Testimony: Say No to Gas, Yes to a Just Transition

Thursday, November 13, 2025 

Chair Barrett, Chair Cusack, and Members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy: 

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I’m the policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide, member-based grassroots advocacy organization fighting for a more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic Commonwealth. 

We urge you to give a favorable report to H.3547/S.2290: An Act preventing gas expansion to protect climate, community health and safety. 

As we speak, the 30th COP conference of the United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place in Brazil. Countries from across the world are discussing how to make their climate pledges into climate realities and how to muster collective global action to address the climate crisis. Notably absent, of course, is the United States. 

This year so far, we have seen the Trump administration take countless steps to sabotage our response to the climate crisis and our transition to clean energy. The Trump administration is seeking to rig the future for heavy-polluting fossil fuel companies and deny present and future generations the blessings of cleaner water, cleaner air, and good-paying jobs. We need you to not join them and, instead, to chart a different path in line with our commonwealth’s promises and values.

This bill would prevent new gas facility construction or expansion near environmental justice neighborhoods because we know that we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground (and have known that for decades) and that the communities that have borne the burden of pollution for decades should not be forced to continue to do so. 

But this bill is not just about saying NO. It is about saying YES to what the future can be. 

It centers a vision of a just transition, one in which we usher in a clean energy economy with good-paying jobs that does not leave people behind. The bill requires gas companies to submit just transition plans, including not only measures to meet zero-emissions goals but also measures to do right by their workforce through workforce development, training, staffing, pension system solvency, and other steps. It creates a training fund for workers in the clean energy economy. And it creates a Just Transition Office to guide this energy and economic transformation. 

Time and time again, when Massachusetts voters are surveyed, they say that they want strong action on the climate crisis, and they know that our future is with clean energy. 

We need to continue the progress from recent years on that front, not do Trump’s dirty work for him with more fossil fuels and abandoned commitments. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts

Testimony: Educating for the Whole Child

Wednesday, November 12, 2025 

Chair Lewis, Chair Gordon, and Members of the Joint Committee on Education: 

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I’m the policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide, member-based grassroots advocacy organization fighting for a more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic Commonwealth. 

We urge you to give a favorable report to S.374: An Act empowering students and schools to thrive and S.409/H.726: An Act to establish a community schools special legislative commission. 

Massachusetts has a bedrock constitutional commitment to public education as well as a legal responsibility to provide a quality education to all students. However, we are still living under misguided policies that work against that commitment and that vision, such as state takeovers. 

State takeovers have not improved outcomes for students; to the contrary, takeovers have made decision-making less democratic; imposed a stigma on districts; disempowered parents, educators, school leaders, and elected school committee members; and increased teacher turnover. They weaken the bonds between schools and communities. Compounding all this harm, they have failed to yield any long-term improvements in student test scores or, more fundamentally and more importantly, learning. 

Cities with higher populations of Black, Brown, and immigrant students have been those targeted with state takeovers, perpetuating existing inequalities between districts. 

Last year’s vote on Question 2 showed that voters don’t support the “test and punish” approach to education that is too often just a tool for privatization. 

At the same time as we abandon the harmful education policies of two decades ago that have led to no lasting gains and instead cemented inequalities, we can also embrace a better vision for education. 

The Community Schools model offers such a vision. It recognizes that schools should be spaces where parents, students, educators, and community members can come together to provide services and support to meet the needs of our students and schools. The model understands that students thrive best in the classroom when they are in strong communities and have access to robust services, that for students to learn, they need to be healthy and supported, and that parents, educators, and students know their needs best. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts 

Testimony: Everyone Needs ID

Tuesday, November 4, 2025 

Chair Crighton, Chair Arciero, and Members of the Joint Committee on Transportation:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I’m the policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide, member-based grassroots advocacy organization fighting for a more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic Commonwealth. 

We urge you to give a favorable report to H.3750/S.2399: An Act to provide identification to youth and adults experiencing homelessness (“Everyone Needs ID” bill. 

Individuals experiencing homelessness face significant obstacles to obtaining an ID, but IDs can often be essential to securing employment and even accomplishing everyday life tasks. Without an ID, it can be difficult, if not outright impossible, to apply for jobs, enroll in education programs, get a library card, pick up a package from the post office, receive a prescription from a pharmacy, and more. So many of us take such tasks for granted, but for individuals experiencing homelessness, they become complicated endeavors and roadblocks on the path toward stability.

The aforementioned bills offer a solution by requiring the Registry of Motor Vehicles to waive the $25 fee for an ID for people experiencing homelessness and by allowing applicants to support alternative documentation to prove Massachusetts residency, such as allowing individuals to provide evidence of receiving services from a state agency under the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

Massachusetts must take comprehensive action to ensure housing for all; however, in the interim, we must ensure that our policies are not exacerbating the obstacles faced by individuals experiencing homelessness. We urge you to make a difference this session by advancing these bills.

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts 

Testimony: State House Staff Deserve the Right to Form a Union

Tuesday, October 28, 2025 

Chair McMurtry, Chair Oliveira, and Members of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development: 

I am submitting testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. PM is 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 S.1343/H.2093: An Act relative to collective bargaining rights for legislative employees.

This bill would give State House employees the right to organize a union for the purpose of negotiating their wages, benefits, and working conditions—a right held by almost all other workers in the commonwealth.

State House staffers do so much work to keep the Legislature running. They are the reason that today’s hearing will go smoothly. They will be the ones collating submitted testimony for you to read later and taking notes for your colleagues who could not attend. They are case workers, responding to countless constituent services requests and directing people to the right agencies to address their problems. They are schedulers, policy analysts, strategy partners, networkers, meeting-attenders, and so much more.

Despite all these things that they are, one thing that they are not is adequately compensated.

When State House staff are not provided fair wages, safe and healthy work conditions, or a seat at the table, we lose talent and limit who can even consider entering public service in the first place. When we don’t have all of the diverse voices of the Commonwealth at the table, we miss vital perspectives in crafting policy.

We are very appreciative of all the recent pro-labor reforms that this Legislature has passed over the past few years and your commitment in your own districts to show solidarity with workers fighting for better pay, better benefits, and a better voice at the workplace. We ask you to show that same solidarity here and support the rights of your staff.

Thank you again for your time and for holding this hearing, and we again ask for a swift favorable report for H.2093 and S.1343.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Testimony: MA Needs Right to Counsel

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 

Chair Day, Chair Edwards, and Members of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary: 

I am submitting testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. PM is a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. 

We see it all the time in polls, we hear it on the doors, and we see it in the data: Massachusetts has a housing crisis. More and more residents are unable to afford to live in our commonwealth anymore, priced out from one community to another and then out entirely, or face severe housing instability. 

We need a comprehensive approach to the housing crisis, and strong protections for tenants must be a part of it. We urge you to give a favorable report to H.1952: An Act promoting access to counsel and housing stability in Massachusetts.

These bills would provide legal representation for low-income tenants and low-income owner-occupants in eviction proceedings. The eviction moratorium that the Legislature passed earlier in the pandemic was a vital lifeline for so many, but eviction filings have now been climbing past what they were in 2019, pre-pandemic. Tenants enter such eviction proceedings at a major disadvantage: according to FY2024 Trial Court data, while 90% of landlords are represented, less than 5% of tenants are represented. Tenants facing eviction are disproportionately poor, female, and BIPOC, and evictions can have lasting negative impacts on physical and mental health.

Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Washington have already passed Right to Counsel policies, and Massachusetts should join them. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts 

Testimony: The Solution to Homelessness is Homes, Not Criminalization

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 

Chair Livingstone, Chair Kennedy, and Members of the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities: 

I am submitting testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. PM is 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 H.274: An Act establishing a bill of rights for individuals experiencing homelessness.

The solution to homelessness is clear: giving people homes. But too often, municipalities see the solution as criminalization and punishment instead, worsening the underlying problems and forcing individuals into vicious cycles of incarceration and housing instability.

As rents and housing prices skyrocket in Massachusetts, an increasing number of families face housing instability, experiencing short-term or long-term homelessness. We desperately need comprehensive action to address our housing crisis and to secure housing for those currently without it. However, we also need to ensure that misguided and archaic laws do not make it more difficult for individuals to obtain housing.

These bills would rectify this status quo by extending anti-discrimination protections to persons experiencing homelessness, including protections when seeking employment, housing, voter registration, and access to public spaces and places of public accommodation. They would also ensure that individuals experiencing homelessness are not being criminalized for existing in public space, protecting their right to rest, seek shelter from the elements, occupy a legally parked car, pray, eat, and avoid needless harassment in public spaces.

H.274 is essential to ensuring Massachusetts is a state that treats all residents with dignity and respect, and we urge you to give it your support.

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts 

Testimony: DOC’s Policies Should Reflect Its Stated Mission

Thursday, October 16, 2025 

Chair Cronin, Chair Cahill, and Members of the Joint Committee on Public Safety: 

I am submitting testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. PM is 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 the bills from the Dignity and Freedom Platform: 

  • An Act to build restorative family and community connection (Visitation Bill) (S.1720/H.2591) 
  • An Act Relative to Medical and Elder Parole (S.1722/H.2693) 
  • An Act relative to human rights and improved outcomes for incarcerated people (Human Rights Bill) (S.1651/ H.2608)  
  • An Act creating an independent correctional oversight office to facilitate the recommendations of the Special Legislative Commission on Structural Racism in Correctional Facilities of the Commonwealth (REICI race data and oversight bill) (S.1725/H.2636)

The Department of Correction’s website states as its mission to provide “custody, care, and programming for those under our supervision to prepare them for safe and successful reentry into the community.” However, many existing practices run fully counter to such a stated goal. 

Visitation Bill (S.1720/H.2591)

In 2018, the DOC passed severe restrictions on visitation rights. These included limiting the number of individuals on a pre-approved visitor list and the number of times said list can be changed each year, creating a burdensome application for visitors, imposing strict dress codes, and limiting the number of individuals anyone can visit.

Visitation is crucial to the well-being of families, children, incarcerated individuals, and even prison employees. Research has shown that visitation is an effective strategy in reducing recidivism and thereby enhancing public safety. Children of incarcerated parents are less likely to be incarcerated themselves if they visit their incarcerated parents. Visits help incarcerated individuals maintain relationships in their outside community which makes re-entry into the community much more likely to be successful.

Given that visitation enhances public safety, reduces recidivism, and promotes rehabilitation, our prisons and jails should be fostering the maintenance and growth of positive bonds between incarcerated individuals and their friends, family, and broader community—not limiting these relationships.

Elder and Medical Parole  (S.1722/H.2693) 

Despite our comparatively low incarceration rate by US standards,, we are tied with New Hampshire for the highest proportion of incarcerated people over the age of 55 in the country, who experience significantly worse health outcomes than people outside of prison. 

Moreover, older incarcerated individuals are significantly less likely to cause harm when released from incarceration. We are warehousing people as they get older and sicker in ways that make no one safer. 

Moreover, one driver of our comparatively old prison population is that, in recent years, MA has reformed our criminal legal system and moved away from the mistakes of the past. But many Black and Brown people still carry the burden of unnecessarily harsh sentencing laws in the “war on drugs” era. 

Human Rights Bill (S.1651/ H.2608) 

Again, if the DOC understands that its mission is to prepare people for successful re-entry, then its practices and policies should be better oriented toward that goal. This bill recognizes that and would establish universal access to programming, education, and vocational training opportunities, as well as meaningful and productive out of cell time. If we want to cultivate a culture of respect and growth outside the walls, we need to cultivate that inside too. 

Independent Correctional Oversight (S.1725/H.2636)

The Special Legislative Commission on Structural Racism in Correctional Facilities of the Commonwealth documented what is widely known: that structural racism is rampant in our carceral system. A lack of transparency and accountability reinforces this and allows it to worsen. An independent oversight office is long overdue. 

Let’s recognize the value of rehabilitation and reentry and our align systems in support, rather than around creating new cycles of harm. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts 

Testimony: Let’s Build on Maternal Health Progress

Wednesday, October 15, 2025 

Chair Feeney, Chair Murphy, and Members of the Joint Committee on Financial Services: 

I am submitting testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. PM is 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.784/H.1117: An Act promoting and enhancing the sustainability of birth centers and the midwifery workforce. 

Recognizing the stark inequities in maternal health outcomes and the urgency of action, the Legislature passed essential maternal health legislation last session. These bills build on that work in strengthening our maternal health infrastructure. 

The Health Policy Commission and the Commission on Racial Inequities in Maternal Health, the Governor, and the Legislature have recognized midwifery as a key solution in improving maternal health outcomes, and Governor Healey and your chambers showed you agree last session through the 2024 law, which created new opportunities to open freestanding birth centers and become a licensed midwife in Massachusetts. 

S.784 and H.1117 promote financial sustainability for birth centers and the midwifery workforce needed for birth centers (as well as hospitals, homes, and other clinical settings). New birth centers will need stable funding and a sufficient midwife workforce to stay open, and training, education, and supports are needed for that workforce to exist. And both the centers and the workforce are necessary to provide new parents with access to reproductive care options. These bills recognize all of that and help create a robust health care system. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts 

Testimony: We Need to Scale Up Solar

Wednesday, October 15, 2025 

Chair Barrett, Chair Cusack, and Members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy: 

I am submitting testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. PM is 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 H.3559/S.2296: An Act to Encourage Solar Development on Buildings and Disturbed Land.

Massachusetts has set important climate goals, but meeting those climate goals will require a far faster transition to clean and green energy. 

These bills would incentivize the siting of solar projects on buildings and disturbed lands, where doing so has the least environmental impact. We can scale up solar and protect our forests at the same time. 

What does this mean in practice? More solar installations on parking lot canopies, brownfields, and roadway cuts. More solar on rooftops of residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

The incentives that currently exist have been mainly targeted at the small-scale solar of a household but do not meet the needs of such larger installations. 

This bill would fuel the solar energy economy in Massachusetts, which will help us create jobs, reduce energy costs, and ensure a livable planet for all. 

As the federal government abandons its commitment to climate action and sabotages progress on environmental justice, it is up to states to lead the way. These bills would help us do so.

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts 

“Massachusetts Has a Higher GDP Than Sweden…”

Friday, October 3, 2025

Chair Eldridge, Chair Madaro, and Members of the Joint Committee on Revenue:

I am writing today on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts, 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 H.3110/S.2033: An Act combating offshore tax avoidance.

Massachusetts residents have been feeling hopeless this year in light of the never-ending barrage of chaos, cruelty, and corruption in the second Trump administration, and they are also looking to you in the State Legislature for leadership.

Fortunately, you have wide latitude for action. For example, although Trump and Congressional Republicans passed disastrous legislation this summer that could lead to up 350,000 people in MA losing health care, 104,000 losing access to food assistance, and harmful cuts to our schools, we do not need to accept these cuts as inevitable.  

Massachusetts has a higher GDP than the country of Sweden, a place known for its generous welfare state. It is clear that we can do more than we are, and we will need to in the coming years. These bills offer a sensible and popular way to raise additional revenue in order to prevent these looming cuts.

Massachusetts loses hundreds of millions of dollars each year to offshore corporate tax dodging — money that would otherwise support local families and communities here in Massachusetts. That’s because billionaire global corporations like Apple, Amazon, McDonald’s, and Walmart conceal their profits in offshore tax havens to avoid paying their fair share in Massachusetts taxes. These bills would ensure that such corporations pay our state’s corporate income tax on a greater share of these offshored profits, raising essential new revenue. They would correct the grave error when Massachusetts chose to leave this revenue on the table several sessions ago as a result of backroom negotiations and no public discussion.

Let’s do right by the name of “Commonwealth” that our state has and ensure that we are fighting for the common good of all when that is under attack each day. Your constituents depend on it.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts