FY 2026 Budget Testimony: Protect Our Essential Services & Invest in Our Future

April 8, 2025 

Chair Michlewitz, Chair Rodrigues, and Members of the Joint Committee on Ways & Means: 

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director at Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group fighting for a more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic commonwealth.

As we contemplate the daunting, anxiety-inducing, catastrophic possibility of steep cuts to the federal budget as Republicans in DC attempt to take an axe to health care, education, infrastructure, and so much more, we need to be prepared in MA to protect our essential services. We need to continue to do what we are doing—and we also need to be doing more. 

To make that possible, I urge you to embrace progressive sources of revenue as well as tap into the rainy day fund as needed. 

First on the rainy day fund. Like many of us, I have had the experience of holding an umbrella while walking in the rain. The rain gets heavier and heavier, but I think, “Oh, it’s not that bad yet” while getting fully soaked. Let’s not be that. When it starts pouring, don’t be afraid to take out an umbrella. 

But beyond that, I want to urge that “the money isn’t there” is a difficult argument to stomach in a state as affluent as Massachusetts. Indeed, our state’s GDP is higher than countries like Sweden or Belgium despite our smaller population. We have great wealth in this state, and that great wealth is why the Fair Share Amendment has been able to deliver so much. 

You have many tools at your disposal to raise necessary funds, such as but not limited to ensuring that billionaire global mega-corporations like Amazon and Apple are paying their fair share and are not able to dodge taxes by offshoring their profits in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. 

Similarly, as you are going to seek every opportunity to trim our investments, I would urge you to first do the same to the state’s tax corporate tax breaks to evaluate whether or not they deliver upon any goal at all. The sales tax exemption for private jets is but one of many examples. 

It shows a lack of regard for the most vulnerable populations to countenance cuts to mental health case workers and cuts to assistance to needy families, but not countenance cuts to the tax giveaways to large estates and day traders passed two years ago. 

We  know who has the money: the rich and large corporations. What matters is the political will to raise the funds. 

In the FY 2026 budget, we urge you to focus on increasing critical investments that underlie the quality of life in the Commonwealth and make this high quality of life accessible to all: 

  • Delivering on Our Promises to Our K-12 Students: The Student Opportunity Act from 2019 was a major win for students across the Commonwealth. However, the combination of high rates of inflation in FY23 and FY24 and a tight inflation cap under the SOA has led to a $465 million gap in district budgets.  As a result, districts across the state are being forced to cut their budgets, lay off educators and staff, and cancel long-needed investments. We must keep our promises to students.

We further urge you to fix charter school tuition reimbursements so that our public schools are not losing critical funding. Tuition dollars follow students, but if a class size falls from 25 to 23, a school cannot hire 23/25 of a teacher. So many of the costs of education are fixed costs, and siphoning off resources harms the 90% of students who attend local district public schools. 

Our students deserve not only well-funded schools, but also green and healthy schools that focus on the whole student. We urge you to increase funding for capital improvements for school buildings so that students can have the safe and healthy environment conducive to learning, and to provide funding for community schools so that districts can embrace this proven model that empowers students, parents, and educators to collaborate and provide vital wraparound services. 

  • Building on Recent Child Care & Early Ed Investments: Last session, you made historic investments in early education and child care, moving us closer toward a vision of quality and stability for providers, good pay for educators, and affordability and access for families. We join the Common Start Coalition in calling for continued investments:
    • $200 million to increase access to child care financial assistance (line item 3000-4060 in the FY25 budget): A $100 million increase over FY25 is needed just to maintain existing caseloads, and an additional $100 million would be enough to provide financial assistance vouchers to 6,000 additional children who are currently on the waitlist for CCFA.
    • $45 million to increase operational grants to child care providers to a total of $520 million (line item 3000-1045 in the FY25 budget): An increase in total funding to $520 million is needed to keep up with increased utilization of the C3 program by providers. Increased funding for the C3 program is essential to support the growing number of providers who accept families using child care vouchers.
    • $45 million to raise early education and care financial assistance reimbursement rates (line items 3000-1041 & 3000-1042 in the FY25 budget): This will improve access to child care financial assistance by increasing the number of programs that are willing and able to accept vouchers, allow programs to invest in quality, and raise workforce salaries for subsidized child care providers.
    • $20 million for the Head Start Supplemental Grant (line item 3000-5000 in the FY25 budget): Funding needed to increase salaries in Head Start classrooms and help programs that provide high-quality care to some of the state’s lowest-income, highest-need children, especially in anticipation of potential federal cuts.
  • Investing in the Opportunity Engine of Public Higher Ed: Last year, you made community college free, a transformative step that has benefited many residents already. We need to build on that commitment to opportunity by making our four-year public institutions debt-free for all students as well and ensuring that our colleges and universities have the resources needed to give a high-quality education and experience to every student. 

That means ensuring better pay and benefits for adjunct faculty, who often have to juggle high course loads for low pay. That means ensuring that our public higher education employees are paid at or above the national average, especially given the high cost of living in MA.  And that means ensuring that our public colleges and universities have green and healthy buildings and having the Commonwealth assume the capital debt of public higher education institutions and cover the costs of such upgrades. 

  • Increasing Funding for Access to Counsel: We join fellow organizations in the Right to Counsel Coalition in urging for an increase to the Access to Counsel pilot (Line Item 0321-1800) from $2.5 million to $5 million and making the program permanent. While upwards of 90% of landlords are represented, recent Trial Court data shows that over the past two years only 4% of tenants had legal representation. We can change this, prevent homelessness, and stabilize peoples’ housing by incrementally building a strong statewide Access to Counsel program.
  • Protecting Our Right to Shelter by Investing in Emergency Assistance: We believe in listening to the experts connected to communities on the ground about how best to solve the problems facing the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless are the experts on how to best manage the emergency shelter system in Massachusetts and assume that all families have access to safe housing. We urge you to support their requests, which include:
    • Undoing harmful restrictions to emergency shelter: Removing the length of stay limits, which force families out of shelter before they can access safe housing; eliminating the “dual track” system, which kicks some families out of rapid track shelters in as little as 30 business days; removing the cap on the number of families in EA shelter, currently set at 5,800 families; restoring presumptive eligibility, which gives families temporary access to shelter while they gather documents to prove ongoing eligibility; and strengthening support for families leaving shelter, including by improving housing search, providing ongoing wraparound support, and increasing HomeBASE rehousing resources
    • Increasing funding for RAFT (Line Item 7004-9316): Increase funding for Rental Assistance for Families in Transition RAFT) to $300 million, up from the current FY25 funding level of $204.7 million ($197.4 million in General Appropriations Act funding and $7.3 million in supplemental funding)
    • Increasing HomeBASE (Line Item 7004-1008) Increasing the maximum benefit levels to $50,000 over the first 24 months of the program and up to $25,000 in subsequent years for families needing additional time

Moreover, we urge you to reject harmful proposed cuts in Governor Healey’s budget. 

  • Please reject Governor Healey’s proposed elimination of the 10% increase to cash assistance grants that recently took effect. This assistance is for our families with highest need, and it is unconscionable to think that that is where we would be making cuts in the budget. 
  • Please reject Governor Healey’s proposed cuts to mental health care and the corresponding layoffs of Department of Mental Health case workers. This is critical care, and it is about people’s lives. 

Thank you for your work on the budget and on this marathon of a hearing. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts 

“Our commonwealth did something rare in recent history: it took away the right to vote from a category of people who were formerly enfranchised. “

April 1, 2025

Chair Keenan, Chair Hunt, and Members of the Joint Committee on Election Laws: 

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director at Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group fighting for a more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic commonwealth. 

We urge you to give a favorable report to H.63 and S.7: Proposal for a legislative amendment to the Constitution relative to voting rights.

I would like to begin with a bit of history. Felony disenfranchisement in Massachusetts is a recent phenomenon. Indeed, although we often think of the history of voting rights in the US as one of ever-forward motion, Massachusetts stands as an outlier. In the late 1990s, after incarcerated individuals in MCI-Norfolk started organizing for better conditions, Republican Governor Bill Cellucci and the MA Legislature responded with retaliation: a multi-step process of disenfranchisement. In 2000, Massachusetts voters approved a constitutional amendment to prohibit people incarcerated for felonies in state prison from voting in state elections; the subsequent year, Cellucci signed a law to extend this prohibition to federal and municipal elections. Our commonwealth did something rare in recent history: it took away the right to vote from a category of people who were formerly enfranchised. 

In 2022, the Massachusetts Legislature took an important step forward when passing the VOTES Act by including language creating protections for jail-based voting for those who still maintain the right to vote, but we must build on that momentum by ending remaining disenfranchisement, as these bills would. 

Felony disenfranchisement compounds the systemic racism of the criminal legal system. Approximately 8,000 residents of the Commonwealth are disenfranchised due to a felony conviction, more than 50% of them are Black or Latinx. 

Felony disenfranchisement laws disenfranchise more voters than those directly affected. Whenever someone loses the right to vote even temporarily, they are likely to mistakenly think that they have lost it permanently. We must eliminate archaic laws that create voter suppression and voter confusion. 

Felony disenfranchisement exacerbates the humanitarian crisis in our prisons and jails. The Department of Justice, even under Trump’s first administration, pointed out that Massachusetts correctional facilities are engaging in torture, and a lack of political voice puts individuals at risk for abuse. 

Moreover, studies have often shown that fostering ties to the outside world is central to reducing recidivism. Civic engagement provides just that, and we should welcome it. 

If Massachusetts were to pass these amendments, we would be in good company. Maine, Vermont, Puerto Rico, and DC already ensure that all citizens of voting age are able to participate in elections, regardless of incarceration status. That is also true of a number of European countries, such as Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland. Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

At a time when democracy is under attack, let’s take this opportunity to strengthen and expand it.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Letter to Senate and House Leadership, Rules Conference Committtee

The Honorable Karen Spilka

The Honorable Ron Mariano

The Honorable Michael Moran 

The Honorable Cynthia Stone Creem 

The Honorable William Galvin 

The Honorable Joan Lovely 

The Honorable David Muradian 

The Honorable Ryan Fattman 

Monday March 25th, 2025

Dear President Spilka, Speaker Mariano, Majority Leader Moran, Majority Leader Creem, and Members of the Conference Committee, 

We write to you at a time of great uncertainty for citizens of the Commonwealth. Residents are reeling from an onslaught of current and anticipated cuts to federal funding, which target key programs and sectors that shape the daily lives of many in our state. Others fear for their livelihoods in the face of indiscriminate federal immigration raids. 

We are following up on the letter written by some of us Saturday March 8th, on the subject of the Joint Rules negotiations, to stress the utmost urgency of the task before you. The public has clearly spoken about a need for legislative reform to improve transparency and accountability. We were pleased that Rules proposals from both chambers take significant steps in that direction. It is imperative that you reach an agreement on Joint Rules to deliver on these promises. 

Nevertheless, we are now nearly three months into the legislative session, and committees await clear instructions on Rules changes before taking up the work of lawmaking. Contingency plans must be made and debated publicly for the state’s 2026 budget, which anticipates $16 billion in federal funds that may not materialize. Bills have been filed that, if passed, could immediately provide better protections for immigrant families, incarcerated individuals, and other vulnerable groups that have been targeted by the Trump administration. 

We address you also as progressives, committed to providing a meaningful alternative to conservative governance by attacks on social services and vulnerable populations. A major takeaway from last year’s election is that elected officials are seen by many as distant and unresponsive to the needs of working-class voters. Constituents are looking for leadership in light of a perceived unwillingness among elected officials to fight the billionaire takeover of the federal government or to take concrete action to defend social policies. With this in mind, further delays to begin the lawmaking process in Massachusetts are unwise. 

Massachusetts has an opportunity to serve as a beacon of stability and hope at a time of great chaos and fear for the nation and for the Commonwealth’s own residents. However, this bold vision cannot materialize until we get to work. 

We urge you to move swiftly to pass a robust Joint Rules package, including transparency reforms, and immediately take up and pass legislation to respond to the extraordinary moment we are facing. 

Sincerely, 

Act on Mass

Boston Catholic Climate Movement

Climate Action Now Western Mass

Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) 

Food & Water Watch 

Homes for All Massachusetts

Lexington Climate Action Network  

Massachusetts Sierra Club 

Mass-Care: the Massachusetts Campaign for Single Payer Health Care

Our Revolution Massachusetts 

Pipe Line Awareness Network for the Northeast

Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts 

Progressive Massachusetts 

Springfield No One Leaves

Unitarian Universalist Mass Action 

Letter to the Conference Committee on Rules Reform

The Honorable Michael Moran 

The Honorable Cynthia Stone Creem 

The Honorable William Galvin 

The Honorable Joan Lovely 

The Honorable David Muradian 

The Honorable Ryan Fattman 

Saturday, March 8, 2025 

Dear Majority Leader Moran, Majority Leader Creem, and Members of the Conference Committee: 

We are pleased that both chambers have taken up reforms to the legislative process to promote greater transparency, accountability, and timeliness. As we said in our January 22 letter, “The citizens of Massachusetts have made it clear: we expect our legislature to be transparent, democratic, and accountable to its constituents.” 

As you negotiate differences to determine a final set of Joint Rules to govern the 194th session of the General Court, we urge you to consistently side with the reforms that maximize the ability of rank-and-file legislators and the public to participate fully in the process. 

Hearing Notice (Joint Rule 1D)

We urge you to adopt the language from the Senate, which would increase the notice for hearings from 72 hours to 5 days. This makes it more possible for members of the committee and members of the public to make space in their schedule to participate and to make whatever arrangements they need to in order to make that possible. 

Making Testimony Public (Joint Rule 1D)

We were pleased to see both chambers recognize the public interest in making the testimony submitted to committees accessible. We urge adoption of Senate language specifying that such testimony will be made “available on the general court website,” as opposed to simply “publicly available.” This guarantees the broadest accessibility and reflects best the underlying intent we hope both chambers share. 

Committee Votes (Joint Rule 1D) 

We were similarly pleased that both chambers recognize that Massachusetts should join the majority of state legislatures in publishing committee votes. We urge adoption of Senate language specifying that the rule applies to “study orders” as well as votes on pieces of legislation themselves and language clarifying that the results of both “electronic polls” and in-person roll calls are to be made public. 

We also urge adoption of House language specifying that such votes should be published in a timely manner, i.e., within 48 hours. 

Materials Presented to Committee Members Before Votes (Joint Rule 1D)

The legislative process works best when legislators are fully informed about the matters before them. We urge you to adopt House language stating that committee members will receive “(i) a document clearly marking any changes made by the committee to the underlying matter, and (ii) a document clearly marking any changes to any general or special law proposed by the matter, which shall be made publicly available.” We urge that these be made available to the public as well as legislators before said votes and that committee members be provided due time to review them before voting. 

Reporting Deadlines (Joint Rule 10)

We are pleased to see that both chambers are interested in moving up the deadline for reporting bills out of committee. 


To ensure a thorough and expedient legislative process, we urge adoption of Senate language establishing a new reporting deadline of the first Wednesday in December as well as House language creating a series of rolling deadlines following hearings. 

Disposition of Bills Not Acted Upon (Joint Rule 10)

Under current rules, if a committee makes no report on a bill by a given deadline, the bill is marked as receiving an adverse report. This language, included in the Senate‘s proposal, should stay, instead of the House’s proposal to dispense of such remaining bills with a bulk study order.

Open Conference Committee Meetings (Joint Rule 11) 

We have endorsed making conference committee meetings fully open to the public, and we urge you to adopt Senate language specifying that the first meeting of a conference committee must be an open meeting. 

Time to Read Conference Reports (11B) 

As previously stated, the legislative process works best when legislators are fully informed about the matters before them. We urge you to adopt Senate language ensuring that members have at least one full day to review a conference report before voting on it. 

End of Formal Session (Joint Rule 12A)

Both chambers adopted new language specifying what work can occur after the end of formal session on July 31 of the second year of session. We urge adoption of the House’s more tailored language identifying the specific cases in which votes could occur and how such cases relate to work largely conducted within the formal session. We are concerned by any effort to push significant legislative activity into the fall and winter of the second year of session. 

Again, we are pleased to see attention to issues of transparency, accountability, and efficiency of the legislative process. The changes elaborated above embrace the best of both chambers’ proposals and would help improve public trust and engagement in the legislative process. We hope that this will be a sign of a broader change in the building in the direction of openness, engagement, and responsiveness. 

Sincerely, 

Act on Mass 

Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts 

Progressive Massachusetts

Advocacy Organizations Call on Governor Maura Healey to Take Bold Action to Respond to Threat of Trump Administration 

Tuesday, December 10, 2024 

Governor Maura Healey 

Massachusetts State House

24 Beacon St

Office of the Governor, Room 280 

Boston, MA 02133 

Dear Governor Healey,

We, the signatories of this letter, represent grassroots statewide organizations that value our state’s commitment to protecting our safety, especially the most vulnerable populations, civil rights, public health, public education, and the environment. With Trump reentering the White House in January, we are deeply concerned about the federal policies that will threaten the progress we’ve made in our state. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent decision to call a special legislative session to pass protections is a model of the proactive approach needed to shield our residents from Trump’s dangerous agenda. A coalition, “Governors Safeguarding Democracy,” formed by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Colorado Governor Jared Polis to resist potential federal policies affecting political investigations, deportations, and university diversity programs is another proactive approach.

As you know, Trump’s policies will bring aggressive rollbacks of immigrants rights, civil liberties, reproductive rights, climate regulations, healthcare, and LGBTQ+ protections. These attacks will disproportionately impact blue states like ours, where residents rely on progressive policies to ensure their safety and well-being. We urge you to act now to protect our state’s values and shield us from Trump’s harmful policies.

We respectfully request that you act quickly to safeguard our state:

  1. Call on the General Court to come back into formal session as soon as possible: Urge the General Court to come back in session in December to address the critical threat posed by Trump’s policies. This session should prioritize measures to protect our residents’ rights, health, and safety from federal overreach such as:
    1. An Act to protect the civil rights and safety of all Massachusetts residents (S.1510/H.2288)
    2. An Act relative to Massachusetts state sovereignty (S.997/H.1401)
    3. 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.
  1. Create a State-Funded Legal Defense Fund: Establish a legal fund to defend our state’s progressive policies against Trump’s administration. This fund should support legal battles on issues like people’s safety, reproductive healthcare, environmental protection, and civil rights.
  1. Form Compacts with Like-Minded States: Please establish a regional compact with other neighboring blue trifecta states and also join the “Governors Safeguarding Democracy,” to create a united front showing that our values cannot be undermined by Trump’s administration.
  1. Adopt “Race-to-the-Top” Standards: Lead the way with bold policies to continue to strengthen our labor, immigrant and voting rights, accelerate our clean energy transition, and address the cost of living. These policies not only benefit our residents but also set a national example, demonstrating that our state will stand firm against Trump’s regressive policies.
  1. Utilize State Contracts and Investments to Support Our Values: Use our state’s economic influence to promote civil rights, environmental responsibility, and fair labor practices. By prioritizing companies that align with progressive values and refusing contracts with those that support Trump’s harmful policies, our state can send a powerful message of resistance.

Governor Healey, with your leadership, our state can be a powerful counterforce against a federal government that threatens our most fundamental rights and protections. We urge you to act swiftly to protect Massachusetts residents and ensure that we remain a stronghold for justice, equality, and environmental stewardship.

Thank you for your dedication to safeguarding our values and acting to protect our community in the face of a second Trump administration. We look forward to seeing our state be bold, protect and uphold the rights and freedoms that are essential to our future.

Sincerely,

Indivisible Mass Coalition

Progressive Mass

Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition

Act On Mass

American Federation of Teachers – MA

Asian American Resource Workshop 

Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network – MA

CARE Action, Inc

Clean Water Action

Mass Peace Action

Our Revolution Massachusetts

Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts

Indivisible Acton Area

IndivisibleLAB

Valley Action

Advocacy Organizations Call on Massachusetts House and Senate to Reconvene Before End of Session to Pass Critical Legislation that Addresses Threats of Trump Administration

Tuesday, December 10, 2024 

Speaker Ron Mariano 

24 Beacon St.

Room 356

Boston, MA, 02133

Senate President Karen Spilka 

24 Beacon St.

Room 332

Boston, MA, 02133

Speaker Mariano and Senate President Spilka, 

Residents across Massachusetts have responded to the recent presidential election with fear and anxiety about what will come from a second Trump administration. We know the damage caused from the first one: the harms done to civil rights, labor rights, environmental protections, immigrant communities, communities of color, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, health care access, public health infrastructure, and so much more. 

Trump and the coming Republican Congress have been clear that they plan to continue these assaults. They and their allies have outlined it in Project 2025, which proposes a radical right-wing restructuring of the federal government and an attack on basic rights and freedoms that we in Massachusetts cherish. 

States like Massachusetts have a responsibility to lead and push back: we must refuse to comply everywhere we can, we must shore up protections for marginalized communities in the Commonwealth, and we must chart a clear course for what accountable progressive governance looks like and how it delivers for us all. 

This work ahead will follow different timelines, but what is clear now is we cannot wait until next January to get started. We ask you to be proactive, and not merely be reactive to the threats of the Trump administration. This extraordinary moment requires extraordinary action. Other states, such as California, have responded by coming back into session to pass additional protections. We urge you to come back into session as soon as possible this month to do the same. 

Knowing that assaults on our immigrant communities will be immediate actions from the next Trump administration, we urge you to take up legislation this December to protect our state’s immigrant communities, including but not limited to provisions found in bills S.1510/H.2288 and S.997/H.1401: 

  • 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) and ensuring that state and local police will not inquire about immigration status 
  • End ICE detention in Massachusetts and prohibit the deputization of local officials to act as ICE agents 
  • 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, except at the end of a sentence of incarceration 
  • 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. 

If old patterns hold, then the Legislature will reconvene in January, committees will be assigned in February, hearings will continue for the next year, and little if any legislation will be passed and signed into law in the first half of 2025. We saw the damage of the first Trump administration, and we cannot afford that wait. 

We appreciate past efforts to  proactively respond to right-wing federal action. After the Supreme Court’s shameful Dobbs decision in late June of 2022, you took quick action to provide legal protections to abortion providers, out-of-state patients, and insurers; expand access to contraceptives; and help ensure that women who face grave circumstances get the care they need. 

We ask that you once again step up. We look forward to working with you in December and also in the coming years to counter the threats posed by the Trump administration. Our Commonwealth must take action at this moment and respond, and we must be flexible now, which means proactively passing legislation in December before this session ends. 

Sincerely,

Indivisible Mass Coalition

Progressive Mass

Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition

Act On Mass

American Federation of Teachers – MA

Asian American Resource Workshop 

Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network – MA

CARE Action, Inc

Clean Water Action

MassEquality

Mass Peace Action

Our Revolution Massachusetts

Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts

Indivisible Acton Area

IndivisibleLAB

Valley Action

To the Conferees re: Climate Legislation in 2024

July 27, 2024

To the Conferees: Chair Barrett, Chair Roy, Majority Leader Creem, Vice Chair Haggerty, and Ranking Members and Minority Leaders Tarr and Jones,

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the policy director at Progressive Massachusetts. We are a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. 

Thank you for your work in negotiating a final version of climate legislation, reconciling S.2838 and H.4884.

This past Monday was the hottest day on record, according to a European climate service. The urgency around robust and equitable climate action could not be clearer.

Massachusetts has in recent years made important commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the recommendations of the International Panel on Climate Change and the Paris Climate Agreement. Setting targets is critical, but meeting them requires real work, consisting of the decarbonization of all sectors of our economy. And we must do this work in a way that does not reproduce the inequities endemic to the fossil fuel economy from which we must transition away.

We urge you to include the following provisions of the Senate or House bills in the final legislation you produce:  

  • Putting Gas Companies on a Path to Provide Clean, Non-Emitting Renewable Energy (Sections 46, 74, and 76 of the Senate Bill; Section 24 of the House bill): Among other measures, these sections would allow gas companies to sell networked geothermal energy, limit the expansion of new gas mains unless there are no feasible alternatives to gas, require that the public interest in greenhouse gas reductions be considered when evaluating proposed expansions to gas mains, permit gas companies to meet their “obligation to serve” by providing customers with renewable substitutes, encourage gas companies to repair or retire leak-prone pipelines, and require gas companies to implement an orderly transition to non-emitting energy for heating buildings.

In short, as the Department of Public Utilities made clear back in December, there cannot be a future for gas in Massachusetts. The DPU can only do so much on its own, and we need legislative action.

  • Electrifying the Commuter Rail System (Section 138 of the Senate Bill): This is a critical component of an MBTA-wide plan for decarbonization.
  • Easing Access to Solar in Historic Districts (Section 106 of the Senate Bill): We need to remove roadblocks to residential solar if we are to achieve the scale necessary.
  • Updating Our Bottle Bill (Sections 45-58 of the Senate Bill)
  • Updating the Massport Charter to include attention to climate change and environmental justice (Sections 108 & 109 of the Senate bill sections; Sections 65A&B of the House bill)
  • Removing Woody Biomass from the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standard for Municipal Lighting Plants (Section 115 of the Senate Bill)
  • Establishing Labor Standards and Reporting for Clean Energy Procurement (as reflected in the adopted amendments #120 in the Senate and #100 in the House)

Similarly, we echo the demands of the Mass Power Forward coalition to include the following in a final bill:

  • Siting and Permit Approvals tied to a robust cumulative impact analysis. Such an analysis must be holistic, incorporating past and current exposures to pollution and other chemical sources, as well as other factors found in the built, natural, and social environments, and their impact on quality of life and public health.
  • Clean air for environmental justice populations and all. (as found in Senate Bill Amendment 100; House Bill amendment 15). Environmental Justice (EJ) populations are disproportionately affected by air pollution. By including air quality policy in the climate bill, we will improve indoor and outdoor air, especially for EJ populations and residents burdened by pollution from congested roadways and ports, and mold in housing.
  • Ending large-scale gas pipeline expansion (as found in Senate Bill Amendment 16; House bill Amendment 17): Every new mile of high-pressure pipeline installed is an expensive asset that will have to be paid off over decades by ratepayers or, if stranded, by taxpayers, and such expansion irreconcilable with meeting our climate goals.

Thank you again for your work on this important issue.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

Letter to the Economic Development Conference Committee

July 25, 2024

To the Conferees:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the policy director at Progressive Massachusetts. We are a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. 

Thank you for your work in negotiating a final version of the economic development bill.

I am writing today to express our strong support for sections 4, 6, 101, 102, 114, 165-169, 179-218, 254, and 257-280 of S.2869. These sections would raise the age of criminal responsibility to 19, thereby ensuring that 18-year-olds are kept out of the adult prison system.

This reform is good for public safety, good for the economy, and good for advancing racial equality in the commonwealth.

Public Safety: An overly punitive approach towards young people increases recidivism by taking away access to education and other supports that are vital to rehabilitation and smooth re-entry. 18-year-olds are, let’s remember, largely high school seniors. We want everyone to be able to finish high school, and we can best achieve educational outcomes by ensuring that young people are in an environment set up for that. Education and supportive services are essential for young people to become stable, contributing adults, and that is essential to community stability.

Economy:  Involvement with the adult legal system creates significant barriers for young people in obtaining education, skill-building, and career development opportunities. Keeping 18-year-olds out of the adult system will help them to better achieve their full economic potential, and when that happens, we all benefit.


Racial Equity: Legal system involvement is concentrated in particular communities — especially low-income, Black, and brown communities. When we cut off economic opportunity from Black and Brown youth, both as teenagers and—as a result—as adults, we are exacerbating the racial wealth gap in Massachusetts and compounding deeply rooted inequalities.

Massachusetts has the opportunity to make our communities safer, our economy stronger, and our commonwealth more equitable. We urge you to take it.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts

End of Session Letter on Criminal Justice Reform

July 15, 2024

Via Electronic Mail

Senator Karen Spilka

President of the Senate

Karen.Spilka@masenate.gov

Representative Ronald Mariano

Speaker of the House

Ronald.Mariano@mahouse.gov

Representative Aaron Michlewitz

Chairperson, House Committee on Ways and Means

Chairperson, Joint Committee on Ways and Means

Aaron.M.Michlewitz@mahouse.gov

Senator Michael Rodrigues

Chairperson, Senate Committee on Ways and Means

Chairperson, Joint Committee on Ways and Means

Michael.Rodrigues@masenate.gov

Representative John Lawn, Jr. 

Chairperson, Joint Committee on Healthcare Financing

John.Lawn@mahouse.gov

Senator Cindy Friedman

Chairperson, Joint Committee on Health Care Financing

Vice Chair, Senate Committee on Ways and Means

Vice Chair, Joint Committee on Ways and Means

Cindy.Friedman@masenate.gov

RE: 36 Organizations Urge Support of Criminal Legal System Reform

Dear Senate President Spilka, Speaker Mariano, Chair Michlewitz, Chair Rodrigues, Chair Lawn, and Chair Friedman:

We are a coalition of 36 advocacy organizations focused on improving public health and safety through corrections system reform. We are heartened that several important and broadly supported criminal legal reform policies were advanced out of committee, reflecting the legislature’s commitment to the well-being of incarcerated people and our communities. We believe that now is the time to move these bills to the floor, all of which would affirm the human rights of incarcerated individuals, prepare them for successful re-entry, reduce racial inequity, and promote the health and safety of our communities. Passing these bills is especially important in this moment of transition at the Department of Correction — we have an opportunity to reshape correctional culture in a way that is more conducive to rehabilitation, prioritizes continuing to safely reduce the prison population, and improves transitions back to the community. We urge you to bring the following bills to floor votes with enough time before the end of the session to ensure that if there is a veto, there is time to override.

Currently in the Joint Committee for Health Care Finance

  • An Act to ensure appropriate access to medical parole,  H.2319 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security): This bill would carry forward the promise of medical parole, which was established by the 2018 Criminal Justice Reform Act (CJRA). It clarifies language to ensure that people with cognitive incapacitations have access to the process, reduces delays, and provides for appropriate parole supervision and judicial review. 

Currently in the Senate Committee on Ways and Means

  • An Act establishing a jail and prison construction moratorium, S.2821 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight): Amidst a record low and declining prison and jail population, this bill would establish a five year pause on prison and jail construction and expansion so we can focus on further reducing the number of people in prisons and jails, implementing alternatives to incarceration, and investing in communities. The bill will not prevent essential repairs. The legislature passed a previous version of this bill last session, but it was vetoed by the previous administration. 
  • An Act to promote rehabilitation including guaranteed health, treatment, and safety for incarcerated LGBTQI+ People, S.1499 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security): This bill promotes the health and safety of LGBTQI+ incarcerated people.
  • An Act transferring Bridgewater State Hospital from the Department of Corrections to the Department of Mental Health, S.1239/ H.2985 (reported out favorably from the Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery) This bill will address enduring issues with mental health care by transferring operation and oversight of Bridgewater State Hospital to the Department of Mental Health (DMH) from the Department of Correction (DOC).

Currently in the House Committee on Ways and Means

  • An Act related to rehabilitation, re-entry, and human rights for incarcerated persons, H.2325 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security): This bill would establish universal baseline standards for conditions of confinement for everyone incarcerated in Massachusetts state prisons, county jails, and houses of correction. The standards would actualize reforms to restrictive housing enshrined in the CJRA, reduce the harm incarcerated people experience and help support successful re-entry into the community. 
  • An Act to strengthen family and community connection with incarcerated people, H.2314 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security): This bill rolls back unnecessary restrictions on prison and jail visitation, which is a critical system for maintaining community connections and supporting successful re-entry.
  • An Act establishing parole review for aging incarcerated people, H.2397 (reported favorably from the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security): While the prison population overall is decreasing, the percentage of the population who are elderly is increasing. This bill would provide an opportunity for parole for all incarcerated people over the age of 55 who have already served half of their sentence or at least 15 years. 
  • An Act ensuring access to addiction services, H.1966/S.1247 (reported favorably from the committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery): This bill would end the practice of incarcerating men who have not been convicted of any crime but who have been civilly committed for involuntary treatment for alcohol and substance use disorders under M.G.L. chapter 123, section 35 (also known as “Section 35”). 

Currently in the Budget Conference Committee

  • Ensuring full implementation of No Cost Calls: Last year, Massachusetts passed legislation to guarantee free communication between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones (“No Cost Calls”). This policy has already improved vital community connections for incarcerated people and their families. To continue this progress and ensure effective implementation, we need both dedicated funding and robust reporting by the Department of Correction and County Sheriffs. We ask the budget conference committee to dedicate $35M in the Communications Access Trust Fund for No Cost Calls in prisons and jails (item 1595-6153 in the House FY 2025 budget proposal) and to make technical fixes to the reporting requirements, so that policymakers have the information they need to effectively monitor the No Cost Calls law (Section 29 A&B of the Senate FY 2025 budget proposal).

Together, the above bills will create effective implementation of existing law, advance human rights,  improve conditions of confinement, promote successful re-entry, provide meaningful pathways to safe release for elderly people and those who are very sick or incapacitated, and help to ensure that we invest commonwealth resources in our communities. 

As the formal session enters its last weeks, we strongly believe that there is still time to meaningfully reform our corrections system to further public health and safety, reduce racial inequity, and support commonwealth communities. Indeed, we believe it is urgent to do so.

Thank you for your time and attention to these important issues. 

Sincerely,

Abolitionist Mail Project

ACLU of Massachusetts

Actual Criminal Justice Roundtable of the Southern New England United Church of Christ

Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN) 

Bristol County for Correctional Justice

Campaign to End Life Without Parole (CELWOP)

Coalition for Effective Public Safety (CEPS) Steering Committee

Coalition for Social Justice Action

Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund

Color Of Change

Committee for Public Counsel Services

CORI Initiative, Center for Law & Social Responsibility at New England Law | Boston

Decarcerate Western MA Bailout Project

DeeperThanWater Coalition

Disability Law Center

Drop LWOP New England

F8 Foundation

Families for Justice as Healing

First Parish Brookline, Unitarian Universalist

First Parish Concord, Unitarian Universalist 

First Parish in Bedford, Unitarian Universalist

Greater Boston Legal Services CORI & Re-entry Project

Human Rights at Home Clinic, UMass Law School

Jane Doe Inc., The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence

Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee

Massachusetts Against Solitary Confinement (MASC)

Massachusetts Association for Mental Health

Massachusetts Parole Preparation Partnership

Massachusetts Peace Action

Prison Policy Initiative

Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts

Progressive Massachusetts 

Real Cost of Prisons Project

Showing Up for Racial Justice Boston

T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

Unitarian Universalist Mass Action

Women and Incarceration Project

Letter to the Conferees on the Affordable Homes Act

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the policy director at Progressive Massachusetts. We are a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. 

Massachusetts faces a growing affordable housing crisis. To rent the average 2-bedroom apartment in Massachusetts requires an income equal to $37.97 per hour, more than twice the minimum wage. Home ownership has become increasingly out of reach, as the state’s median home price has passed $600,000. The high cost of housing has led to displacement, and in a growing number of municipalities, the local workforce can no longer afford to live there.

We are grateful for the work spent on the Affordable Homes Act (H.4726) this session, as it contains a number of critically important tools for addressing this affordability crisis. 

We appreciate the inclusion in both chambers’ bills of provisions such as legalizing accessory dwelling units as of right with minimal restrictions (Sections 7 & 8 of the House bill,  Sections 10 & 11 of the Senate bill), streamlining the process for using surplus state-owned land for housing (Section 105 in the House bill, Section 135 in the Senate bill), and creating an Office of Fair Housing (Section 5 of the House bill, Section 8 of the Senate bill). 

When negotiating a final version of this bill, we urge you to incorporate the great ideas present in both bills, notably the following:

  • Eviction Sealing Protections (Section 66 of the Senate bill), which would provide tenants with the ability to seal an eviction record in certain types of cases at certain times. Right now, there is nothing tenants in Massachusetts can do to seal an eviction record—even if they did nothing wrong, won the case, or paid off any rent due. The moment an eviction case is filed—regardless of the reason or the outcome—a tenant has a permanent and publicly available eviction record on the Trial Court’s website that creates a significant barrier to finding a next place to live.
  • Tenant Opportunity to Purchase local option (Section 36D of the House bill), which would provide cities and towns the ability to pass ordinances to give tenants the right to buy their buildings by matching a third-party offer when their building goes up for sale. TOPA gives tenants, or a non-profit they designate, a chance of becoming owners of their homes, preserving affordability and requiring no loss of profit to the seller. 
  • Banning Broker’s fees (Section 37 of the Senate bill), which would ensure that renters are not burdened with unreasonable costs and would promote transparency and fairness in real estate transactions. As tenants struggle to afford to rent in our increasingly unaffordable housing market, brokers’ fees can make housing options unattainable due to the increase in upfront costs required. A renter who moves every few years could have to pay such costs each time, and tenants on housing vouchers face restricted housing options due to the barriers these fees create. Moreover, MA is an outlier, as in most states landlords have to bear the full fee. The Boston Globe has excellent recent reporting on this issue: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/07/10/business/rental-brokers-boston-september-leases/. 
  • Foreclosure Mediation Pilot Program (Section 150 of the Senate bill), which would help ensure housing stability. Under mediation, a homeowner and lender meet face-to-face with a mediator and discuss how to address a default. Sixteen states and DC have already adopted this proven policy. This excellent Boston Globe article underscores the importance of such a program: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/07/12/opinion/homeowners-foreclosure-mediation-legislature/. We also echo the call for minor modifications to the language as urged by the Homes for All coalition. 
  • Inclusionary Zoning by Simple Majority (Section 13 of the Senate bill), which would allow cities and towns to pass, by simple majority, ordinances that require up to and including 13% of new units be affordable. Inclusionary zoning helps increase the economic diversity of affluent communities and expand affordable housing options. 
  • Small Properties Acquisition Fund (Line Item 7004-0073, line 312, in the Senate bill), which provides not less than $10,000,000 for a Small Properties Acquisition Funding Pilot established in item 1599-6084 of section 2A of the Acts of 2022. This would provide subsidies for nonprofit acquisition of homes from the market, and by including funding for the production of affordable homeownership units that can be kept affordable in perpetuity.
  • Housing Shortage Commission (Section 142 of the Senate bill), which would establish a commission to produce a report about policies that can provide sustainable and equitable housing solutions to: (i) improve housing production; (ii) address racial wealth disparities in housing; (iii) ensure regional equity in housing; and (iv) prevent chronic homelessness, with the commission’s purview including studying a transfer fee, a vacancy tax, a blight tax, an increase in the excise tax, and community land trusts. 

We hope that these measures will find your support. Poll after poll shows that voters across the Commonwealth want comprehensive action on housing, and this bill can be an important step forward. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts