BECOMING A MEMBER OF RAM IS ONE OF THE BEST DECISIONS YOU CAN MAKE FOR YOUR BUSINESS.
By joining you gain access to exclusive, money saving discounts on services and programs, legislative updates and advocacy as well as valuable educational opportunities. We aim to help you grow and protect your business, promote the retail industry and save your business money. Click here to JOIN NOW!
47 Ballot Questions Filed for Consideration:
Long list includes numerous tax cuts, Cannabis repeal, and more…
Forty-seven initiative petitions were filed on Wednesday, August 6 with Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office, officially kicking off the process to place questions before the voters in November 2026. Forty-two of the petitions propose new laws to be considered on the 2026 ballot, while five are proposed amendments to the state constitution, which could not be considered until 2028. All of the petitions are available for review here.
Among the questions filed were separate proposals to:
- Reduce the sales tax to 5%
- Reduce the personal income tax to 4%
- Phase out the gas tax by 2036
- Change the formula used to calculate potential tax rebates to be triggered under Chapter 62F
- Cap property tax increases
- Repeal the laws allowing for the legal sale of Cannabis
- Establish tax credits for the purchase of EVs, heat pumps, and solar home heating
- Prohibit driverless cars
- Strengthen the Commonwealth’s laws relative to retail theft by lowering the felony threshold and allowing for aggregation of multiple offenses
- To allow ratepayers to opt-out of added gas and electricity charges unrelated to the cost of the delivery of energy (such as mandated energy efficiency charges)
- And more…
Filing a petition is the first step in the process leading to the 2026 ballot. The AG will review the petitions and certify that they meet certain constitutional requirements. Once certified by the AG, proponents then must gather and submit 74,574 signatures of registered voters to local town clerks and the Secretary of State by December 3rd, 2025. Questions that make it that far then move to the Legislature, where they can be approved and passed into law, substituted or ignored by May 2026. Often ignored, proponents of questions are then required to collect an additional 12,429 signatures by early July to receive final approval to appear on the ballot in November 2026. Proposed constitutional amendments must first meet the signature thresholds, then must be voted on by two successive sessions of the Legislature, receiving at least 25% of the vote in each session, before being placed on the ballot in November of 2028.
Historically, as the process moves from filing to certification, and then on to signature gathering and submission, the number of active petitions diminishes significantly, given the cost and complexities involved in advancing a petition all the way to the voters.
RAM will be reviewing all of these proposals in the coming weeks to determine both their impact on our members and their viability.
Support Small Businesses;
Contact your Legislators Today!
RAM urges members to contact their elected officials to request that they make lowering mandated costs a priority this session. At a time when most retailers continue to experience flat or down sales while business costs continue to increase, it is imperative that policymakers at the state and federal level reform those areas of existing law that are contributing to the cost problems facing businesses in Massachusetts. At the federal level, regulation is needed to reign in the ever increasing interchange fees being charged to merchants by credit card companies, while the three areas of focus in Massachusetts state law include small business health insurance, energy pricing, and unemployment insurance.
Federal Action: Click here to send a message to federal policymakers regarding interchange fees and the Credit Card Competition Act.
State Action: Click here to send a message to state policymakers regarding state mandated operational costs.
RAM IN THE NEWS:
Boston Globe Op-Eds:
Click image to read new blog on healthcare costs.
Click on Image to
View Survey Results
RAMAES are coming soon! Submit your nominations today!
The Retailers Association of Massachusetts Awards of Excellence (RAMAEs) honor small and large retailers, rookies and veterans, identifying hidden gems from all corners of the Commonwealth.
You could be one of this year's recipients. Submit a nomination for your business. Tell us what makes you unique.
As an expert, you can also help us identify additional businesses who deserve to be recognized for their resilience, innovation, customer service or going above and beyond to make the retail and dining experience memorable.
There is no limit to the number of businesses you can nominate. So nominate your business and all those you love as well. There are so many incredible retail stores and restaurants in MA who could be deserving of this recognition. Help us find our 2025 winners!
The winners will be celebrated at a luncheon on November 19 in Waltham, and all RAM members are invited to attend!
Click here to submit your nominations.
RAMHIC Offerings for 2025
RAMHIC continues to partner with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to offer members access to the carrier's entire portfolio of high quality, small group health insurance plans.
All members purchasing their health insurance coverage through the cooperative will also receive an expanded list of ancillary benefits, FREE of charge.
Click image above to view a BCBS produced informational video on the power of the RAM/BCBS Cooperative.
Please see our brochure for more detail on the expanded benefit package. Specific information regarding each benefit may be found below:
For more information please visit the RAMHIC page of our website.
We are excited to announce we have enhanced our Multiple Employer 401k (MEP) program. Available only to our members, we have a new partner, Transamerica Retirement Services. Transamerica is an industry leader in retirement plan marketplace and an expert in Multiple Employer 401k Retirement Plans.
In addition to Transamerica, you also have professional fiduciary investment management provided by Atlas Fiduciary Services, Inc., and outsourced fiduciary plan administration through Atlas Pension Administrators Inc. All of this and you can work with an advisor of your choice.
Adopting members will experience:
- Fewer plan administration duties
- Reduced fiduciary liability
- Streamlined costs.
- Flexible plan design
- Online account management
- Employee education and communication support
Now has never been a better time to set up a new 401k plan for your business! The federal government has tremendous tax credits for newly established plan, virtually making the prospects of offering a plan free.
If you already have a plan, a quick evaluation can help determine what your saving might be under our MEP 401k plan with our complementary benchmark analysis.
Written Testimony of Jon Hurst, President & CEO
Before the Division of Insurance
Re: 2026 Merged Market Filed Health Insurance Rates
June 17, 2025
Massachusetts Child Labor Law Reminder
With the summer season fast approaching, thousands of summer jobs are set to be filled by our youth as the Commonwealth’s school year comes to an end. Retailers are reminded of the state’s child labor laws enforced by the Office of Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.
For a complete list of restrictions contained in the law please visit the Attorney General’s website.
FY26 State Budget Negotiations Head to Conference Committee
The MA House of Representatives and the MA Senate have now each advanced their own version of the FY26 state spending plan, endorsing competing proposals with a roughly $61.4 billion price tag. A conference committee comprised of three members from each branch must now hash out the differences between the two bills and present a compromise budget to their respective branches for final adoption.
RAM applauded the House for their rejection of Governor Maura Healey’s proposed slate of tax increases. Gov. Healey had sought to remove the sales tax exemption on candy and confectionary products, making them subject to the 6.25% sales tax. She had also proposed taxing synthetic nicotine products at 210% of the wholesale cost, and proposed a “pharmacy assessment,” or a $2 per prescription tax on all scripts filled in the state. The House rejected all of these tax increase provisions, which were then off the table for possible consideration in the Senate.
New We Card In-Store Campaign Addresses Adult Purchases for Those Underage
Order your FREE We Card Kit to start raising awareness of adults’ role in social sourcing. As a retailer this is your opportunity to take action to address this issue.
Join the tens of thousands of retailers who are helping to prevent and discourage adult purchases of tobacco and vaping products on behalf of underage people.
We Card’s new program targets “social sourcing,” or adult purchases of tobacco and vaping products on behalf of minors. After field testing, We Card is rolling out the national in-store campaign to raise awareness of the “social access” problem and is introducing this program to the nation’s retailers at no cost.
Click here to read more.
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