Massachusetts

These 9 new laws go into effect in Mass. in 2025. Here's what they all are

Published

3 days ago

January 3, 2025

Press Room

These 9 new laws go into effect in Mass. in 2025. Here's what they all are

With the new year comes new laws that are set to take effect in Massachusetts in 2025.

Five bills were signed into law with set dates for when the new laws, signed by Gov. Maura Healey, go into effect.

Four other new laws were part of a large economic development bill Healey signed in November, covering a wide range of issues from clean energy to education. The text of this law contained an emergency preamble, which gives the governor authority to determine whether a new law should go into effect immediately.

Here are the latest changes made to Massachusetts state law.

Employers must show salary ranges in job postings

Beginning Oct. 29, 2025, Massachusetts employers with 25 or more employees must disclose salary ranges and protect an employee’s right to ask for salary ranges. This received Healey’s approval on July 31 when Healey signed the Francis Perkins Workplace Equity Act, named after the first woman to be Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Roosevelt.

The new law also prohibits employers from firing or retaliating against any employee or applicant who asks for salary ranges when applying for a job or promotion, according to state law.

Employers’ demographic wage data

Along with salary ranges, Massachusetts employers with at least 100 state-based employees must file an annual report to the state, according to the legal firm Cooley. This annual report includes workforce demographic and pay data categorized by race, ethnicity, sex, and position.

This goes into effect on Feb. 1, 2025, with the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development then publishing aggregated data in a report on its website on July 1 of each year.

Massachusetts joins 11 other states in enacting this law: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island and Washington.

Sealing eviction records

Healey signed the Affordable Homes Act on Aug. 6. Going into effect on May 5, 2025, this law allows tenants to petition the courts to seal certain eviction records that can make it difficult for renters to secure housing, according to the state’s website.

The law will also make it illegal for a consumer reporting agency to include a sealed eviction record in its reports.

Parentage equality expansions

In August, Healey signed into law an act that updates the state’s parentage laws for the first time in 40 years, according to the Governor’s Office. The Massachusetts Parentage Act provides protections for parents who use surrogacy, in-vitro fertilization and assisted reproduction, as well as for LGBTQ+ parents.

The bill also modernizes the law’s language to be more inclusive, replacing words like “paternity” for “parentage” and “child born out of wedlock” for “nonmarital child,” Healey’s office said.

“Our laws need to reflect the realities of modern families and the loving environments where children grow and flourish,” Healey said in an Aug. 9 statement. “This moment is a victory for all families in Massachusetts who deserve to be treated with dignity and to have their rights recognized and protected under the law.”

This law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.

Updates to paid family and medical leave

On Oct. 1, the Department of Family and Medical Leave announced it would update weekly benefits for paid family and medical leave in Massachusetts. The maximum weekly benefits that employees can receive are set to increase from $1,149.90 to $1,170.64 per week, according to the legal firm Fisher Phillips.

The overall paid family and medical leave contribution rate will stay at 0.88% for eligible employees working at a business with 25 employees or more, the legal firm Seyfarth said in a statement. The contribution rate for smaller employers will remain at 0.46%.

Changes go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.

Economic development for climate tech, AI and natural gas

Healey signed an economic development bill called the Mass Leads Act on Nov. 20. Its goal is to promote the development and use of clean energy across the state, with improvements to energy affordability, expand access to electric vehicles, and “facilitate the application of artificial intelligence across the state’s ecosystem‚“ Healey’s office said in a statement.

“This legislation will create new jobs, strengthen our efforts to recruit and retain the best talent, support all of our communities, and grow our arts, culture and tourism sectors,” the administration said in its statement.

The new law supports initiatives that aim to make Massachusetts a hub for climate technology, Healey’s office said. This includes $400 million in capital resources going to the offshore wind industry and establishing a new climate tech incentive program to bring and keep climate tech companies in Massachusetts. It will also update the existing Offshore Wind Tax Incentive Program.

The sweeping bill also includes provisions to overhaul the state’s permitting process for Massachusetts to build more renewable energy infrastructure to meet its climate goals. WBUR reported that these changes are intended to go into effect by March 2026.

The law also authorizes $100 million to be used to create the Massachusetts AI Hub “to facilitate the application of artificial intelligence across the state’s ecosystem,” the statement read. Healey’s office added that this hub is expected to boost innovation and “attract AI talent” to the state.

Additionally (but not lastly), the law establishes new provisions for natural gas. More networked geothermal projects, like Eversource in Framingham, will be built in order to bring cleaner forms of heating and cooling, WBUR reported.

The law also changes how gas utilities are incentivized to replace leaky underground pipes, with the state now prioritizing short-term repairs or retiring segments of a pipeline.

Due to the emergency preamble written into the Mass Leads Act, the law immediately went into effect with Healey’s signature.

More funding for electric vehicle incentives

The Mass Leads Act also introduced new provisions for electric vehicles, including an extension of state funding for its electric vehicle incentive program until 2027, WBUR wrote.

The Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles, or MOR-EV, program is intended to cut down on air pollution and greenhouse gases.

The program offers rebates for buying or leasing eligible battery electric vehicles and fuel-cell electric vehicles.

Another provision includes directing the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to review laws that ban the sale of new gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles after 2035, WBUR reported.

As part of the Mass Leads Act, these parts of the law also immediately went into effect upon the bill’s signing.

Nurses can work across state lines

The passage of the Mass Leads Act also addressed the nursing shortage in Massachusetts. The bill included a measure to join the Nurse Licensure Compact, which allows nurses operating in other states affiliated with the compact to practice out of state via in-person or telehealth, GBH reported in November.

Massachusetts became the last New England state to join the compact.

“Compact membership will also enhance the ability of the Massachusetts health care system to prepare for pandemics, emergencies and other staffing needs and to facilitate telehealth and other care delivery transformations in the future,” Mickey O’Neill, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, told GBH.

This also went into effect immediately after Healey signed the Mass Leads Act.

Educator diversity

Another facet of the economic development bill that Healey signed focused on education. The new law incorporated a bill known as the Massachusetts Teachers Association-supported Educator Diversity Act.

This change will see the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education develop an alternative certification process for teachers who may have challenges with the educator certification exam, but can still demonstrate their capabilities as teachers, Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka said in a statement in November.

Because educator diversity was part of the Mass Leads Act, it immediately went into effect with Healey’s signature on Nov. 20.

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Massachusetts

2 people seriously injured after car strikes tree head-on in Bridgewater

Published

4 hours ago

January 5, 2025

Press Room

2 people seriously injured after car strikes tree head-on in Bridgewater

Two people were seriously injured in a crash involving a tree Sunday morning in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, temporarily closing the roadway.

Bridgewater police say they responded along with the fire department to multiple reports of a single-vehicle crash near the area of 357 Pine Street around 7:20 a.m. and found a severely damaged Chevrolet Cruze with two seriously injured people inside.

Debris was blocking the roadway, and Pine Street was closed, police said.

The male driver was taken to Boston Medical Center with injuries that are believed to be serious but non-life-threatening, according to police. The female passenger was first taken to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton and then later transferred to Boston Medical Center; her injuries are believed to be life-threatening.

Their names have not been released at this time.

A preliminary investigation shows the Cruze veered off the roadway and struck a tree head-on. Police haven’t said what caused the vehicle to exit the road.

An investigation is ongoing.

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Massachusetts

Raising Cane’s temporarily shuts down Massachusetts location due to “strong odor”

Published

11 hours ago

January 5, 2025

Press Room

Raising Cane’s temporarily shuts down Massachusetts location due to “strong odor”

Raising Cane’s in Boston temporarily closes due to foul odor

00:21

BOSTON – Raising Cane’s, a popular chicken tender restaurant chain, is temporarily closing one Massachusetts location due to complaints about a “strong odor.”

Raising Cane’s location shut down

The location on Comm. Ave. in Allston was shut down temporarily after a failed health inspection, resulting from a “strong odor noted in the dining room” on December 17 and December 30.

Inspectors ordered the restaurant to track down the source of the odor and remedy it before they can reopen.

A Raising Cane’s spokesperson gave a timeline for when they hope to reopen in a statement to WBZ-TV.

“This location is operated out of a building that was built in 1916 and in need of what qualifies as routine municipality maintenance, for which we’re working closely with the city to address. We’re planning to reopen between January 10 and 12 and look forward to continuing to serve students and Customers,” the spokesperson said.

The Raising Cane’s location, which is located near Boston University’s Agganis Arena, has been open since 2009.

Where are there Raising Cane’s in Massachusetts?

The chain has recently expanded its Massachusetts locations.

Raising Cane’s opened on Boylston Ave. in April. Another location opened in Marlboro a month later.

In total, there are three in Boston, one in Marlboro, one in Medford, Methuen, and Seekonk, and another opening soon in Saugus.

New Hampshire will be getting its first Raising Cane’s location soon. One is under construction on South Willow Street in Manchester.

Matt Schooley

Matt Schooley is a digital producer at CBS Boston. He has been a member of the WBZ news team for the last decade.

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Massachusetts

A fungus for good: How mushrooms are solving problems in Mass.

Published

19 hours ago

January 5, 2025

Press Room

A fungus for good: How mushrooms are solving problems in Mass.

Inside the historic Printers Building in downtown Worcester, hundreds of edible mushrooms are proliferating in a former storage room.

Oyster, shiitake and lion’s mane species grow out of sawdust “fruiting” blocks under humidity tents, soon to make their way to people’s plates.

Betting big on the urban mushroom enterprise is the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts. The project, which has received thousands in grant money, aims to combat food insecurity while providing a source of income for the Worcester-based nonprofit that serves Laotian, Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants and refugees.

Tuyet Tran, the organization’s executive director, is a Vietnam refugee herself. In their native country, her mother was a farmer.

Read more: A Mass chef’s devotion to mushroom foraging

“I’ve always loved growing things, growing vegetables,” Tran said. “We consider food, especially herbs, as medicine. It comes naturally to us. The idea for the mushrooms really expanded from that notion.”

The coalition’s venture was among two mushroom-centric projects selected in a recent round of grant funding from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. The other is at East Boston’s Eastie Farm, an urban agriculture nonprofit working in food security and climate justice.

A volunteer handles comb tooth mushrooms at Eastie Farm.Courtesy

In both cases, the community organizations wanted to bolster their food offerings to the populations they serve, while also turning a profit by selling the rest to local restaurants and farmers markets.

“There is a lot of interest in mushrooms,” said Kannan Thiruvengadam, Eastie Farm’s director. “They’ve always been of interest to people who do foraging and permaculture because it naturally grows in forests, as long as you know what to harvest and how to harvest it.”

Not all mushrooms are edible, and some are actually poisonous. Others are the psychedelic kind that Massachusetts voters rejected on the November 2024 ballot.

A joke among mushrooms foragers, Thiruvengadam laughed, is that “you can taste any mushroom once.”

‘I want it to grow into a social enterprise’

The fungi-growing catalyst for both Eastie Farm and the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts was the same: the COVID pandemic made them want to boost food security efforts in the face of deep social and health inequities laid bare.

In Worcester, Tran said food is an incredibly important part of their mission, particularly because of the prominence of refugee and homeless populations.

They were already well-connected with local farms and seasonal produce, but the organization wanted to provide a self-sustaining, year round offering. Tran herself had been learning about edible mushrooms at home during the pandemic.

“We wanted to grow mushrooms because it’s part of the diet of Asian folks,” she said.

The coalition’s website tells visitors, “No, we’re not turning people into zombies and, no, we’re not dabbling in the psychedelic arts. What we’re doing is far more magical: growing nutrient-packed mushrooms to nourish our communities and fight food insecurity.”

Mushrooms are said to have powerful health benefits, including anti-cancer and immune-boosting properties. And because of their ultraviolet light exposure, whether it be sunlight or indoor light, they’re a good source of Vitamin D.

Different mushrooms are known for different benefits. Lion’s mane, for example, is touted for brain health, while reishi is known for anti-stress and relaxation effects.

The endeavor started with a $120,000 grant from the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, outfitting an old storage room with water, lights, shelving and growing equipment inside the Portland Street building that houses the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts.

Between September and December, they harvested more than 800 pounds of mushrooms. Tran said it’s been quite a learning process, but a welcome — and fun — one.

“I had no idea how hard it was to grow mushrooms,” she said. “You really have to control the environment. The humidity, the temperature, the water misting.”

The mushrooms, which are grown organically, are distributed to families, shelters, senior centers and temples. The goal is to also sell them to local restaurants and farmers markets to make a small profit for the organization.

“We want to be able to sell some, to make some money back, to pay the water and electricity bill,” Tran said. “We can grow a lot. It’s all part of the plan. You start small and move up to higher volume. I want it to grow into a social enterprise.”

Tran hopes a workforce development opportunity will come from it, especially if they get a commercial kitchen for high-volume processing and mushroom drying.

‘Food, farming and education’

At Eastie Farm, $40,000 from the Department of Agricultural Resources will support a build-out of a mushroom production center. It certainly helps that two top staff members are “super excited about mushrooms,” Thiruvengadam said.

Eastie Farm has sites around East Boston where they invite neighbors to grow food together, pick up produce boxes and learn more about the natural environment.

East Boston has the highest percentage of immigrants of any Boston neighborhood. And it’s also one of the most vulnerable communities in the state in terms of pollution and climate change impacts.

Eastie Farm mushrooms — Mushrooms pictured at Eastie Farm in East Boston.Courtesy

In 2022, Eastie Farm debuted a zero-emissions, geothermal greenhouse, thought to be the first of its kind in Massachusetts. Climate resilience is at the core of the organization’s mission, Thiruvengadam said.

“What we’re trying to do here is empower ourselves so we can not only prepare for what is to come, but also address the needs of our people today,” he said. “Food, farming and education.”

During COVID, Eastie Farm rented kitchens that were closed and served more than 5,000 hot meals every week at the height of the pandemic.

The nutrient-rich mushrooms will be a piece of the farm’s ongoing food security efforts. They’ll be used in meals and CSA boxes, and likely make their way to restaurants at market-rate price.

“Most of what we do really comes from what we hear in the community and what the youth express to us as interest,” Thiruvengadam said. “The mushroom farm will be a space for young people to learn how things work and what does nature grow. How to process safely, how to cook and consume, how to do new things.”

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