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107th RAM ANNUAL MEETING & RAMAE LUNCHEON
Wednesday, November 19th, 2025
The Conference Center at Bentley University, Waltham
Sarah Iselin, President & CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield
RAM's 107th Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 19th, at The Conference Center at Bentley University. The Board of Directors meeting begins promptly at 9:00 AM, and all RAM members are welcome to attend. Immediately following the board meeting, members are encouraged to stay and join us at the annual RAM Awards of Excellence (RAMAE) luncheon at 12:00 pm, where we will recognize outstanding local businesses in retail in 2025. Sarah Iselin, CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts will be our keynote speaker. We will also have a special guest speaker, Secretary of Economic Development, Eric Paley, will bring greetings from the Healey/Driscoll Administration, and will outline plans to study the economic competitiveness of the Commonwealth.
Legislative Update from Recent RAM Newsletter
MA EPR Commission continues to meet & work through product categories
The MA Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Commission continues to meet and make its way through the various product categories directed for study by its enabling statute. The Commission is charged with making policy recommendations on specific EPR approaches and other strategies for products and packaging categories including paint, mattresses, electronics, lithium-ion batteries, plastics and other packaging.
RAM’s Senior Vice President, Bill Rennie, serves as a commissioner on the panel, representing the retail industry.
To date, the Commission has held three full commission meetings and four Advisory Group meetings, with the advisory meetings taking a deeper dive on the topics of electronics and packaging. The Commission sent its first official policy recommendation to the Legislature in June, recommending “that the Massachusetts Legislature enact legislation on or before July 31, 2026 establishing an extended producer responsibility program for paint.” Rennie was the lone “NO” vote against the paint recommendation, arguing that the paint proposal is not a true EPR plan, as it is 100% financed by the consumer.
Upcoming full Commission meetings in September and October will review the product categories of electronics (e-waste) and packaging.
For updates on Additional Leave Mandates, "The Fashion Act" and Omnibus Plastics bill
2025 Holiday Sales Prediction Survey
The holiday season is fast approaching and your association is looked to each year to predict the year's holiday sales. We need your feedback in order to properly create our prediction.
Click here to answer a few questions about what you expect from this year's holiday season. Thank you in advance for your feedback.
RAM IN THE NEWS:
Boston Globe Op-Eds:
Click image to read new blog on healthcare costs.
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View Survey Results
RAMHIC Offerings for 2025
RAMHIC continues to partner with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to offer members access to the carrier's entire portfolio of high quality, small group health insurance plans.
All members purchasing their health insurance coverage through the cooperative will also receive an expanded list of ancillary benefits, FREE of charge.
Click image above to view a BCBS produced informational video on the power of the RAM/BCBS Cooperative.
Please see our brochure for more detail on the expanded benefit package. Specific information regarding each benefit may be found below:
For more information please visit the RAMHIC page of our website.
As FY26 State Budget becomes law, Gov. Healey suggests further study of proposed Secure Choice Retirement Program
When Gov. Healey signed the FY26 State Budget into law earlier this summer, she proposed a further study of the Legislature’s proposal to create a new Secure Choice Retirement Program. That program, modeled after existing programs in a growing number of states, would mandate that employers with more than 25 employees – who do not already offer a retirement savings program, such as a 401K or a SEP – must automatically enroll employees and facilitate payroll deductions into the Secure Choice Savings Fund:
(3) Employers shall retain the option at all times to set up any type of employer- sponsored retirement plan, including, but not limited to, a defined benefit plan, a 401(k), a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) plan or a Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) plan, instead of having a payroll deposit retirement savings arrangement to allow employee participation in the program.
Other provisions in the proposal state that employees can choose to opt-out of the program entirely. Employers are not required to make any financial contributions at all and can choose to establish an employer-sponsored retirement program at any time. If employers fail to enroll employees, they face fines of $250 per employee per year, and $500 per employee per year after the first penalty – a fine structure similar to other states with the same program.
RAM appreciates the Governor’s action in sending the proposal back to the Legislature for further study, giving employers additional time to weigh in with questions and concerns. The Legislature has yet to take up the Governor’s amendment.
Written Testimony of Jon Hurst, President & CEO
Before the Division of Insurance
Re: 2026 Merged Market Filed Health Insurance Rates
June 17, 2025
New We Card In-Store Campaign Addresses Adult Purchases for Those Underage
Order your FREE We Card Kit to start raising awareness of adults’ role in social sourcing. As a retailer this is your opportunity to take action to address this issue.
Join the tens of thousands of retailers who are helping to prevent and discourage adult purchases of tobacco and vaping products on behalf of underage people.
We Card’s new program targets “social sourcing,” or adult purchases of tobacco and vaping products on behalf of minors. After field testing, We Card is rolling out the national in-store campaign to raise awareness of the “social access” problem and is introducing this program to the nation’s retailers at no cost.
Click here to read more.
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