our Racial and Social Justice Agenda

Dignity Not Deportations (HD.3596 / SD.1107) 

  • Title: An Act relative to immigration detention and collaboration agreements
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Christine Barber & Dave Rogers; Sen. Adam Gomez
  • What It Does: Bans collaboration agreements between state/local law enforcement and ICE and bans ICE detention beds in Massachusetts 

Juvenile Diversion (HD.3434 / SD.246) 

  • Title: An Act promoting diversion of juveniles to community supervision and service
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Brandy Fluker-Reid; Sen. Cindy Creem
  • Description: Helps keep youth out of the prison system by allowing for community supervision or community service as a non-incarceration alternative in more cases 

Ending Life without Parole (HD.348 / SD.1006)

  • Title: An Act to reduce mass incarceration
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Chris Worrell; Sen. Liz Miranda
  • What It Does: Repeals mandatory sentences of life without parole, which have strong racial biases and have been deemed human rights violations by international courts

Overdose Prevention Centers (HD.4212 / SD.2483)

  • Title: An Act relative to preventing overdose deaths and increasing access to treatment
  • Lead Sponsors: Sen. Julian Cyr; Reps. Marjorie Decker & John Lawn
  • What It Does: Creates a ten-year pilot programs for overdose prevention centers that use harm reduction strategies to address the opioid crisis

Regulating Facial Surveillance (HD.794 / SD.503)

  • Title: An Act to implement the recommendations of the special commission on facial recognition technology
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Orlando Ramos; Sen. Cindy Creem
  • Description: Implements the recommendations of the commission created by the 2020 police reform bill to create a tight regulatory framework for facial surveillance

Healthy Youth Act (HD.947; SD.1777)

  • Title: An Act relative to healthy youth
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Jim O’Day & Vanna Howard; Sen. Sal DiDomenico
  • What It Does: Requires school districts that provide sex education to ensure that it is comprehensive, age-appropriate, and LGBTQ-inclusive, with an emphasis on consent

Language Access Bill (HD.3876  / SD.1757)

  • Title: An Act relative to language access and inclusion
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Adrian Madaro & Carlos González; Sen. Sal DiDomenico
  • What It Does: Builds the capacity of key public-facing state agencies to meet the language access needs of an increasingly diverse population 

Our Sustainable Infrastructure & Environmental Protection Agenda

Zero-Carbon Renovation Fund (HD.3171 / SD.1325)

  • Title: An Act establishing a zero carbon renovation fund
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Andy Vargas & Manny Cruz; Sen. Adam Gomez
  • What It Does: Creates a fund for green and healthy home retrofits, with a prioritization of affordable housing, low-to-moderate-income homes, gateway cities, and environmental justice communities

No Ratepayer Money for Utility Lobbying (HD.1833/SD.742)

  • Title: An Act prohibiting the use of ratepayer funds for utility lobbying, promotions or perks
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Steve Owens & Jenny Armini; Sen. Cindy Creem
  • What It Does: Prohibits utility companies from using customer money for lobbying, promotions, and perks 

Air Quality Bill (HD.1924 / SD.1086)

  • Title:  An Act to ensure cleaner air for communities overburdened by outdoor air pollution
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Christine Barber & Mike Connolly; Sen. Pat Jehlen
  • Description: Improves indoor and outdoor air quality, especially for Environmental Justice populations and those communities burdened by air emissions from highways, ports, airports, and congested roadways by expanding outdoor air monitoring for key pollutants, setting ambitious targets for 2030 and 2035, requiring better ventilation systems in medium and large buildings, among other measures

Plastics Reduction Act (HD.2592 / SD.2134) 

  • Title: An Act to reduce plastics
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Ted Philips; Sen. Becca Rausch
  • What It Does: Reduces single-use plastics in the Commonwealth, including a uniform plastic bag ban, disposable food service ware limits, and the creation of fund to support transitions to environmentally friendly products

Our Good Government & Strong Democracy  Agenda

Hybrid Meeting Access (HD.368) 

  • Title: An Act to modernize participation in public meetings
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Antonio Cabral 
  • What It Does: Requires that all public bodies have options for hybrid participation and creates a trust fund and competitive grants to help municipalities with the technology needed to do so

Voting Rights Restoration (HD.407 & HD.408 / SD.1414 & SD.1416) 

  • Title: An Act relative to voting rights restoration &  Proposal for a legislative amendment to the Constitution relative to voting rights
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven; Sen. Liz Miranda
  • What It Does: Ends remaining incarceration-based disenfranchisement in Massachusetts

Local Option RCV (SD.2194)

  • Title: An Act providing a local option for ranked choice voting in municipal elections
  • Lead Sponsors: Sen. Becca Rausch
  • Description: Enables cities and towns in Massachusetts to adopt ranked choice voting for municipal elections

Ending Foreign Corporate Influence of Local Elections (HD.984  / SD.1152)

  • Title: An Act to Limit Political Spending by Foreign-Influenced Corporations
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven; Sen. Mark Montigny
  • What It Does: Requires corporations seeking to make independent expenditures to attest, under penalty of perjury, that they are not a foreign-influenced corporation and labels them as such if they do not 

An Accountable State House (SD.1301 / HD.4303)

  • Title: An Act to strengthen representation and promote democratic, transparent, and efficient lawmaking
  • Description: Improves the pay structure and incentives for Massachusetts legislators by reforming the stipend system

Our 2025-2026 Legislative Agenda

Our Shared Prosperity Agenda

Large corporations need to pay their fair share so that we can protect essential services and continue to invest in our Commonwealth. 

Corporate Fair Share (HD.3390 / SD.1684)

  • Title: An Act combating offshore tax avoidance 
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Carlos González; Sens. Jason Lewis & Liz Miranda 
  • What It Does: Makes large global mega-corporations pay the state’s existing corporate tax rate on a higher share of the excess profits they conceal in offshore tax havens 

All students deserve well-resourced, supportive schools that set them up for success. 

Thrive Act (HD.4328 / SD.1401)

  • Title: An Act empowering students and schools to thrive 
  • Lead Sponsor: Rep. Sam Montaño; Sen. Adam Gomez 
  • What It Does: Ends state takeovers of public schools/districts, establishes a commission to shape the future of student assessments, and curbs the privatization of public education 

Funding Our Public Schools (HD.2334 / SD.1719) 

  • Title: An Act to fix the Chapter 70 inflation adjustment 
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Orlando Ramos; Sen. Robyn Kennedy 
  • What It Does: Makes a technical fix to the state education funding formula so that state funding to public school districts keeps pace with inflation over time

Debt-Free Public Higher Ed (HD.1473 / SD.300) 

  • Title:  An Act relative to debt-free public higher education
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Natalie Higgins & Carmine Gentile; Sen. Jamie Eldridge
  • What It Does: Creates a higher education system where every Massachusetts resident has a right to attend any public college or university free of tuition and fees 

We need to empower our cities and towns to take action to address our housing crisis. 

Real Estate Transfer Fee (HD.1112 / SD.1216)

  • Title: An Act granting a local option for a real estate transfer fee to fund affordable housing
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Mike Connolly & Rep. Carmine Gentile; Sen. Jo Comerford
  • What It Does: Enables cities and towns to levy a modest fee on high-end residential and commercial real estate transactions to create dedicated funding for affordable housing 

Rent Stabilization (HD.2501 / SD.1084)

  • Title: An Act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents and protect tenants 
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Dave Rogers & Sam Montaño; Sen. Pat Jehlen
  • What It Does: Enables cities and towns to pass rent stabilization ordinances to fight displacement

Tenant Opportunity to Purchase  (HD.1925 / SD.1068)

  • Title: An Act to guarantee a tenant’s first right of refusal
  • Lead Sponsors:  Reps. Jay Livingstone & Rob Consalvo; Sen. Pat Jehlen
  • What It Does: Enables cities and towns to give tenants the right of first refusal to purchase a building when the owner puts it up for sale 

We are all healthier when we all have access to high-quality care without cost burden. 

Medicare for All (HD.1228 /  SD.2341)

  • Title:  An Act establishing medicare for all in Massachusetts
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Lindsay Sabadosa & Margaret Scarsdale; Sen. Jamie Eldridge
  • What It Does: Establishes a single payer system, in which the state provides health care to all residents as a right

Our Racial and Social Justice Agenda

A fair, humane criminal legal system is one that allows for second chances and focuses on investing in economic opportunity, not in incarceration. 

Raise the Age (HD.3632 / SD.2115)

  • Title: An Act to promote public safety and better outcomes for young adults
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Jim O’Day & Manny Cruz; Sen. Brendan Crighton
  • What It Does: End the automatic prosecution of older adolescents as adults by gradually shifting 18- to 20-year-olds into the juvenile justice system

Clean Slate (HD.1788 / SD.949)

  • Title: An Act requiring clean slate automated record sealing
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Mary Keefe; Sen. Cindy Friedman
  • What It Does: Creates an automated system in Massachusetts to seal criminal records as soon as people are eligible

Prison Moratorium (HD.523 / SD.671) 

  • Title: An Act establishing a jail and prison construction moratorium
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Chynah Tyler; Sen. Jo Comerford
  • What It Does: Enacts a five-year pause on new prison and jail construction in order to provide time to develop more effective, community-based approaches to public safety

The family separation of deportation and incarceration weakens our communities. Families belong together. 

Safe Communities Act (HD.3816 / SD.1670)

  • Title: An Act to protect the civil rights and safety of all Massachusetts residents
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Manny Cruz & Priscila Sousa; Sens. Jamie Eldridge & Liz Miranda
  • What It Does: Limits local and state police collaboration with federal immigration agents, bars law enforcement and court personnel from inquiring about immigration status, protects access to justice in our courts, and ensures due process protections

Immigrant Legal Defense Act (HD.4072 / SD.2057)

  • Title: An Act ensuring access to equitable representation in immigration proceedings
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Dave Rogers & Frank Moran; Sen. Adam Gomez
  • What It Does:  Creates a funded program for legal defense of immigrants facing deportation proceedings, especially those in federal detention

Visitation Bill (HD.3241 / SD.985)

  • Title: An Act to build restorative family and community connection
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Marjorie Decker; Sen. Liz Miranda
  • What It Does: Eliminates arbitrary, unnecessary restrictions on visitation rights in prisons, jails, and ICE detention units

Privacy rights are essential to protect abortion patients and providers, trans people and their families, journalists, and more from attack by bad actors. 

Location Shield Act (HD.2965 / SD.501) 

  • Title:  An Act to protect safety and privacy by stopping the sale of location data
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Kate Lipper-Garabedian; Sen. Cindy Creem
  • What It Does: Prohibits companies from selling cell phone location data

An inclusive society is one where we celebrate our diversity, not seek to ban books or whitewash history. 

Right to Learn Bill (HD.625 / SD.141) 

  • Title: An Act regarding free expression 
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. John Moran & Rep. Adam Scanlon; Sen. Julian Cyr
  • What It Does: Ensures that public and school libraries can offer diverse and inclusive books, media, and materials without political interference

CARE Bill (HD.2271 / SD.1289)

  • Title:  An Act to promote comprehensive and inclusive curriculum in schools
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Tram Nguyen & Rep. Steve Ultrino; Sen. Adam Gomez
  • What It Does: Sets standards of accuracy and comprehensiveness in public school instruction for all students to learn about the histories, experiences, perspectives, heritages, and cultures of all Americans

Our Sustainable Infrastructure & Environmental Protection Agenda

We need to leave fossil fuels in the ground and ensure that the major polluters who have caused the climate crisis pay for the cost of climate action. 

Put Gas in the Past (HD.3428 / SD.2088)

  • Title: An Act preventing gas expansion to protect climate, community health and safety
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Bud Williams & Adrianne Ramos; Sen. Adam Gomez
  • What It Does: Prevents the expansion of gas infrastructure near Environmental Justice communities and requires gas companies and the Commonwealth to undergo planning for a just transition to green energy 

Make Polluters Pay (HD.3369 / SD.1674)

  • Title: An Act establishing a climate change superfund 
  • Lead Sponsors: Reps. Steve Owens & Jack Lewis; Sen. Jamie Eldridge 
  • What It Does: Requires major polluters to pay a fee based on historic emissions to pay for the costs of climate resilience

Our Good Government & Strong Democracy Agenda

Our democracy is strongest when everyone can participate, whether in elections or the legislative process. 

Same Day Registration (HD.856 / SD.667) 

  • Title: An Act establishing same day registration of voters
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Carmine Gentile; Sen. Cindy Creem
  • What It Does: Enables eligible citizens to register to vote at the polls, eliminating the arbitrary  10-day voter registration window

Decoupling the Municipal Census from the Voter Rolls (HD.2673 / SD.636) 

  • Title: An Act decoupling the municipal census from voter registration
  • Lead Sponsors: Rep. Shirley Arriaga; Sen. Cindy Creem
  • What It Does: Ends the use of the municipal census to remove voters from the active voter lists 

Sunlight Act (SD.467) 

  • Title: An Act to provide sunlight to state government
  • Lead Sponsor: Sen. Jamie Eldridge
  • What It Does: Promotes transparency in state government by removing the Governor’s exemption from public records law, requiring committee votes and legislative testimony to be public, and requiring 2 weeks notice for legislative hearings