Legislative Agenda
2023-2024
Since our founding, Progressive Mass has been motivated by the idea that we all do better when we all do better. It’s the heart of our Progressive Platform.
It’s been made clear by the pandemic: that our health is intertwined, and that the road to a robust recovery depends on the investments we make in the public good.
And it’s true across issues.
We all do better when we all have access to high-quality universal public goods and when we invest in the foundations of thriving communities.
We all do better when our legal systems deliver on the promise of liberty and justice for all.
We all do better when our built environment ensures that we can breathe clean air and when we invest in a green economy.
And we all do better when we can all participate in our democracy to the fullest.
Our Shared Prosperity Agenda
Endorsed
Protecting the Fair Share Victory
Statutory Protections for FSA Revenue (S.1865 / H.2908)
Title: An Act to protect the intent of the Fair Share Amendment
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jason Lewis; Rep. Jim O’Day
Description: Prevents Fair Share revenue from being diverted to tax giveaways or reserves, so it is available for spending on transportation and education as voters intended
Preventing FSA Tax Evasion (S.1866 / H.2909)
Title: An Act preventing high-income tax avoidance
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jason Lewis; Rep. Jim O’Day
Description: Prevents tax avoidance of the Fair Share Amendment by requiring, as many other states do, couples who file jointly at the federal level to file jointly at the state level as well
Progressive Tax Reform
Fiscally Responsible Estate Tax Reform (S.1845 & S.1784/ H.2960)
Title: An Act relative to estate tax reform; An Act relative to the estate tax; An Act to raise estate tax threshold to $2M and eliminate cliff
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Julian Cyr; Sen. Pat Jehlen; Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven
Description: Preserves most of the revenue-generation, inequality-reduction, and fairness benefits of the estate tax, while eliminating the current cliff effect
Full Text: S.1784 & S.1845 & H.2960
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A Targeted Charitable Deduction (S.1801 / H.2964)
Title: An Act to reform the charitable deduction
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jamie Eldridge; Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven
Description: Makes the charitable deduction more targeted by limiting it to individuals who are not already getting such a deduction on their federal taxes
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Corporate Tax Disclosure (S.1875 / H.2725)
Title: An Act to require public disclosures by publicly-traded corporate taxpayers
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Liz Miranda; Rep. Pete Capano
Description: Makes publicly accessible reports that are already filed annually by publicly-traded corporations, detailing their sales, profits, taxable income, and taxes paid
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Taxing offshored “GILTI” income (S.1925 / H.2708)
Title: An Act to close corporate tax loopholes and create progressive revenue
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Becca Rausch; Rep. Christine Barber & Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven
Description: Taxes, as other states and the federal government do, a portion of the profits that multinational corporations who do business in MA shift to offshore tax havens
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Increasing the Corporate Tax Rate (S.1788 / H.2856)
Title: An Act relative to restoring corporate tax rates
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Sal DiDomenico; Rep. Mary Keefe
Description: Restores the tax on corporate profits to 9.5%, where it was before 2009, from the existing 8.0% rate
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Tiered Corporate Minimum Tax (S.1835 / H.2743)
Title: An Act establishing a tiered corporate minimum tax
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Adam Gomez; Rep. Mike Connolly
Description: Ensures that larger corporations pay a minimum corporate tax bill in proportion to the size of their business in MA, while small businesses continue paying the current corporate minimum tax of just $456 per year
Raising the Minimum Wage (S.1200 / H.1925)
Title: An Act relative to raise the minimum wage closer to a living wage in the Commonwealth & An Act relative to the minimum wage
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jason Lewis; Rep. Tram Nguyen & Dan. Donahue
Description: Raises the minimum wage to $20 per hour over four years and indexes it to inflation to better align the minimum age with a living wage
Common Start (S.301 / H.489)
Title: An Act providing affordable and accessible high-quality early education and care to promote child development and well-being and support the economy in the Commonwealth
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jason Lewis & Sen. Susan Moran; Rep. Ken Gordon & Rep. Adrian Madaro
Description: Establishes a framework for delivering increased access to affordable, high-quality early education and child care with greater investment in providers, better pay for workers, and a cap on costs for families
Thrive Act (S.246 / H.495)
Title: An act empowering students and schools to thrive
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jo Comerford, Sen. Liz Miranda, & Sen. Adam Gomez; Rep. Jim Hawkins & Rep. Sam Montaño
Description: Creates a better system of assessment, support, accountability, and improvement that considers the whole child, and focuses on giving students and educators the tools and resources they need to succeed and thrive, replacing the harmful and failed state takeover policy
CHERISH Act (S.816 / H.1260)
Title: An Act committing to higher education the resources to insure a strong and healthy public higher education system
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jo Comerford; Rep. Sean Garballey & Rep. Pat Duffy
Description: Creates a framework for adequate funding levels for public higher education, including increased student support and better pay and benefits for faculty and staff; implements a debt-free college plan; and creates a plan for green and healthy buildings on campus
Real Estate Transfer Fee (S.1771 / H.2747)
Title: An Act granting a local option for a real estate transfer fee to fund affordable housing
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jo Comerford; Rep.Mike Connolly
Description: Enables cities and towns to assess a fee of 0.5-2% on residential and commercial real estate transactions, with the funds allocated to affordable housing trust funds
HERO Bill (S.1799 / H.2894)
Title: An Act providing for climate change adaptation infrastructure and affordable housing investments in the commonwealth
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jamie Eldridge; Rep. Sam Montaño
Description: Increases the deeds excise tax on home sales to provide a funding stream for the Global Warming Solutions Fund, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and the Housing Preservation and Stabilization Fund
Yes in My Backyard Bill (S.858 / H.1379)
Title: An Act to promote yes in my back yard
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Brendan Crighton; Rep. Andy Vargas & Rep. Kevin Honan
Description: Sets a statewide housing production goal, allows multi-family housing to be built near public transportation, makes it easier for municipalities to pass inclusionary zoning ordinances, allows accessory dwelling units to be built as-of-right, and promotes the use of vacant commercial properties and empty state-owned properties for housing
- An Act preventing high-income tax avoidance (Lewis - O'Day)
- Prevents tax avoidance of the Fair Share Amendment by requiring, as many other states do, couples who file jointly at the federal level to file jointly at the state level as well, as many other states do
- An Act relative to estate tax reform (Cyr - Uyterhoeven); An Act relative to the estate tax (Jehlen)
- Preserves most of the revenue-generation, inequality-reduction, and fairness benefits of the estate tax, while eliminating the current cliff effect
- An Act to close corporate tax loopholes and create progressive revenue (Rausch - Barber/Uyterhoeven)
- Taxes, as other states and the federal government do, a portion of the profits that multinational corporations who do business in MA shift to offshore tax havens
- An Act establishing a tiered corporate minimum tax (Gomez - Connolly)
- Ensures that larger corporations pay a minimum corporate tax bill in proportion to the size of their business in MA, while small businesses continue paying the current corporate minimum tax of just $456 per year
Ensuring Livable Wages for All
- An Act relative to raise the minimum wage closer to a living wage in the Commonwealth (Lewis) / An Act relative to the minimum wage (Nguyen/Donahue)
- Raises the minimum wage to $20 per hour over four years and indexes it to inflation to better align the minimum age with a living wage
- Learn More & Take Action
A High-Quality Education for All
- An Act providing affordable and accessible high-quality early education and care to promote child development and well-being and support the economy in the Commonwealth (Lewis / Moran - Gordon/Madaro)
- Establishes a framework for delivering increased access to affordable, high-quality early education and child care with greater investment in providers, better pay for workers, and a cap on costs for families
- Learn More & Take Action
- An act empowering students and schools to thrive (Comerford/ Miranda/Gomez - Hawkins/Montaño
- Creates a better system of assessment, support, accountability, and improvement that considers the whole child, and focuses on giving students and educators the tools and resources they need to succeed and thrive, replacing the harmful and failed state takeover policy
- Learn More & Take Action
- An Act committing to higher education the resources to insure a strong and healthy public higher education system (Comerford/R. Kennedy/Mark/Oliveira - Garballey/Duffy)
- Creates a framework for adequate funding levels for public higher education, including increased student support and better pay and benefits for faculty and staff; implements a debt-free college plan; and creates a plan for green and healthy buildings on campus
- Learn More & Take Action
Housing for All
- An Act granting a local option for a real estate transfer fee to fund affordable housing (Comerford - Connolly)
- Enables cities and towns to assess a fee of 0.5-2% on residential and commercial real estate transactions, with the funds allocated to affordable housing trust funds
- Learn More & Take Action
- An Act providing for climate change adaptation infrastructure and affordable housing investments in the commonwealth (Eldridge - Montaño)
- Increases the deeds excise tax on home sales to provide a funding stream for the Global Warming Solutions Fund, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and the Housing Preservation and Stabilization Fund
- Learn More & Take Action
- An Act to promote yes in my back yard (Crighton - Vargas/Honan)
- Sets a statewide housing production goal, allows multi-family housing to be built near public transportation, makes it easier for municipalities to pass inclusionary zoning ordinances, allows accessory dwelling units to be built as-of-right, and promotes the use of vacant commercial properties and empty state-owned properties for housing
- Learn More & Take Action
PILOT Reform (S.1836 / H.2963)
Title: An Act relative to payments in lieu of taxation by organizations exempt from the property tax
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Adam Gomez; Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven
Description: Enables cities and towns with nonprofits owning total property valued at or above $15 million to require them to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) equal to 25% what they would have owed without the exemption
Pay Equity (S.1181 / H.1940)
Title: An Act relative to transparency in the workplace
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Paul Feeney & Sen. Liz Miranda; Rep. Dave Rogers & Rep. Christine Barber
Description: Requires employers to publicly report their wage data, providing information essential to measuring our progress toward racial and gender wage equity in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Pay Range Disclosure (S.1191 / H.1849)
One Fair Wage (S.1188 / H.1872)
State House Staff Collective Bargaining (S.2014 / H.3069)
Public Bank (S.632 / H.975)
Title: An Act to establish a Massachusetts public bank
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jamie Eldridge; Rep. Mike Connolly & Rep. Tony Cabral
Description: Creates a public bank that would be able to offer lower-interest loans to local governments financing infrastructure projects, small-and medium-sized businesses (especially those facing barriers to capital, MWBEs, those in rural communities, and coops), and farmers
Medicare for All (S.744 / H.1239)
Full-Spectrum Pregnancy Care (S.646 / H.1137)
Title: An Act Ensuring Access to Full Spectrum Pregnancy Care
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Cindy Friedman; Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa & Rep. Ruth Balser
Description: Requires health insurance plans to cover all pregnancy care—including abortion, prenatal care, childbirth, and postpartum care—without any kind of cost-sharing
Birthing Justice (S.1415)
Title: An Act relative to birthing justice in the Commonwealth
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Liz Miranda
Description: Introduces a framework to improve maternal health outcomes and advance recommendations from the Special Commission on Racial Inequities in Maternal Health
Full Text: S.1415
Community Immunity Act (S.1458 / H.2151)
Title: An Act promoting community immunity
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Becca Rausch; Rep. Paul Donato
Description: Creates statewide consistent immunization policy and provides residents throughout the Commonwealth the data necessary to prevent future outbreaks of vaccine-preventable infectious disease
Overdose Prevention Centers (S.1242 / H.1981)
Title: An Act relative to preventing overdose deaths and increasing access to treatment
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Julian Cyr; Rep. Dylan Fernandes & Rep. Marjorie Decker
Description: Creates a ten-year pilot programs for overdose prevention centers that use harm reduction strategies to address the opioid crisis
Universal School Meals (S.261 / H.603)
CARES Act (S.288 / H.542)
Title: An Act to promote racially inclusive curriculum in schools
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Adam Gomez; Rep. Tram Nguyen & Rep. Steve Ultrino
Description: Requires public schools to have racially inclusive curricula and creates a Racially Inclusive Curriculum Trust Fund to support such work
Educator Diversity Act (S.311 / H.549)
Title: An Act relative to educator diversity
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jason Lewis; Rep. Alice Peisch
Description: Provides the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and local districts the policy tools needed to achieve the stated goal of increasing the percentage of diverse educators from 8% to 25% by 2030 while addressing some of the most pertinent barriers for educators of color
Debt-Free Public Higher Ed (S.823 / H.1265)
Title: An Act relative to debt-free public higher education
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Jamie Eldridge; Rep. Natalie Higgins & Rep. Carmine Gentile
Description: Creates a higher education system where every Massachusetts resident has a right to attend any public college or university free of tuition and fees
Tuition Equity (S.836 / H.1281)
Title: An Act providing access to higher education for high school graduates in the Commonwealth
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Liz Miranda; Rep. Mike Moran & Rep. Adrian Madaro
Description: Ensures that all MA high school graduates, regardless of immigration status, have access to in-state tuition rates
Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (S.880 / H.1350)
Title: An Act to guarantee a tenant’s first right of refusal
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Pat Jehlen; Rep. Jay Livingstone & Rep. Rob Consalvo
Description: Provides tenants of small, medium, and large multifamily properties with right of first refusal when the owner plans to put a building on the market, provided that they can make a bona fide offer to match the asking price in a reasonable period of time
Rent Stabilization (S.1299 / H.2103) & (S.872 / H.1304)
Title: An Act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents and protect tenants & An Act enabling local options for tenant protections
Lead Sponsors: Sen. Pat Jehlen; Rep. Dave Rogers & Rep. Sam Montaño — Sen. Jamie Eldridge; Rep. Mike Connolly
Description: Enable municipalities to pass rent stabilization ordinances to fight displacement
Full Text: S.1299 / H.2103 & S.872 / H.1304
Access to Counsel (S.864 / H.1731)
- An Act relative to payments in lieu of taxation by organizations exempt from the property tax (Gomez - Uyterhoeven)
- Enables cities and towns with nonprofits owning total property valued at or above $15 million to require them to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) equal to 25% what they would have owed without the exemption
- An Act relative to transparency in the workplace (Feeney/Miranda - D. Rogers/Barber)
- Requires employers to publicly report their wage data, providing information essential to measuring our progress toward racial and gender wage equity in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- An Act to prevent wage theft, promote employer accountability, and enhance public enforcement (DiDomenico - Donahue)
- Provides AG's office with additional mechanisms for enforcing the Commonwealth's wage and hour laws and subjects lead contractors to joint and several civil liability if their subcontractors commit wage theft
- An Act to establish a Massachusetts public bank (Eldridge - Connolly)
- Creates a public bank that would be able to offer lower-interest loans to local governments financing infrastructure projects, small-and medium-sized businesses (especially those facing barriers to capital, MWBEs, those in rural communities, and coops), and farmers
Maternal Health (S.1415)
- An Act relative to birthing justice in the Commonwealth (Miranda)
- Introduces a framework to improve maternal health outcomes and advance recommendations from the Special Commission on Racial Inequities in Maternal Health
- An Act relative to educator diversity (Lewis - Peisch)
- Provides the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and local districts the policy tools needed to achieve the stated goal of increasing the percentage of diverse educators from 8% to 25% by 2030 while addressing some of the most pertinent barriers for educators of color
- An Act to support educational opportunity for all (Gomez - Higgins/Barber)
- Imposes an excise tax on university endowments greater than $1 billion to create a fund subsidizing the cost of higher education, early education and child care for lower-income and middle-class residents of the commonwealth
- An Act to guarantee a tenant’s first right of refusal (Jehlen - Livingstone/Consalvo)
- Provides tenants of small, medium, and large multifamily properties with right of first refusal when the owner plans to put a building on the market, provided that they can make a bona fide offer to match the asking price in a reasonable period of time
- An Act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents and protect tenants (Jehlen - D. Rogers/Montaño) & An Act enabling local options for tenant protections (Eldridge - Connolly)
- Enable municipalities to pass rent stabilization ordinances to fight displacement
- An Act to secure housing for returning citizens (Gomez - Montaño)
- Would allow the Department of Housing and Community Development to provide programs, policies, guidelines, priorities, and preferences for the housing of formerly incarcerated persons reentering communities
- An Act providing upstream homelessness prevention assistance to families, youth, and adults (Crighton - Decker)
- Would protect all low-income state residents from eviction by codifying and streamlining access to DHCD’s homelessness prevention program, Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT), and restoring critical COVID-era protections