MASSPIRG’s 2025-2026 Legislative Agenda

MASSPIRG is an advocate for consumers, advancing solutions to problems that affect our health, our safety and our well-being.

This means being a champion for a marketplace that is not only honest and transparent, but also wastes less because it reduces, reuses and recycles more; prevents toxic threats to our health and safety; and considers the impact of new products and technologies on the next generation, not just the next quarterly earnings report. 

Each legislative session, we work on bills that advance public interest reforms, collaborating with the chief sponsors and cosponsors to promote them.  Below please find select priorities from our legislative agenda for the 2025-2026 session. 

Getting to Zero Waste

Bill Title: An Act to Expand the Bottle Bill, HD1283 & SD802, Lead Bill Sponsors: Representative Marjorie Decker and Senator Cynthia Creem

Deposits are the single most successful tactic for recycling beverage containers. But the bottle bill has not been updated since it became law 40 years ago. This bill would extend the deposit to cover water bottles, nips. vitamin drinks and other containers—the vast majority of which end up as litter or waste. It also raises the deposit from 5 to 10 cents. 

Bill Title: An Act Relative to Plastic Bag Reduction, HD3831 & SD2337, Lead Bill Sponsors: Representative Mindy Domb and Senator James Eldridge

Nothing we use for an average of 6 minutes should pollute our environment for years. Plastic bags litter our parks and open space, choke marine animals, and waste millions of gallons of petroleum, one of their main ingredients. This bill would follow the 150 + cities and towns in our state, including Boston, which have already restricted single use plastic bags. 

Bill Title: An Act to Restrict the Use of Polystyrene, HD1289 & SD1550, Lead Sponsors: Representative Marjorie Decker and Senator Michael Barrett

For decades, we’ve known that one of the worst forms of plastic pollution is polystyrene foam—better known as Styrofoam. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans throw away an estimated 25 billion polystyrene cups every year, or about 82 cups per person.  Polystyrene doesn’t degrade, is not recyclable, and as a result it clogs our landfills, litters our streets, and pollutes our environment. This bill restricts the sale and use of most single-use polystyrene containers.

Clean Water and Eliminating Toxic Threats 

Bill Title: An Act to Protect Massachusetts Public Health From PFAS, HD4087 & SD2403, Lead Bill Sponsors: Representative Kate Hogan and Senator Julian Cyr

At least 171 public water systems in 96 cities and towns, and many private wells across the Commonwealth have exceeded the state’s legal limit (Maximum Contaminant Level) for PFAS. This bill aims to clean up existing PFAS contamination and prevent future contamination by phasing out PFAS in many consumer products including food packaging, children’s products, fabric treatments, cookware, personal care products, cookware, carpets and rugs, and upholstered furniture; limiting industry discharge of PFAS in ground and surface water; and providing resources for testing and cleanup of PFAS contamination.

Bill Title: An Act Ensuring Safe Drinking Water in Schools, HD634 & SD1547, Lead Bill Sponsors: Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Senator Joan Lovely 

Lead is a potent neurotoxin that affects how our children develop, learn, and behave.  Yet, according to the Department of Environmental Protection more than 80% of the 62,000 taps tested from 1700 schools and childcare centers across Massachusetts have tested positive for lead.

This bill protects children’s health by getting the lead out of the water at all schools and childcare centers by requiring the installation of lead certified filters or water filling stations; and establishing a health-based lead level standard for schools and day care centers of 1ppb and requires the immediate shut-off of outlets with elevated levels of lead. 

Bill Title: An Act Relative to Toxic Free Kids, HD2454 & SD1507, Lead Bill Sponsors: Representative Jim Hawkins and Senator Joanne Comerford

Requires businesses that make or sell children’s products in Massachusetts to disclose toxic chemicals in those products, bans PFAS in children’s products, and establishes a process for requiring the removal of additional toxic chemicals from children’s products.

Protecting Consumers

Bill Title: An Act Relative to the Digital Right to Repair, HD3779 & SD732, Lead Bill Sponsors: Representative Adrian Madaro and Senator Michael Brady

In Massachusetts alone, we get rid of more than 8,000 cell phones every day. We should keep our electronics working and off the scrap heap, but the companies that make today’s electronics, from phones to appliances to modern tractors, actively block access to the information we need to fix them. That means more cost for consumers and more toxic electronic waste. This bill gives consumers and independent repair businesses access to the parts, tools, technical manuals, diagnostic software and firmware needed to keep electronics working.

Bill Title: An Act Relative to Clean Lighting and Appliance Efficiency Standards, HD4165, Lead Bill Sponsor: Representative Marjorie Decker

Fluorescent lights are a common sight in offices, garages, and basements—but they contain toxic mercury and use far more energy than newer alternatives. By phasing out fluorescents in favor of efficient LED bulbs, Massachusetts can avert needless health risk by eliminating 20lbs of mercury waste annually, save families and businesses $146 million annually on utility bills, and curb greenhouse gas emissions. The bill phases out the sale of most fluorescent bulbs by 2027. The bill also adopts improved efficiency standards for some appliances and shower heads resulting in annual utility savings of $66 million a year in 2040.  

Bill Title: An Act Reducing the Cost of Attending College, HD2192, Lead Bill Sponsor: Representative Mindy Domb & Representative Priscila Sousa

The cost of college textbooks and course materials have increased by 88% over the last decade. This bill lowers those high costs by establishing an Open Educational Resource Trust Fund to support the development and distribution of open educational resources for university and early college course textbooks and ancillaries. 

Bill Title: Resolve Providing for an Investigation and Study by a Special Commission Relative to the Consumer Impacts of Electronic Textbooks, HD2194, Lead Bill Sponsors: Representative Mindy Domb & Representative Priscila Sousa

This bill would establish a commission to examine the advantages and disadvantages of electronic textbooks to student consumers, the costs and limitations of resale, sharing, and renting these resources, and the ways in which electronic textbooks and their contracts for use affect consumer choice and cost. This study would provide important information about access to educational resources, consumer protection recommendations, and how to improve educational affordability. 

Bill Title: An Act Establishing the Hunger-Free Campus Initiative, HD2096 & SD1567, Lead Bill Sponsors: Representative Andres Vargas and Senator Joan Lovely

Forty-four percent of public college students in Massachusetts are food insecure. This bill creates a grant program within the Department of Higher Education to help state public colleges and universities fund programs to end food insecurity. 

Building a Better Democracy

Bill Title: An Act Establishing Same Day Registration of Voters, HD856 & SD667, Lead Bill Sponsors: Representative Carmine Gentile and Senator Cynthia Creem

This bill establishes Same Day Registration of Voters.

Bill Title: An Act to Modernize Participation in Public Meetings, HD368, Lead Bill Sponsor: Representative Antonio Cabral 

Since early 2020, the Legislature has suspended provisions of the Open Meeting Law to enable public bodies to carry out their responsibilities remotely, with virtual access and participation by members of the public. This has led to higher participation from the public and board members.  As good government practices have evolved, many public bodies have combined the best of old and new, enabling both in-person and remote attendance.

When the temporary rules expire, this bill will ensure we don’t go back to in-person meetings only under the open meeting law. Instead, this bill will provide greater access to open meetings for everyone — particularly for people with disabilities, caregiving responsibilities, and limited transportation — by allowing officials and members of the public to attend meetings in person or remotely.