House, Senate Pass Final Version of Pay Range Disclosure Bills

Yesterday, the MA Senate voted 38 to 2 and the House 153 to 5 for the final language of legislation to require all employers with 25+ employees to post salary ranges for positions they are advertising.

Here’s what the bill would do (courtesy of WBUR):

  • All job postings by employers (businesses, nonprofits, government entities, etc) with 25 or more workers would be required to include the wage or salary range for the position being advertised. The requirement takes effect a year after the bill is signed. While the bill doesn’t set specific guidelines for the range, it must be a “good faith” reflection of what the employer plans to pay.
  • The bill would also require those same employers to share the pay range whenever an employee is getting promoted or transferred to a new position — and it gives workers the right to request info on their current job’s salary range at any point.
  • Finally, the bill would require employers with 100 or more workers to file (already federally required) employment data with the state, so officials can better track local wage gaps.

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