Learn about Act on Mass’ ongoing campaign to reform who controls legislator pay

• 149 out of 200 State Legislators receive “leadership pay” direct from the Senate President or Speaker of the House (Boston Globe)
• These stipends make our legislature less responsive, transparent, and effective
• Voters in eight state house districts get the chance to weigh this practice on their ballot in November
• Action Guide

On this page:

Stipend reform may be on your ballot this November!

Not-so-fun fact: In Massachusetts, the Speaker of the House and the Senate President have significant control over their fellow legislators’ salaries through “leadership stipends.” House and Senate leadership can (and do) cut their colleagues’ salaries when they fall out of line, or boost them in exchange for no extra work.

The good news is, if you live in the following districts, stipend reform will be on your ballot this November! In collaboration with the Coalition to Reform our Legislature, Act on Mass volunteers got a non-binding public policy question on the ballot in eight districts. It reads:

Shall the representative for this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation or rules to reduce the House Speaker’s and Senate President’s control over state legislators’ stipends (extra pay) and to provide stipends only to legislators who do significant extra work that is transparent and accountable to the public?

Stipend Reform will be on the ballot in:

District name	Represents	Currently represented by:
Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket	Falmouth, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket	Representative Thomas Moakley
13th Middlesex	Sudbury, Concord, Wayland, Lincoln, Marlborough	Representative Carmen Gentile
14th Middlesex	Carlisle, Acton, Chelmsford, Concord	Representative Simon Cataldo
15th Middlesex	Lexington, Winchester, Woburn	Representative Michelle Ciccolo
20th Middlesex	Lynnfield, Middleton, N. Reading, Reading	Representative Brad Jones
25th Middlesex	Cambridge	Representative Marjorie Decker
29th Middlesex	Watertown, Cambridge	Representative Steve Owens
32nd Middlesex	Melrose, Malden, Wakefield	Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian

You can see if you live in one of these State House districts here.

Since its founding, Act on Mass has highlighted stipends as a tool for enforcing compliance among legislators. Despite ongoing resistance from leadership intent on preserving the status quo, we remain committed to bringing transparency and fairness to our governing body.

What are legislative stipends, and why do they need to be reformed?

The current base salary for Massachusetts state legislators is about $82,000 per year. On top of that, lawmakers can earn up to $119,000 in leadership stipends. The House Speaker and Senate President grant these stipends to committee chairs and other leadership roles, who they appoint. The only way to augment your salary above the base is by receiving one of these leadership stipends controlled by the leader of your chamber. It’s worth noting that this pay-allocation system is atypical compared to other state legislatures. Leadership roles do not carry such large pay differentials in most other states.

Since 2015, the Massachusetts Legislature has quadrupled the amount allocated for stipends from the general fund (public taxpayer dollars), reaching $5.4 million. These funds are often used as leverage: leadership may punish behaviors such as voting against the Speaker/Senate President, advocating for non-priority legislation among colleagues, or speaking to the press without permission. By removing legislators from leadership positions, House and Senate leadership can effectively cut a legislator’s pay and derail their career in one fell swoop. You can read an example of how this impacted a Norwood Representative in this September 2025 Saturday Scoop. Conversely, lawmakers in favor with leadership may be assigned to chair committees that rarely meet or consider bills, yet still receive substantial extra pay.

Stipend reform would make the General Court not only more effective, but also more just. It would reduce pay disparities among legislators by over 50% and could save taxpayers at least $500,000 annually by limiting both the number and size of stipends. Here at Act on Mass, we are dedicated to empowering rank-and-file legislators and their constituents. We believe elected officials have a responsibility to represent their districts and follow through on their campaign promises, and should be able to do so without fear of financial retaliation.

What you can do!

Take Action:

For materials on each of these action items, check out our Action Guide HERE

⭐ Volunteer to call voters in the eight districts where stipend reform will be on the ballot

• Join us in Somerville on November 1st from 11am -12pm! This phonebank will be hybrid, so you can hop on Zoom using this link or join us at Studio Constellation in Somerville (259 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02143).
• To call on your own time, email info@actonmass.org to get the phonebank link and schedule a 10-minute run-through of some talking points

⭐ Write a Letter to the Editor

⭐ Table with Act on Mass in your district on Election Day! We are looking for volunteers to serve as a community resource and help voters navigate this year’s ballot. If you’d be interested, you can fill out this form

⭐ Spread the word to your friends, family, and neighbors! With upwards of 9 ballot questions, it’s easy for local questions to get buried. But each stipend reform question that passes sends the message that voters care about empowering rank-and-file legislators and changing the culture on Beacon Hill. Remember: it will be the last question on your ballot this November

⭐ Join our grassroots coalition by filling out our volunteer form

• Learn More:
  • Stipends are not the only structural barrier to a more effective and transparent state legislature. You can get the full scoop from our State House 101 training, posted here

And most importantly, if you live in one of the affected districts, vote yes on stipend reform this November!

Timeline of stipend reform campaign

In January 2025, advocates introduced a citizen petition (H.4303 and SD.1301), titled “An Act to Strengthen Representation and Promote Democratic, Transparent, and Efficient Lawmaking.” Ultimately, the bills did not garner cosponsors, and neither chamber assigned them to a committee for scheduled hearings. Leadership’s reluctance to limit its own authority was clear.

In August 2025, transparency advocates filed a statewide ballot question on stipend reform. Supporters gathered 90,000 signatures to place the question on the ballot. Just before the second round of signature collection in May 2026, legislative leadership requested an advisory opinion from the Supreme Judicial Court. This is not the traditional process to appeal a ballot question, but because the question concerned the legislature, they used this opinion as a defense available only to them. Because the opinion was non-binding, it did not officially declare the question unconstitutional, so it remained eligible for the ballot. However, in response, Attorney General Andrea Campbell withdrew her support, preventing the question from proceeding.

Supporters were extremely disappointed. With the support of Act on Mass and the Coalition to Reform our Legislature, several communities mobilized to gather signatures for local, non-binding public policy questions in their districts. If passed, these questions will instruct the corresponding representatives to support stipend reform in the next legislative session and clearly signal to leadership voter support for this issue.