What Happened on the Last Day of the Formal Legislative Session?

July 31 is the last day of the formal legislative session for Beacon Hill. That typically produces a flurry of last-minute legislative activity, and it did–but with a twist.

Two years ago, when the sun rose on August 1, the Legislature was left without agreement on a number of key bills, with conference committees having yet to settle on final text. The Legislature got a lot of negative press for that, and deservedly so. However, they came back throughout the fall to finish the work.

Now, two years later, the two chambers again failed to come to agreement on a number of key bills. However, they blessed such procrastination in the rules they adopted last year, enabling themselves to more readily take up bills after July 31 so long as they are able to appoint the negotiators by then.

So what happened these final days?

  • The two chambers, as we wrote about here, sent a final version of the PROTECT Act to the Governor’s desk yesterday.
  • The Senate voted in a 15 to 4 standing vote (without formal record) for legislation previously passed by the House to expand abortion access and ensure that no one needs to leave the state to get essential reproductive health care after 24 weeks. The House voted 121 to 35 to enact the bill, as the two chambers sent it to the Governor.
  • The two chambers also finalized a bill to rein in politically motivated book bans, with the House voting 156 to 1. Republican John Gaskey of Carver was the only NO vote.

What is still in negotiations?

  • Comprehensive data privacy
  • Energy affordability
  • An economic development bill that contains key priorities like Clean Slate (automatic record sealing), Raise the Age, and the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)
  • Ballot Spending Transparency Act
  • Environmental bond bill
  • A school cell phone ban and (together or separate) teen social media regulations
  • BRIGHT Act (higher ed infrastructure)

The Legislature also appointed conference committees today to work on bills expanding access to primary care and updating the public records law (but in a way less than this fall’s Question 1).

The Legislature is unlikely to do much work in August with vacations and looming elections, and they have until January 5 to finish their job. They shouldn’t wait.

MA House Unanimously Passes Data Privacy Bill

On Thursday, the MA House unanimously passed the Massachusetts Consumer Data Privacy Act, establishing important new data privacy protections.

In particular, the bill would do the following:

  • Ban the sale of precise geolocation data, which is critical to prevent stalking or surveillance of individuals seeking reproductive or gender-affirming care, domestic violence survivors, workers, activists, and more
  • Require that personal data collection must be proportionate to providing requested services, and data must be protected and deleted when no longer necessary or required by law 
  • Establish rights for individuals over their online data, such as the right to access their personal information, the right to correct inaccurate information, the right to opt out of certain processes such as targeted advertising, the right to transport personal data, and the right to delete certain information.
  • Specify that sensitive data cannot be sold or shared without a user’s affirmative consent. Sensitive data includes information such as biometric or genetic information, precise geolocation data, health and wellness information, reproductive and sexual health data, data of a minor under 18, government-issued identifiers, and data that reveals an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, national origin or citizenship or immigration status, religious beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, status as transgender or non-binary, union membership, status as a military service member or veteran, and status as a victim of a crime
  • Prohibit targeted advertising to minors 
  • Enable the AG to enforce the law but also establishes a private right of action (“If someone violates your rights, you can sue them”) to enable consumers to hold the largest data holders accountable for any violations

The MA Senate passed a similar data privacy bill in September, and the two will negotiate a final version of the bill.

The House’s bill is stronger than the Senate’s in some ways (such as the creation of a private right of action), but weaker in other ways (the Senate bill contained an outright ban on the sale of sensitive data and stronger language limiting how much data companies can collect).

During the floor debate on the bill, we had supported the following amendments:

  • #3 to reiterate that use of employer owned devices is a mandatory subject of collective bargaining, filed be Rep. Field
  • #7 to restrict employer ability to disclose employee data without express employee consent, filed by Rep. Montaño
  • #8 to limit the transfer of employee data outside of operationally necessary reasons, filed by Rep. Montaño
  • #10 to ban surveillance pricing for groceries, filed by Rep. Sabadosa
  • #13 to strengthen the definition of “affirmative consent,” filed by Rep. Sabadosa
  • #16 to fix the data minimization language, filed by Rep. Decker
  • #21 to strengthen the private right of action, filed by Rep. Cataldo
  • #33 to clarify the definition of “transfer,” filed by Rep. Rogers
  • #36 to protect LGBTQ youth data, filed by Rep. Montaño
  • #38 to strengthen the data minimization language, filed by Rep. Kilcoyne
  • #40 to strengthen the data minimization language, filed by Rep. Owens

Rather than considering each amendment in turn, the House created a single consolidated amendment that contained pieces of several amendments. It strengthened the data minimization language in the House Ways & Means bill draft, and it also ensured that the right of parents over their children’s online data would not include data related to LGBTQ identity.

My Top Five Favorite Songs about Data Privacy

Today, technology has far outpaced privacy law. Data brokers and Big Tech are free to do almost anything they want with our personal information, including selling our cellphone location data on the open market.

That’s why we have been working with groups from across the state to push for stronger data privacy protections.

When I was thinking recently about this push for data privacy at the State House, I got to thinking about a really important question: What are the best songs about data privacy?

So I put together my top five favorite songs about privacy and surveillance (🥁🥁):

5. “Secret Agent Man” by Johnny Rivers

4. “Our Lips Are Sealed” by The Go-Go’s

3. “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell

2. “Every Breath You Take” by The Police

1. The sweet sound of people calling their legislators to demand action on data privacy (It’s music to my ears)

That’s right: nothing beats the sound of people putting pressure on their elected officials to take overdue action.

Can you call or email your state rep today in support of taking action to protect data privacy?

Here’s what you need to know:

  • The MA Senate passed a bill to ban the sale of sensitive data (like location data) and curtail what companies can collect back in September.
  • The MA House’s Advanced IT Committee advanced a bill (H.4746) in November.
  • The clock is ticking, and we need the House to bring it up for a vote.

And here’s what you can do:

In solidarity,
Jonathan Cohn
Policy Director
Progressive Massachusetts

PS: When you call or email about data privacy, it can’t hurt to add a note about why the House should also back down from its push for online age verification policies that are filled with privacy landmines.

Take Action: Your Data Should Be Nobody’s Business

Your precise location data – showing which doctor’s office you visited last month, which NO KINGS rallies you’ve attended, and when and where you drop your kids off every day – is currently for sale on the open market. The shadowy collection and processing of your data by Big Tech and data brokers consistently exposes your private life to bad actors, including Trump’s ICE — just one of many buyers of our precise geolocation data.

Five and half months ago, the Massachusetts State Senate passed a comprehensive data privacy bill, which included a ban on the sale of sensitive data, like location data, health care information, immigration status, biometric data, and more.

Three months ago, the House passed its own bill out of committee.

Big Tech companies like Facebook and Google, which have been buddying up to the Trump administration, have spent those three months lobbying the House to water down the bill. They have spent a lot already and are ready to spend more.

We need to make sure that they don’t succeed.

Can you email your state rep to stress the importance of passing a strong data privacy bill?

If you’ve emailed recently, it’s a good time follow up with a call. Find your state rep’s phone number here.

Tell Gov. Healey: OpenAI Contract Needs to Be Open

Last Friday, Governor Healey committed Massachusetts to a three-year, multimillion-dollar contract with OpenAI, a company that has been in the news recently for collaborating with ICE, to deploy its AI tool for the Executive Branch’s 40,000 employees.

Healey did this upon the recommendation of the Commonwealth’s industry insider-dominated “AI Strategic Task Force,” but without consulting state workers.

As Beacon Hill works on passing new data privacy protections, Massachusetts residents should also be concerned about how Healey’s new partnership would handle sensitive data. We can’t know because the contract has not been released.

Workers, civil rights advocates, and consumer advocates need to be at the table to decide how new technologies will be embraced, not just those who will profit from them.

Here’s what you can do:

  • Contact the Governor’s office. Call (617) 725-4005 or use this email tool. Ask for the release of the full procurement documents and the data processing agreement, and ask why workers, consumer advocates, and civil rights advocates were excluded from this decision.
  • Contact your State Representative and Senator. Email your state legislators to ask whether the Joint Committee on Advanced IT plans to hold hearings on this contract. Find their emails here.

NYT: “ICE Is Watching You”

In an excellent op-ed this morning, NYT opinion writer Tressie McMillan Cottom explains how ICE is building a massive surveillance apparatus through buying up our data (“ICE Is Watching You“):

“The federal government may have abdicated its responsibility to protect our civil liberties by regulating who can use our data and to what ends. Some states are stepping in, creating their own data privacy laws. But there is still much more to be done, in state legislatures and in Congress. And it all starts with the American people understanding that our freedoms are now bound up in who controls our data.

End the spectacle of vicarious violence. Abolish ICE.

But to end the structure of violence that has ensnared our civil liberties, we will also have to finally, finally turn our attention to who is controlling the damn phones.“

That’s why we are so committed to passing strong data privacy legislation this session.

The MA Senate passed a bill in September, and the House is likely to vote on its own bill soon.

Big Tech companies like Facebook and Google have been lobbying to water it down so that they can keep profiting off our data. Your state rep needs to hear from you that you want a bill with robust protection and robust enforcement.

Email Your State Rep

What if you have already emailed your state rep? Here’s what you can do next:

  • Call your state rep. You can find their number here. Here’s a quick message: “Can I count on the Rep to talk to House Leadership about passing a strong data privacy bill that bans the sale of sensitive data and has clear, robust enforcement mechanisms?” If you want a specific bill number, you can mention the Massachusetts Consumer Data Privacy Act (H.4746).
  • Email five friends. Do you know other friends in your own state rep district or on the other side of the Commonwealth? Ask them to take action too.

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

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

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

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

Now it’s the House’s turn.

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

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

Find your state rep’s phone #

Email Your State Rep

The Scariest Part of Any Horror Movie Is Inaction 🎃🎃

Witches, vampires, ghosts–they are all scary in movies. But the threats faced in real life are much scarier.

🎃Threats to Health Care and Food Assistance: Massachusetts faces deep cuts in health care access, food assistance, and more due to the Big Ugly Bill passed this summer, and we face looming cuts to SNAP given President Trump’s illegal decision not to spend emergency resources. Massachusetts has a higher GDP than Sweden: we are a rich state with ample resources, and we should be raising new revenue and tapping into our flush rainy day fund. (When it’s raining, you take out the umbrella.)

🎃Threats to Privacy Rights:As Big Tech behemoths like Facebook and Google become accomplices to Trumpist authoritarianism, we need to rein in their ability to buy and sell our personal data in an unregulated market place. The State Senate took action last month, but the House needs to as well. And the clock is ticking.

But we can prevent these frights with good policy.

When you watch a horror film, you know that one of the scariest things can be inaction. That sense that the outcomes were not inevitable at all, that opportunities were missed, that voices were unheeded, all of them empowering whatever villains lurk.

We have seen far too much inaction from Beacon Hill this year.

On the last day of the 10th month, only 49 bills have been signed into law. Of those 49, 21 were home rule petitions for one city or town, 13 were personnel matters about individual people, and 8 were budgets and supplemental budgets.

Let’s change the ending of this scary movie.

Email Your State Senator

Email Your State Rep