When the Legislature Fails: Tales from the Field of Super Blue Massachusetts

This week marks the end of the Massachusetts 2025-2026 formal legislative session.

As one of only ten states that has a year-round legislature, Massachusetts is in a unique place where its legislators can serve full-time in their roles. They receive an annual salary of $82,000 and receive an additional sum based on committee and leadership assignments. It's not uncommon to see a pipeline of leadership develop. Staffers for state representatives often run for the position if their representative moves on. Representatives frequently run for state senate when that seat opens. And in the rare instance when one of our nine congressional seats opens up, there is a rush of both locally elected officials and sitting members of the legislature to pursue the position. Taking all this together, you'd expect the Massachusetts state legislature to be a formidable, well-oiled machine.

But it is not. 

Not even close. Despite having an overwhelming supermajority in both the State House and the State Senate, Massachusetts state government moves at a glacial pace. This happens because the 160 state representatives and 40 state senators are part of a system where House and Senate leadership have an overinflated influence on the legislative process. Rather than hammering home countless progressive bills, the Massachusetts legislature is essentially held hostage by the Speaker of the House and Senate President, who serve as gatekeepers for any and all legislation. At the start of each session, there are anywhere between 7,000 and 8,000 bills filed for consideration. These bills get assigned to committees, and each joint standing committee is required to hold a public hearing discussing these bills, normally occurring during the first year of the session. Smaller bills are often attached to an annual appropriations bill, similar to what we see in Congress, but it is the bigger, standalone bills that run into what has become the biggest problem with Massachusetts state government:

Gatekeepers. 

Specifically, the House Speaker and Senate President. Ideally, in a state with a Democratic supermajority, you'd expect there to be countless bills written into law that demonstrate the power of progressivism. You'd expect this state to be a national leader in climate, healthcare, education, civil rights, housing, women's rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, immigrant rights, and any other issue that the national party prioritizes. And while Massachusetts frequently ranks high in several of these categories, so much more is left on the table. It's not because advocates aren't doing their job. It's not because constituents aren't reaching out to their elected officials. It's because the two gatekeepers are the only ones allowing legislation to go through committees and finally onto the floor for a full-body vote. What they say goes, and the other 198 legislators simply have to live with their decisions.

This leads to an incredibly opaque process, as we'll come to see this week. Deals are made behind closed doors among high-ranking party officials. Negotiations will be made. What advances out of the Ways and Means Committee and onto the floor for a full-body vote this week won't be the most pressing issues facing Massachusetts residents. Instead, it will be a couple of high-profile issues along with several pet projects that are important to those either in or close to House and Senate leadership positions. This past week, the state legislature approved a bill that loosens abortion restrictions after 24 weeks. While this is a win for women, this is an issue that only impacts a few dozen women, who would have been forced to seek out-of-state care had the bill not passed. Meanwhile, there is currently a bill on rent control that amassed over 157,000 signatures in an effort to overturn a statewide ban and simply allow municipalities to enact a local option if they see fit. That bill is currently floating in Ways and Means and is unlikely to be brought forward barring some 11th-hour miracle.

The challenge becomes: how do we, as organizers, overcome this gridlock? 

While the useless idiots on the far-left are chanting to burn the whole system down, we know that is not an option. We need our Democratic supermajorities. We also need our state government to be without term limits. Always a talking point on the far-left, the idea of term limits always surfaces anytime there is political gridlock. But what the far-left doesn't realize is that term limits themselves are limiting. It takes time to get good at your job, and politics is no exception. You need at least two cycles to understand the ins and outs of state government. You need time to build relationships, both inside and outside of the building. You also need a pipeline of Democratic leadership so that when positions do open up, you have qualified individuals who can step in without a huge learning curve. The poster child for how and why term limits are ineffective is the state of Florida. With only a three-month legislative session, those in state government tend to be wealthy and unrepresentative of the communities they represent. There is no pipeline to grow, and those who are termed out eventually become lobbyists rather than congressmen and women. Time and time again, proponents of term limits fail to think through the repercussions of their proposal, and they definitely will avoid mentioning Florida at all costs.

Instead, the solution rests in the hands of the people. In Massachusetts, there exists a system where citizen-led initiatives can make their way onto the ballot for a statewide vote. It is not an easy process, nor should it be. Petitions have to meet strict legal standards and then must collect nearly 87,000 signatures of registered voters during two separate collection windows, with no more than 1/4 of the signatures from any single county. Of the 44 ballot initiatives that began this session, only 11 of them hit those standards, and 9 of them survived legal challenges to remain on the ballot for November. While this record number of ballot initiatives may seem excessive to some, it is unquestionably a reflection of the people using what tools they can to overcome the obstruction created by the legislature. Topics for this year's ballot questions include same-day voter registration, collective bargaining, expanding lot sizes for single-family homes, a natural resource conservation fund, and legislative transparency, among others. As we say in the field, if our state government won't act on our behalf, we'll bring the issue directly to the voters.

I wish all this wasn't so complicated. I wish we had a system where so much power wasn't in the hands of so few. But in organizing, we play the hand we are dealt. We acknowledge the challenges we face and act accordingly. We don't wail and bemoan and threaten to burn the system down. Instead, we use the system to hold those in power accountable. While our constituents' critical issue of rent control likely won't be moving this session, our coalition of over 40 grassroots organizations knows we can return to the ballot in 2028. We know we can again hit and exceed our signature collection goal. And we know that we gave the legislature every opportunity to pass our bill this session and that next session we'll continue to have that dialogue, but we know that they had their chance. That, right there, is power. Knowing that we can circumvent the gatekeepers and bring the issue directly to the people during a presidential election year. Yes, we're moving slower than we would have wanted. But with the system we have, going to the ballot remains our best option. When the people you elect to represent you fail to do so, you have no choice but to turn to the collective power of the population. 

Democracy is messy. It's uneven. There are obvious fixes that elude those in positions of power, time and time again. The people's voices aren't always heard. Big business and corporations have an outsized influence on the process. Those elected to serve frequently serve themselves rather than their constituents. Yet at the end of the day, people continue to fight. Here at the end of our legislative session, we will have won a handful of victories. But the majority of our work remains undone. That is not just the story of our legislature but the story of America as a whole. Because our union will never be perfect. Far from it. But the work we do is designed to get us toward a more perfect union. That is to get us slightly closer to our ideal. An ideal that we know we'll never fully achieve. 

Here in the Bay State, our legislature will be leaving a lot on the table. They always do. And while our constituents will share with us their disappointment, they'll also share with us their hopes and dreams. Because that's what keeps them going. That's what keeps us going. The work is never done. Even after significant victories, there remains more to do. On even the sunniest of days, there is always a distant cloud on the horizon. That is the nature of organizing. That is the nature of politics. You fight for every inch, and when you only get a couple millimeters, you reload your measuring tape and unfurl it again as soon as you can. Our organizing for the 2028 ballot doesn't start that year. It doesn't even start at the beginning of the new legislative session in January. It starts this year, on August 1st, when the legislature, for all intents and purposes, throws in the towel. While they're on vacation, we'll be mobilizing our base to build up for the work ahead. While they're campaigning for reelection, we'll be registering new voters. The state legislature may be satisfied with its work, but the vast majority of us in the field are once again disappointed. Turning that disappointment into action is where we must go. 

And in doing so, we create hope that better things are ahead in the legislative session to come.