Special to the Patriot-Bridget
The Massachusetts Senate passed bipartisan legislation filed by Senator Sal DiDomenico to require ballot campaigns to provide monthly reports to the public on who is funding their campaigns and how the money is being used.
The measure increases transparency in campaign finance, gives voters access to the information they need to make informed choices, and guards against a rise in special interests paying millions to put their own priorities on the ballot.
“Statewide ballot questions are a great tool for empowering the public to vote directly on statewide policies, but it is vitally important that our voters know which people and organizations are funding these policy proposals,” said Senator Sal N. DiDomenico (D-Everett), lead sponsor of the bill. “I am proud to pass my legislation through the Senate that will close a loophole in our campaign finance law and ensure our residents have all the information they need to make an educated decision when voting on ballot measures.”
“When you go to the ballot box, you deserve to know who is behind each initiative and to make your own judgment about whether those efforts serve the greater good of our Commonwealth or the personal interests of special interest groups,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). “As elected leaders, we hold ourselves to this standard of transparency and accountability, and this legislation ensures that every measure on the ballot is held to that same standard. I commend Chair Rodrigues and Chair Keenan for their work on this bill and applaud Senator DiDomenico for his leadership as the lead sponsor.”
“Massachusetts voters deserve to know, in real time, who is funding the ballot questions that will impact their lives. Under our current system, special interests can funnel millions of dollars behind issue campaigns without the public knowing for months.” said Geoff Foster, Executive Director, Common Cause Massachusetts. “The Senate’s passage of the Ballot Spending Transparency Act moves Massachusetts closer to a democracy where voters—not unknown special interests—decide our future.”
The transparency bill — S.2898, An Act improving campaign finance reporting by state ballot question committees—brings accountability to ballot question campaigns and holds them to the same standard of disclosure already followed by candidates for office. The legislation would remedy a current void of nearly a year leading up to an election during which the ballot question campaigns are not required to report any financial data in a timely manner.
This month marks the start of the current eight-month period when ballot question committees are not required to regularly disclose any financial updates. From now until September, voters will be hit with campaign ads and mail without knowing who is funding them. Today, Senators voted to close that gap, requiring ballot campaigns to report at least monthly on their donors.
The legislation was advanced to the full Senate on January 8, 2026 by a 15-0 vote of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, after a previous draft was reviewed and advanced in November by the Joint Committee on Election Laws. All committee votes are publicly available on the Legislature’s website.
The Senate passed the bill on a bipartisan 38-0 roll call vote, sending it to the House for further consideration.