Press Release: 8/19/2025

Your Advocacy in Review: 2025 State Legislative Recap by the Numbers

 

By KaterinaAugust 18, 2025

The Massachusetts state legislature is currently on August recess. As we continue to prepare for what will be a busy fall, we thought we would take advantage of this brief pause to recap what has happened so far this session.

• Nearly 6,000 Action Alert Responses: YOU are our best advocates. Since January alone, over 4,000 of you have completed at least one action alert. This is advocacy in action! If you haven’t already signed up for our action alerts, please do so and please spread the word in your community.


• 14 Priority Bills and 15 Endorsed Bills: As a reminder, you can see our entire bill platform here, including fact sheets, summaries, and links to track the progress of each bill.


• Nine Priority Bill Committee Hearings:
  
  
  
  • At this point, over half of our priority bills have been heard before a Committee. Of those, six have advanced to the next Committee (Ways & Means, in most cases). The rest of the hearings will likely be scheduled in the fall.
  
  
  • If there are particular bills that you are interested in advocating for, this is a great time to let us know. Email Nora at nbent@arcmass.org.
  
  
  
  


• Two Bills Passed the Senate: Two of our priority bills – the blue envelope bill and the archaic language bill – passed the Senate unanimously. They are now moving to the House, where we are actively working with our sponsors and leadership for movement early this fall.


• One Bill Signed into Law! A bill on our platform that we worked on with Massachusetts Advocates for Children passed the legislature and was signed into law by the Governor. This bill codifies critical education protections into state law for students with disabilities and immigrant students, protecting their right to an education regardless of what happens in DC. The bill also includes critical provisions around interpretation services for IEP meetings.

We are about 3/4 of the way through the first year of a two-year legislative session. While we have much work ahead of us to advance our agenda, we’re heading into the critical fall period in great shape.

That’s in large part thanks to you: your advocacy, particularly in this uncertain time, makes a difference. Keep it up! Reach out with questions or for support to nbent@arcmass.org.