FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BOSTON, MA (April 30, 2025) – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, reacts to the Massachusetts House of Representatives including a Secure Choice Savings Program policy amendment in the FY2026 state budget:

“Without a public hearing to determine the financial impact on Massachusetts small business and their workers, state lawmakers shoehorned a major policy change into the $61.5 billion FY2026 budget mandating businesses of 25 employees or more enroll their workers into a state-run retirement plan or face hefty penalties,” said Christopher Carlozzi, Massachusetts state director for NFIB. “Small businesses already deal with a plethora of state-imposed payroll deductions ranging from UI taxes to PFML, as well as a new pay transparency mandate, they do not need the additional burden and compliance costs of yet another.”

Secure Choice Savings Program bills were filed in past legislative years and are on the docket again for the current session. When those bills appeared before the Joint Committee on Financial Services it allowed for public comments on the legislation’s fiscal impact, but now the House circumvented the public hearing process and opted to conceal this major policy change in a consolidated budget amendment with hundreds of other subject matters and topics.

“Again, lawmakers’ policy choices and rhetoric are in conflict.” continued Carlozzi. “Are automatic withdrawals from worker paychecks and added compliance costs for small businesses a step towards affordability? Major policy changes that impact a large number of workers and businesses in the Commonwealth should receive the public feedback and scrutiny they deserve, not hidden in a $61.5 billion budget bill that legislators must back in order to keep the Commonwealth running.”

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For more than 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.