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 

Live Every Week Like Sunshine Week: Transparency Campaign Update & Action Hour

Sunshine Week—the week-long celebration of open government — may have been last week, but we know that it’s important to live every week like Sunshine Week.

Join us TOMORROW at 6 pm for an update on the push for a more transparent, responsive, and timely Legislature.

In February, both the House and Senate adopted a series of transparency reforms to make a more open, inclusive, and timely legislative process. These reforms were only possible because of people like you who emailed, called, and met with your legislators.

But the fight isn’t over yet. The House and Senate have to negotiate the differences between their respective proposals for Joint Rules.

In recent sessions, these conference committees have stalemated. But this session can and must be different. Legislators have felt the pressure from the public that voters across the commonwealth want to see these changes. Let’s keep up the momentum, get this done, and get to the important work across so many urgent issues facing the Commonwealth.

Happy Sunshine Week! ☀️ Let’s Talk about Transparency

Happy Sunshine Week!

Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan collaboration among groups in the journalism, civic, education, government, and private sectors that shines a light on the importance of public records and open government.

Sunshine Week celebrates a radical concept: that you deserve to know what your elected officials are doing.

In other words, what could be a better week to talk about the push for State House Transparency and our Scorecard Website?

Tomorrow, the three state representatives and three state senators who will negotiate a final set of Joint Rules for the legislative session will meet for the first time. There’s a lot at stake (they haven’t come to a deal in several sessions), including whether committee votes and testimony will finally be posted, whether we will see more timely advancement of legislation, and much more. Read on for what you can do to take action.

And *drumroll please* our Scorecard Website is now up to date with full data from last session as well as co-sponsorship data from this session. Want to know if your legislators are co-sponsoring the bills on our Legislative Agenda. We’ve got you covered.

The Fight for State House Transparency Continues

In February, both the House and Senate adopted a series of transparency reforms to make a more open, inclusive, and timely legislative process. They did not go as far as they could have, but the fact that they went as far as they did was only possible because of people like you who emailed, called, and met with your legislators.

But the fight isn’t over yet. The House and Senate have to negotiate the differences between their respective proposals for Joint Rules.

A six-person conference committee was just appointed to oversee these negotiations:

  • Sen. Cindy Creem (D-Newton)
  • Sen. Joan Lovely (D-Salem)
  • Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton)
  • Rep. Mike Moran (D-Brighton)
  • Rep. Bill Galvin (D-Canton)
  • Rep. David Muradian (R-Grafton)

In recent sessions, these conference committees have stalemated. But this session can and must be different. Legislators have felt the pressure from the public that voters across the commonwealth want to see these changes. Let’s keep up the momentum, get this done, and then get to the important work across so many urgent issues facing the Commonwealth.

We recently sent a letter with Act on Mass and Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts in support of critical transparency reforms. Now it’s your turn:

Email Your State Legislators

Email the Conference Committee

Last Session’s Votes…And This Session’s Co-Sponsorships

Our scorecard website is now up to date with our full data from the 2023-2024 legislative session.

The most striking thing about last session’s recorded votes in the State House? How few of them there were.

Last session saw only 203 votes in the MA House and 252 in the MA Senate, each approximately 50% below average and part of an ongoing decline. That’s bad for accountability. When all of the discussion and debate happens behind closed doors, voters are less aware of where their legislators really stand.

And not each of these recorded votes will be worth scoring: many are low-stakes votes where everyone agrees.

To account for the scarcity of votes last session—especially ones that were beyond unanimous or party-line—we included a few additional data points:

  • Whether your state legislators are visiting prisons and jails to serve as a force for accountability in the conditions there
  • Whether your legislators are holding office hours and town halls to engage constituents
  • Whether your legislators are co-sponsoring the bills that we are tracking on our Scorecard website

For the first two, we did our best to reach out to legislative offices to get information. If we’re missing something, just let us know.

But headed into the new session, our Scorecard website also has other important information: Co-Sponsorship. We’ll be tracking which legislators are co-sponsoring the bills on our Legislative Agenda. That’s a critical tool for you to be able to apply effective pressure — as well as to give credit to the legislators who are fighting the good fight.

Take a look, explore, and take action!

The Trump-Musk Administration Is Pulling Climate Funding. MA Should Make Polluters Pay.

The Donald Trump – Elon Musk administration has been unconstitutionally withdrawing funding for climate initiatives at the state and local level, and Republicans in Congress want to cut such funding in the budget. While the fight to block these cuts proceeds, here’s something that MA can do now: make sure the major polluters who caused the climate crisis start paying up to fund the solutions.

The very companies who lied to the public for decades about climate change are benefiting while all of us, especially the most vulnerable, bear the cost.

The Make Polluters Pay bill (H.1014 / S.588) would require these major polluters to pay a one-time fee based on their historic emissions to fund climate-resilient infrastructure upgrades.  

That means more money for restoring coastal wetlands; upgrading roads, bridges, subways, and transit systems; preparing for extreme weather; energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits; supporting the creation of self-sufficient clean energy microgrids; and addressing urban heat island effects through green spaces and urban forestry.

New York and Vermont have already passed such a bill. Let’s make MA next.

Can you write to your state representative and state senator in support of the Make Polluters Pay bill?

The Make Polluters Pay campaign is going to have a campaign launch this Sunday. Join 350 Mass, Mass Youth Climate Coalition, and Mass Power Forward along with lead sponsors Senator Jamie Eldridge, Representative Steve Owens, and Representative Jack Lewis to kickoff the 2025-2026 Make Polluters Pay Campaign! RSVP here.

Progressive Mass Virtual Awards Night 2025

Progressive Mass Virtual Awards Night 2025
Sunday, April 27th
7-8:30pm
(Zoom link upon RSVP)

Come celebrate the great achievements and contributions of progressive leaders from across the state and be inspired for the work ahead as we all push the progressive movement forward.

We are thrilled to present our Progressive Leadership Award to these dedicated leaders: 

  • African American Coalition Committee (AACC)
  • Emily Anesta, Bay State Birth Coalition 
  • Tanya Neslusan, MassEquality
  • Kelly Turley, Mass Coalition for the Homeless, and Andrea Park, MLRI
  • Mass Power Forward Coalition

Tickets are $35.

Join the Host Committee! Levels begin at $250.

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

“We are the safest major city in the nation because we are safe for everyone.”

Earlier today, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, in her opening remarks defending Boston’s Trust Act to the US House Oversight Committee, explained, “We are the safest major city in the nation because we are safe for everyone.”

During the hearing, Mayor Wu and three other mayors had to withstand the racist, intellectually dishonest attacks from House Republicans but made clear that protecting the rights of our immigrant communities makes us safer.

Cities like Boston and countless others across the Commonwealth have passed ordinances to make clear that local law enforcement do not work for ICE and should not do the work of federal immigration enforcement. But we need to enshrine local best practice into state law and strengthen the protections for our immigrant communities against the threats from the Trump administration.

That’s why it’s essential for your state legislators to co-sponsor critical legislation this session in support of immigrants’ rights:

  • Safe Communities Act, which would end the voluntary involvement of our public safety officials in civil immigration matters
  • Dignity Not Deportations Act, which would prohibit sheriffs from voluntarily renting beds to ICE and ban agreements to deputize state and local law enforcement to ICE
  • Immigrant Legal Defense Act, which would ensure that immigrants navigating our complex immigration courts have legal representation

Can you write to your state representative and state senator in support of these key bills?