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47 Ballot Questions Filed for Consideration:
Long list includes numerous tax cuts, Cannabis repeal, and more…
Forty-seven initiative petitions were filed on Wednesday, August 6 with Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office, officially kicking off the process to place questions before the voters in November 2026. Forty-two of the petitions propose new laws to be considered on the 2026 ballot, while five are proposed amendments to the state constitution, which could not be considered until 2028. All of the petitions are available for review here.
Among the questions filed were separate proposals to:
- Reduce the sales tax to 5%
- Reduce the personal income tax to 4%
- Phase out the gas tax by 2036
- Change the formula used to calculate potential tax rebates to be triggered under Chapter 62F
- Cap property tax increases
- Repeal the laws allowing for the legal sale of Cannabis
- Establish tax credits for the purchase of EVs, heat pumps, and solar home heating
- Prohibit driverless cars
- Strengthen the Commonwealth’s laws relative to retail theft by lowering the felony threshold and allowing for aggregation of multiple offenses
- To allow ratepayers to opt-out of added gas and electricity charges unrelated to the cost of the delivery of energy (such as mandated energy efficiency charges)
- And more…
Click here to keep reading this article.
Click here to read guest column in latest Retail Review by RAM President and CEO Avalanche of Ballot Questions Shows Costs Are Top Public Policy Issue.
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.
To continue reading, about Additional Leave Mandates, "The Fashion Act" and Omnibus Plastics bill:
RAM IN THE NEWS:
Boston Globe Op-Eds:
Click image to read new blog on healthcare costs.
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View Survey Results
Submit your nominations for a RAMAE today!
You could be one of this year's recipients of a Retailers Association of Massachusetts Awards of Excellence (RAMAE). Each year RAM looks to identify the hidden and not so hidden retail gems from all corners of the Commonwealth.
Submit a nomination for your business. There is no limit to the number of businesses you can nominate. So nominate your business and all those you love as well.
There are so many incredible retail stores and restaurants in MA who could be deserving of this recognition.
Help us find our 2025 winners!
The winners will be celebrated at a luncheon on November 19 in Waltham.
Click here to submit your nominations.
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 does offer our members the option to participate in the Alliance of State Retail Associations (ASRA) Multiple Employer Plan, which would qualify as an exemption from participation in the proposed state-run plan. (See ad below for more information.)
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
FY26 State Budget Negotiations Head to Conference Committee
The MA House of Representatives and the MA Senate have now each advanced their own version of the FY26 state spending plan, endorsing competing proposals with a roughly $61.4 billion price tag. A conference committee comprised of three members from each branch must now hash out the differences between the two bills and present a compromise budget to their respective branches for final adoption.
RAM applauded the House for their rejection of Governor Maura Healey’s proposed slate of tax increases. Gov. Healey had sought to remove the sales tax exemption on candy and confectionary products, making them subject to the 6.25% sales tax. She had also proposed taxing synthetic nicotine products at 210% of the wholesale cost, and proposed a “pharmacy assessment,” or a $2 per prescription tax on all scripts filled in the state. The House rejected all of these tax increase provisions, which were then off the table for possible consideration in the Senate.
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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