Meeting the moment: Pass the MEA before July 31

From the Beacon, June 2026

If you walk into any town or city hall across our 351 municipalities right now, you will hear a version of the same story: Local leaders are facing a perfect storm of mounting fiscal pressures, workforce shortages, and outdated administrative hurdles that eat up precious hours and tax dollars. Local leaders are not operating in a stable “new normal”; they are actively managing communities through a period of historic upheaval.

To meet this moment, local governments need modern tools. They need flexibility. They need the Legislature to pass the Municipal Empowerment Act before the formal session concludes on July 31.

Originally filed by the Healey-Driscoll administration after consultation with the MMA and local leaders, the bulk of this wide-ranging bill is currently sitting with the House Committee on Ways and Means. While proposed local-option revenue expansions were recently sent to study, the remaining portions of the bill hold critical lifelines. With less than two months remaining in the legislative session, the time to convert these common-sense proposals into law is right now.

Passing this package matters immensely for our communities for several fundamental reasons:

First, cities and towns will benefit greatly by codifying operational efficiency. For example, for the past several years, cities and towns have relied on temporary extensions to offer remote and hybrid options for public meetings. These flexibilities have fundamentally transformed local democracy; the Municipal Empowerment Act would make these popular flexibilities permanent.

Further, the MEA would make critical procurement reforms under Chapter 30B, raising the advertised procurement threshold to $100,000 for all municipal purchases (to match schools), and streamlining cooperative purchasing agreements. While these might not be considered flashy policy debates — they are critical modernizations that prevent local projects from getting bogged down in costly red tape.

The bill would also extend the borrowing term cap for municipal building projects from 30 years to 40, to better reflect the life expectancy of municipal infrastructure while lowering annual debt impacts.

The MEA would also help ease the municipal workforce crisis. From assessors to public works crews, cities and towns are struggling to compete with the private sector for talent. The MEA takes aim at this by introducing temporary flexibilities for post-retirement municipal employment to fill critical shortages, and allowing for the creation of regional boards of assessors to pool resources and reduce staffing strain.

Finally, the MEA would at long last put some teeth in the often-ignored requirement that utilities remove doubled-up poles in a timely manner. It would establish a civil penalty mechanism to ensure accountability for the safety and aesthetic hazards that have been left on our streets.

The House and Senate have a packed calendar between now and July 31, and even priority issues are at risk of getting squeezed out in the final hours of the session. We cannot let that happen.

I am asking every mayor, select board member, town manager, and city councillor to reach out to your legislative delegation this week. Let them know how much an extra 10 years on a building loan would help your capital plan. Tell them how much time your staff would save as a result of modernized procurement rules.

The Municipal Empowerment Act is precisely the kind of state-local partnership Massachusetts needs to build communities where people want to live, work and stay. Let’s make sure our lawmakers cross the finish line with us.