Happy September to everyone but the Massachusetts Legislature!

The Legislature ended formal sessions at the end of July without finishing critical work on several major bills, leaving voters who headed to the polls without knowing where their lawmakers ultimately stand on some of the biggest decisions of the session. Rather than resolving those fights before leaving Beacon Hill, lawmakers have given themselves until January 2027 to finish the job, including negotiations over energy affordability.

As we wrote earlier this summer, the House and Senate took different approaches to energy affordability but failed to agree on a final package before formal sessions ended. Now, a six-member Conference Committee is negotiating behind closed doors what makes it to the final bill including important provisions on Mass Save, billions in gas infrastructure spending, utility accountability, consumer protections, data center safeguards, and Massachusetts’ clean energy future. 

How we’ve been taking action

Throughout the summer, 350 Mass members and our coalition partners showed up to the statehouse repeatedly to push lawmakers to keep the strongest provisions from both the House and Senate Energy bills and deliver meaningful progress to the Commonwealth. On July 27, 350 Mass joined Mass Power Forward in sending a letter to Conference Committee members laying out our priorities for the final bill. Just days later, 350 Mass members joined allies from labor, housing, immigration, trans rights, climate, and other progressive movements at the State House for the Legislative Report Card Action, where we rallied and brought our demands directly to legislators.

We’re continuing to push lawmakers 

• Protect Mass Save while maintaining a commitment to equity and accessibility.

• Phase out unnecessary gas infrastructure spending through the Gas System Enhancement Program (GSEP).

• Stop utilities from using ratepayer money for lobbying and political expenses.

• Strengthen data center, consumer, and climate protections in the final bill.

Read our latest letter to the Conference Committee here.

Where things stand

There is still no confirmed timeline for a final agreement. The Conference Committee negotiations could pick up negotiations again in September, with some indication lawmakers hope to reach an agreement this fall.

This week Massachusetts held Primary elections and voters deserved answers before they entered the voting booth.

Lawmakers left Beacon Hill without finishing some of the most consequential decisions of the session. That means voters are being asked to evaluate their representatives and senators without a complete record of where they ultimately stand on major questions affecting energy bills, fossil fuel infrastructure, utility accountability, and climate action.

When legislators delay consequential votes and decisions until after an election, voters lose an important opportunity to hold them accountable at the ballot box.

After a summer of extreme heat and continued concerns about energy affordability, Massachusetts residents deserve to know: Who is fighting to lower costs? Who is standing up to utilities and fossil fuel interests? Who is fighting for climate justice, and what will they actually vote for when it counts? Voters were forced to go to the polls without all of those answers.

What happens next? As the election calendar keeps moving, so will we.

We’ll continue tracking these closed-door negotiations and working with our coalition partners to identify opportunities for 350 Mass members to weigh in. We’ll also keep pushing for the transparency and accountability that constituents deserve from the people elected to represent them.

If you want a deeper dive into how we got here, read the June breakdown of the Senate Energy Bill, including the fight over Mass Save, GSEP, utility profiteering, data centers, and other key provisions now being negotiated in Conference Committee.

The bill isn’t finished, which means neither is our fight.