TL;DR: Email your state legislators and tell them to come back in person to protect MA from the coming Trump Administration.

If you follow the State House, you may have heard July 31st described as the end of the formal legislative session. Your legislators may have told you that if something doesn’t happen by the end of July, it’s not happening until next year. Bills have to wait until next January to rise from the ashes like a phoenix, to be filed again, assigned to a committee again, have a hearing again, etc.

But here's a secret about the rules of the Massachusetts State House: they’re not real.

Well, yes, the rules exist. But the rules exist only at the discretion of the legislators themselves. They can change them at any time, and they do.

We have already seen that this fall.

The House and Senate didn’t finish negotiations on climate legislation before July 31. They came back into session to pass their final deal (it’s a solid bill -- read more about it here).

They also came back into session to pass an economic development bill (read about it here).  

With the upcoming threat of the second Trump presidency, Beacon Hill shouldn’t come back into session only to finish old business. They need to be proactive about protecting the Commonwealth from the next four years.

We know that the Trump administration, already filled with Project 2025 architects, is planning an all-out assault on immigrants, reproductive rights, the LGBTQ community, workers’ rights, the environment, and so much more. There’s no question about that.

But there is a question about what your state legislators will do. Will they insist on waiting months into next year to take necessary action? Or will they be proactive?

Write to your state legislators to tell them there’s no excuse for waiting.