Massachusetts' 1983 right-to-shelter law survives, but the Legislature now rations it. Here is what EA family shelter legally owes families in 2026, from the six-month stay limit and extensions to eligibility screens and appeal rights.
Our running docket tracker of active litigation between the Commonwealth and the federal government: funding conditions, student data, Medicaid rules, elections orders, and the EPA endangerment finding, each with verified status as of August 2026.
One year after Massachusetts shifted broker fees to whoever hires the broker, the AG reports ongoing violations. Here is what the law requires, the workarounds being used, and how renters recover illegal fees.
Question 8 on the November 2026 Massachusetts ballot would repeal retail recreational marijuana sales and home cultivation while preserving decriminalized possession. Here is what the measure does, who is funding both sides, and the legal questions repeal would open.
Chapter 135 requires Massachusetts owners to register unrecorded firearms, including grandfathered assault-style guns, by October 28, 2026. Step-by-step MIRCS filing instructions, penalties, exemptions, and how the deadline collides with Question 9.
Massachusetts voters face nine statewide ballot questions on November 3, 2026, the most since 1994. Here is the certified list, what a yes or no vote does on each, and the deadlines for registering and voting by mail.
Question 9 asks Massachusetts voters whether Chapter 135, the 2024 firearms overhaul in force since October 2024, should stand. Yes keeps the law, no repeals it. Here is what the law does, who is fighting over it, and what repeal would leave unsettled.
In Commonwealth v. McCaffrey, the SJC held that swapping subsections of the aggravated child rape statute by amendment was a substantive change barred by Article 12, reversing five convictions and ordering not guilty judgments.
A one-paragraph budget rider erased pending Wage Act pay-frequency class actions against nonprofit colleges and health systems. Now the SJC must decide whether the Legislature can retroactively extinguish accrued claims, with Martin v. Amherst College leading the challenge.
Judge George O'Toole granted summary judgment to Massachusetts officials in Escher v. Noble, upholding the state's under-21 restriction on handguns and semiautomatic firearms against an NRA-backed Second Amendment challenge.
