“Transparency is essential to closing persistent gender and racial pay inequities.”

Wage Equity Now

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Chair Jehlen, Chair Cutler, and Members of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development:

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.

We urge the committee to give a favorable report to the following bills: 

H.1849/S.1191: An Act relative to salary range transparency / An Act relative to pay range disclosure

H.1940/S.1181: An Act relative to transparency in the workplace

These bills would build on past progress toward gender and racial equity in Massachusetts workplaces. 

The first set of bills would require employers to disclose salary ranges to employees who ask for them when hiring for positions, and the latter set would require companies and municipalities to submit their federally required EEOC data to the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office. This information would then be combined with statewide figures to provide aggregate and accurate reports of the wage gaps within various business sectors that can be seen and understood both by workers and employers.

Transparency is essential to closing persistent gender and racial pay inequities. If we can’t identify the existence and extent of disparities within and across industries, it is difficult to make and track progress. We cannot change what we do not measure.

Moreover, studies have repeatedly shown the importance of pay range transparency to enabling prospective employees to better negotiate for fair compensation. 

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington have all already passed pay range disclosure laws. For Massachusetts to have a competitive and equitable economy, we should join them.

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts  

“More and more residents are unable to afford to live in our commonwealth anymore”

Green affordable housing

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 

Chair Eldridge, Chair Day, and Members of the Joint Committee on Housing: 

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. 

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 the following bills: 

S.864/H.1731: An Act promoting access to counsel and housing stability in Massachusetts

S.956/H.1690: An Act promoting housing opportunity and mobility through eviction sealing (HOMES)

Right to Counsel (S.864/H.1731): 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 FY2022 Trial Court data, while 86% of landlords are represented, only 11.5% 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, and Washington have already passed Right to Counsel policies, and Massachusetts should join them. 

HOMES Act (S.956/H.1690): Having an eviction record is creating a devastating barrier for tenants looking for housing. Records are created as soon as a case is filed and are publicly available forever––regardless of the outcome. These records impact people’s ability to obtain housing, credit, and employment, harming many, especially women and people of color. 

Regardless of whether one does anything wrong or is actually evicted, being party to an eviction or housing case is being unfairly held against tenants when they try to rent a new place. Even winning in court hurts tenants. However, there is no current process by which a tenant can seal an eviction record, as there already is in states such as California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, and Texas. 

Notably, the Legislature already passed language around eviction sealing in early 2021, only for it to fail to become law due to a last-minute veto by former governor Charlie Baker. We urge you not to wait longer before bringing this issue back up, and we urge you to strengthen the language of these bills to allow eviction sealing to be automatic in certain cases, as opposed by merely by petition: the families facing eviction are least likely to be able to navigate a maze of paperwork. 

Sincerely, 

Jonathan Cohn 

Policy Director 

Progressive Massachusetts